As you’ve likely heard by now, on September 22 Luminate announced that, beginning in December 2022, use of BDS will cease and Luminate will begin partnering with Mediabase.

Luminate, formerly known as Nielsen Music, has been operating the radio tracking service BDS to provide radio data for the airplay charts as well as contribute to the Billboard Hot 100. Technology reliability has been cited as the main driver for this new move, and we witnessed temporary service BDS disruption just days after this announcement.

The transition from BDS to Mediabase has been promised to offer “no disruption in radio services.” This promise has been the topic of several Paragon client and peer emails and calls.    Immediately following this announcement, Paragon sent a survey to over 100 non-comm stations as well as record labels and promotions companies. We received so many insightful questions from the non-comm community, but a few rose to the top.

Jordan Lee hosting an informative session on Mediabase

 

  • How will Billboard now compile the airplay charts that were coming from BDS?
  • What happens to the Triple A Indicator panel?
  • Will Mediabase increase the Triple A panel size?
  • Is it possible to separate the Triple A charts into non-commercial and commercial?
  • What will be the criteria used to determine if a station qualifies for the Mediabase panel?

These questions, and many more, were answered in a video conference call with the Mediabase team on the evening of Monday, October 3rd. Alissa Pollack, VP of Global Music Marketing and Strategy, was joined by Vice President of Affiliate Relations Josh Medlock and Mediabase charts consultant Anthony Acampora to answer questions from all sides of the non-comm radio world.

You can watch this entire Zoom meeting by clicking here.  We have also compiled the community’s most critical questions and sent them directly to the team at Mediabase for response. Paragon can provide the questions to you upon request. You can check out the Luminate FAQ here. Radio programmers can contact support@mediabase.com if you have any further questions regarding connecting with your new Mediabase representative.

Paragon will continue to support our clients and advocate for their needs and the entire Triple A community of stations, labels, managers, and artists as this transition unfolds.

Learn more about Jordan.