From Erica H – Mr. Pop – When SoundScan took over as the official album-seller counter, who was champ?
Mr. Pop History – Well, SoundScan’s first full year charting album sales was 1991 – so let’s go back to that year, which saw Garth Brooks’ “Ropin’ the Wind” at 4 million album sales for 1991. Even though it was released September of that year – and that album sold millions more in 1992 – it’s really the first SoundScan year-end champ.
From SP – Mr. Pop History – What would you say is the biggest trend in determining how music sales are calculated or determined?
Mr. Pop History – SoundScan turned the music industry on its ear back in 1991. All of a sudden, you couldn’t hype music charts – something that always prevailed in the business. SoundScan uses a computerized system that registers a sale every time an album is passed through the bar code scanner. The first thing it discovered? Less mainstream acts actually sold more music than previously reported. Those acts included N.W.A. and Garth Brooks. Did SoundScan propel Rap Music? Probably – especially early on.
The record industry at first, hated SoundScan. They had to change the way they did business – in many ways. The two people behind SoundScan are Mike Shalette and Mike Finn.
Mr. Pop Culture Report
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