What's with the bar code?

The first thing an A&R Representative does when he looks at a CD is to flip it over to see if there is a bar code on the back. In fact I've even seen A&R's throw them away if they didn't have one. I asked one specific A&R why she did this, she replied "If I don't see a bar code on the back that tells me alot." We already mentioned that A&R’s frequently keep a watchful eye on Sound Scan (a service that reports album sales figures by tracking registered bar codes). This can typically show musical trends & “Buzz Factor”. Nielsen SoundScan for example is an information system that tracks sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada. Sales data from point-of-sale cash registers is collected weekly from over 14,000 retail, mass merchant and non-traditional (on-line stores, venues, etc.) outlets. Weekly data is compiled and made available every Wednesday. Nielsen SoundScan is the sales source for the Billboard music charts.

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