Townsend gains German chart eligibility in D2C first 24 Apr 2019
Company celebrating its 20th year in D2C
New, centralised retail website now launched
Townsend Music has become the first D2C company to gain direct chart eligibility in Germany. It does so as it celebrates its 20th year in the D2C business with a new, centralised retail website: townsendmusic.store
One of the world’s leading D2C music partners, Townsend provides not only online stores for artist clients but many varied, tailored and innovative e-commerce solutions, including pop-up shops and ‘D2C On Tour’ campaigns selling chart eligible album pre-orders at concerts.
Townsend works with a diverse list of artists, including Tom Walker, Kylie, Courteeners, Dido, The Darkness and Oh Wonder.
This is the first time that artists’ D2C sales have been accepted by GFK Entertainment, the body that publishes the German music charts.
Townsend Music sales are currently also chart eligible in the US, Canada, UK, Eire, France, New Zealand and Australia.
The company has launched a brand-new website this month that makes available all of its clients’ special products in one centralised location, to complement the existing individual artist stores powered by Townsend.
Townsend Sales Director, Bruce McKenzie, said: “We’ve dedicated a great amount of energy into achieving chart eligibility for our sales in Germany over the last couple of years.
“It’s a significant breakthrough not only for our clients but D2C as a whole. The sector has suffered from a lack of recognition despite its growing importance to artists and fans alike. We’re celebrating our 20th year in D2C this year and, even though the music business is becoming increasingly digital, our business is thriving because artists still want to offer their fans special, high quality physical product.
“Those sales deserve to be recognised in the charts worldwide. From here, we will continue to make further strides into the territories still yet to recognise D2C sales in their music charts until we achieve our goal of becoming a globally chart eligible platform.”
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THE HEADLINES
Concord set to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund (see Business)
Is the music industry gaslighting artists? (see Comment)
BPI’s new Yearbook highlights an independent sector growing for a sixth consecutive year (see Reports)
Can’t cross the moat? Walk around it. (see Comment)
The conversation around Fandom needs to change (see Opinion)
Viagogo: Carrying on ticketing, despite the controversy (see News)
Taylor Swift songs return to TikTok (see Digital)
Spotify plans new remixing tools for the TikTok generation (see Digital)
Is Spotify plotting a largescale push into short-form video? (see Digital)
AIM CEO Silvia Montello resigns for personal reasons (see News)
The techification of entertainment (and why it needs to reverse) (see Comment)
AI music startup Udio launches backed by artists and Instagram’s co-founder (see Digital)
Artists are seeing their music removed from DSPs for streaming fraud they didn’t commit (see Features)
Is there any room for fantasy in pop music these days? (see Features)
Warner Music declines to bid for Believe (see Business)
Napster dispute with photographer puts the spotlight on industry’s artwork deals (see News)
TikTok reports small businesses drove $600m in revenue for the music and entertainment industry in 2023 (see Reports)