Billboard Will Use Mediabase for Airplay Data in December

[Shadoe Fan]

Per an article in Variety, Billboard will abandon BDS and start using Mediabase for airplay data starting in December.

[djjoe1960]

I think this stinks as they will no longer be a difference between the two charts--sad to see this happen.

[Hervard]

One good thing - there won't be as many songs sticking around on the chart for close to a year (assuming that the 20/10 rule will still be in place). I do, however, think that's overkill - a 26/10 rule as well as the existing 20/15 rule, per BDS, would be sufficient, but that is nothing more than my opinion.

[Mike]

It's far worse than people realize: With Mediabase being owned by iHeartMedia, which itself owns a continually-increasing share of radio stations (that is, those that haven't been snapped up by religious entities), we're basically looking at a future where radio charts themselves will be completely redundant, as the charts will consist of nothing more than iHeart-composite playlists. (Notice I say "radio charts", as the ones including sales and streaming data will still, at least, have those going for them as additional chart components.)

At least when Billboard was using BDS for airplay data, that positioned them as independent from entities who controlled the radio stations that generate the airplay in the first place - that status, obviously, dies in December.

Luminate announced Thursday morning that, beginning in December 2022, use of BDS will cease and Luminate will begin partnering with Mediabase, which it says is “known widely as the music industry standard across labels, publishers and management companies,” for the charts published in Billboard.

This strikes me as a "professional-speak" admission that Mediabase has a relationship with labels, publishers, and management companies that is essentially totally corrupt - where Mediabase is the one where labels, publishers, and management companies had some kind of skin in the game to get the airplay results they want, while they didn't have that with BDS.

It almost makes you wonder what even the point is of having payola laws anymore.

[michaelcasselman]

Does this mean that the Seacrest AT40 will essentially be using the same chart info as Billboard once again?

[Mike]

So, with regards to the Billboard and Mediabase charts now being the same...

Well...maybe not:

Will the Mediabase and Billboard panels still be separate?

Yes, the panels will remain separate.

During this transition there may be an adjustment period within Billboard based on the stations that are currently monitored.

support.mrc-data.com/portal/en/kb/articles/will-the-mediabase-and-billboard-panels-still-be-separate

This, by the way, comes from Luminate's own FAQs.

[Hervard]

Question: Will the BDSradio site still exist or be accessible? Because I just realized that the charts that I follow are not from the Billboard site. If the BDS site is still around, then I can still go by that one instead of Mediabase (since, as I said, I don't like the 20/10 recurrent rule, as much as it would keep songs from sticking around forever).

[Mike]

Not 100% on that...but if BDS is shutting down, I can't imagine the BDSradio site will remain active.

But if Billboard's charts will remain separate from the Mediabase core ones despite BB also using Mediabase as the airplay provider, then I'd imagine that Billboard's recurrent rules will remain the same. It'd just require following the charts directly on Billboard instead of on BDSradio.