VNU Buys 60% of SoundScan

VNU, the giant Netherlands-based publishing conglomerate, this week purchased 60% of SoundScan Inc., the New York research firm whose computerized retail tracking system transformed the music business in 1991 by providing accurate sales data to record labels. The price was undisclosed. SoundScan will join with VNU’s Marketing Information Services division to form a new partnership called Entertainment Marketing Information Services, which is expected to develop marketing data for the music, video and book industries. VNU is an international publishing and information powerhouse whose subsidiaries include BPI Publications, which produces Billboard magazine and the Hollywood Reporter.