SOUNDSCAN II: R&B; artists aren’t the only...

SOUNDSCAN II: R&B; artists aren’t the only ones complaining about being underreported by SoundScan.

Officials at Capitol, Sony and Geffen Records also question SoundScan’s ability to estimate sales of college and alternative rock acts accurately because SoundScan does not monitor sales in many independent stores that specialize in these acts.

Eddie Gilreath, vice president of sales at Geffen Records, claims that fewer than 40% of the 800 key independent accounts that his company uses to “break” new bands such as Nirvana and Teenage Fanclub are currently on line with SoundScan.

“It’s unfortunate, but when it comes to bands like Nirvana and Teenage Fanclub, SoundScan dramatically underreports sales for at least the first six weeks,” Gilreath said.

“For instance, Nirvana sold a huge amount of albums right off the bat but SoundScan didn’t begin to accurately reflect how huge a smash the album was until the big chains picked it up. SoundScan tells us they will have the problem fixed within a few months and we believe them. It just takes some time to work the glitches out of the system and get past the growing pains.”