SoundScan, the information system used by Billboard magazine for its albums and singles charts, has drawn controversy ever since its 1991 inception. Some critics argue, however, that because retail chains like Tower Records didn`t participate in the system, the public received a somewhat inaccurate view of record sales.
But SoundScan recently got a big vote of confidence when Tower linked up five of its stores to the monitoring system.
The five locations included in this initial run include its Chicago location, two stores in Sacramento, and one each in San Francisco and Boston.
The next two outlets expected to plug in are another San Francisco store and a New York unit.
Conspicuous by its absence is the Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, which is one of the chain`s most popular locales.
Some might say the store`s exclusion from Tower`s initial linkup seems like an almost criminal oversight.
Tower president Russ Solomon said there is no sinister reason for the omission of the Los Angeles store.
”We simply don`t have the equipment,” Solomon said. ”The stores on the initial linkup already have electronic computer equipment in them. When we set up a new store, we try to link up the computers with the new technology.”
