In the last few years, Billboard has made notable changes to its chart process and how album/single sales are determined in the streaming era. Its newest change is one that many artists probably won’t be too happy with—and it concerns the increasingly popular merchandise/album bundles that many modern artists are utilizing these days.
@Billboard has announced the new rules for all merchandise/album bundles that are set to go into effect in a matter of weeks—January 3, 2020 to be exact. Under the new rules, in order for an album sale to be counted as part of a merchandise/album bundle, all the items in the bundle must also be available for purchase concurrently and individually on the same website. Additionally, if a merchandise item is sold on its own, it must be priced lower than the bundle that includes both the merchandise and the album. Also, moving forward merchandise bundles can only be sold in an artist’s official direct-to-consumer web store and not via third-party sites.
As for how the bundles affect sales and chart positions once the new rules go into effect, it works like this. Any approved piece of merchandise that is artist- or album-branded can be bundled with a copy of the album and those sales will count for the Billboard charts when the physical album is shipped to the customer or when the digital album is fulfilled to the customer. The merchandise/album bundle must also be priced at least $3.49 more than the merchandise item alone. $3.49 is the minimum price of an album to qualify for the charts.
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It’s important to note that these new policies will not affect albums that are part of a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer bundle, which is when the price of an album is part of the cost of a ticket and the album’s inclusion is promoted to the customer at the beginning of their purchase experience, then once the ticket is purchased the customer will receive an offer to redeem the album by mail or download. From now on, only the albums that are redeemed will count towards the Billboard charts.
The new rules apply to all album releases from January 3rd and on, even if the merchandise/album bundles were for sale before that date. This also goes for albums that have already been released and those looking to count future sales on the albums chart.
The changes are in response to the heated public debate surrounding the album sales and charting positions of merchandise/album bundles, as many critics have argued that bundled album sales don’t necessarily reflect a customer wanting to purchase the album, but instead the merchandise that comes with it.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
