In a massive boon for Australia’s independent musicians, Bandcamp sales will now count towards placement in the ARIA charts. Whispers that ARIA were in the process of adding Bandcamp sales to their chart tallies surfaced back in May.
Now, Bandcamp curator Andrew Jervis, who will be appearing at Melbourne’s upcoming Face The Music conference, has confirmed to FasterLouder that Bandcamp sales figures have been tallied in the ARIA charts for the past three weeks.
“ARIA now do actually count sales,” he told FL. “They haven’t made the official announcement, but they started as of about three weeks ago. Hopefully that helps out the King Gizzards and Courtney Barnetts who do sell a lot of music on Bandcamp.”
ARIA have since confirmed that Bandcamp sales have been incorporated into the tallies as of three weeks ago. Indeed, the inclusion of Bandcamp will provide a huge boost to the chart positions of independent bands like King Gizzard.
When the Melbourne psychedelic outfit had their Top 20 chart debut earlier this year, we noted how their chart position would have been higher if ARIA counted Bandcamp sales. The band had previously sold 1,500 copies of their new album via Bandcamp in just hours.
“ARIA has been liaising with Bandcamp over the past couple of months and Bandcamp are now developing the protocols and the software to report to ARIA. Once that is done ARIA will accept Bandcamp as a chart contributor,” an ARIA spokesperson said back in May.
Speaking to Tone Deaf, ARIA’s Adrian Di Giacomo explained that it’s up to retailers to “get themselves into the position to transmit the sales” to the organisation. For example, the iTunes music store debuted in 2003 but didn’t register with ARIA until April 2006.
“Parties wishing to become Information Providers must first contact ARIA,” Adrian explained. “The intending Information Provider’s data reporting capability will then be tested (currently over four weeks). ARIA will not enter into an Information Provider Agreement unless the results of this testing are satisfactory.”
“To qualify and remain qualified as an Information Provider, a retail store must be capable of monitoring and recording all of their eligible sales (genuine sales to actual consumers) through an electronic point of sale computer.”
“Information Providers must electronically track all of their relevant product sales to consumers and transmit to ARIA preferably daily, but no less frequently than weekly, in accordance with the Timetable.”
“Failure to scan and transmit all recorded music sales will result in the Information Provider being suspended from participation in the ARIA Charts until it satisfies ARIA that it is tracking every sale electronically and in compliance with this requirement.”
Having Bandcamp sales register with ARIA could drastically change the shape of the charts as we know them, providing a new avenue of exposure for Australia’s independent artists, who often have rabid followings online but not with the general record-buying public.
