John Mellencamp
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And then he became editor of Billboard and he called me up and he said,
I'm going to have to sign a deal with SoundScan.
I didn't know what that was.
He goes, John, you don't understand the ramifications of signing a deal with SoundScan.
I said, well, what are they?
He goes, you'll be out of business.
I go, why do you say that?
He goes, because now the way the billboard charts work,
Is this getting too inside baseball?
The way the charts work is that if you get played in Indianapolis and you get played in New York, it counts as one play.
New York counts as one play.
Indianapolis counts as one play.
When SoundScan came in, they changed it so it's like the number one record of the week.
So if you got a play in New York, that was worth five points.
If you got a play in Indianapolis, that was worth a half a point.
So what does that mean?
That means that people who grew up in St.