Audiomack Streams Now Count Toward Billboard Charts
In what can be viewed as a boon for upcoming Jamaican artists, youth-focused music streaming service Audiomack has announced that its streams now count toward the Billboard Charts. US data from the service will now inform the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200, Artist 100, and Global 200 charts.
In the announcement which was made in a release on its website earlier today, Audiomack’s Director of Music and Data Partnerships, Vanessa Wilkins, said that the platform, in contributing to the most iconic music charts “will now certify the achievements of countless artists whose previous success has never been represented fairly and accurately”.
The revelation comes on the heels of Rolling Stone’s addition of Audiomack streams to their charts, which, according to the company, offer an in-the-moment view of the biggest songs, albums, and artists.
It also coincides with the platform’s new licensing agreements with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Audiomack previously established a licensing agreement with Warner Music Group in August 2019.
The nine-year-old streaming and audio distribution platform which reached 1.5 billion plays and 15 million users per month in December, said that “beginning the tracking week of January 22 through January 28’, its US data will contribute to the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200, Artist 100, and Billboard Global 200 charts, as well as all other Billboard U.S. and global charts which include streaming data”.
“More than a quarter of a billion US plays, representing streams from Audiomack’s subscription tier as well as logged-in streams from its ad-supported tier, with streams from each tier weighted appropriately, will factor into MRC Data (Nielsen SoundScan) sales calculations, influence Billboard chart positions, and contribute toward Gold, Platinum, and Diamond certifications by the RIAA (Record Industry association of America),” the company noted in the release.
Audiomack’s co-founder and Vice President of Content Operations and Artist Services, Brian Zisook also said in the release that “the true impact of young artists who make music appealing to a young audience or a lower-income demographic has never before been fully realized on the charts. With 92 percent of our audience under 34 in the US, excitedly, that is now going to change”.
As far back as 2019, Audiomack, which describes itself as a “free, limitless music sharing and discovery platform for artists, tastemakers, labels, and fans”, had revealed that its service is regularly used for music streaming and discovery by “roughly 11 percent of Jamaica’s population”.
In mid-2019, Audiomack representatives had visited Jamaica for a week to make connections with artists and producers. At the time, the executives said they were of the view that Jamaica has a pool of raw talent and they wanted to help to bring them exposure through its Skyline video series, the Jamaican leg of which was titled Skyline: Kingston.
Skyline Kingston was a five-minute feature on Jamaica’s music culture and featured Tarrus Riley, Vanessa Bling, Jahmiel, Dane Ray, Shane O, and Intence. It also saw the company reps visiting music studios across Kingston including Penthouse, Bobby Digital, and Big Ship.
Tanya Lawson, Director of Afrobeats and Caribbean at Audiomack, had also encouraged Jamaican artists to sign up to the platform, during an interview with DancehallMag last year.
According to her, streaming was “the way to go”, noting that Skillibeng, Intence, Gold Gad, Chronic Law, and Jada Kingdom were among the artists who had signed up and were doing well on the platform.