Luminate and Mediabase are in bed together. The sales-data provider formerly known as P-MRC Data and Nielsen Music and the music industry’s definitive radio-tracking entity will consummate their union in December when they begin jointly reporting on radio’s music activity in the U.S. and Canada. Luminate owns and operates rival radio-tracking service BDS, which has been used to service Billboard’s radio charts and other charts incorporating radio data, including the Hot 100. The transition from BDS to Mediabase will take effect by year’s end.

Because Mediabase’s audience is bigger than that of BDS, radio thus earns a slightly larger piece of the Hot 100 pie—which means radio becomes more important. That’s good for the weasels and really good for Mediabase President/CEO Philippe Generali and EVP Global Music Marketing and Strategy Alissa Pollack (both pictured), the industry-facing person who’s been fighting this fight for years. We congratulate both for achieving their long-sought goal.

Said Generali, “This new strategic partnership allows us the opportunity to be innovative in our approach to radio monitoring and further our and Luminate’s positions as undisputed experts in music data.”

“Mediabase has proven itself to be the most trusted and referenced radio-data provider in today’s fast-moving, ever-changing music industry,” added Luminate CEO Rob Jonas. “At Luminate, we pride ourselves on being able to provide our clients—whether major record labels, tech companies, film studios, TV networks or indie-music powerhouses—with the absolute best information to operate and grow their businesses. This new partnership allows us to do just that.”

Today’s announcement also reveals Luminate’s plans to modernize its client and user platform, which will house all of the company’s data offerings. Mediabase is the first of numerous data partners that will contribute intelligence to the new Luminate platform, slated to launch in 2023.

We’re wondering if there’s any Côtes du Rhône left.