Billboard may get exclusive access to the music data powering their charts as their parent company buys out the influential Nielsen Music.

Valence Media have bought Nielsen Music, an organisation renowned for their data and analysis in the music industry. Billboard have just gained a great ally under their parent Valence, as Nielsen is the provider for the data they use in their music charts.

Whilst it’s a convenient umbrella for the two companies to work under, Valence have made a point that their businesses won’t run differently. They have pledged “to operate with clear separation between the data and editorial teams and continue to follow best practices and security standards to ensure clients’ data integrity”.

Reports suggest that Nielsen have been selling off assets to recover from company losses with their share prices crashing in recent years. Their sale to Valence Media and clear value to other companies in their roster should help them to stabilise.

Billboard and Nielsen Music were once owned by the same company. Between 1999 and 2009 they were both owned by Dutch media group Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen. Billboard was then sold on before coming under Valence.

President of Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Group, Deanna Brown said: “By bringing Nielsen Music Products and Billboard back together, we’re answering the request from the music industry for a more coordinated, powerful, agile and global suite of independent measurement products.”

Billboard will be looking to solidify their current hold on music charts. Rolling Stone announced this year that they are launching their own charts which they claim will be more up to date with daily updated charts using streaming data.