Overview
Serenade Smart Formats are chart-accredited in the UK and Ireland and tracked by the Official Charts Company (OCC) using sales data compiled by Kantar.
The OCC is the primary reference point for any rules. Where anything below is unclear for your release, contact the OCC directly or reach out to Serenade, we're happy to guide you through it.
Contacts
Official Charts Company (OCC) — approval, product questions, chart rules: chartrules@officialcharts.com
Kantar — UPC registrations: chartsproduct@kantar.com
Serenade — for anything about your products, formats, artwork, manufacturing, or generals questions: support@serenade.co
Eligible Music Releases
Albums and EPs can be made chart eligible as Smart Formats.
Eligible Smart Formats
ALL Serenade Smart Formats apart from clothing tags are chart-approved in the UK as formats in their own right, meaning they can be sold as standalone products without needing to bundle.
Clothing Tags are chart eligible but must follow bundling rules.
Stickers can be standalone products if used on posters (150 GSM paperweight or lower), or postcards.
Other formats beyond these may be eligible case by case. Please ask us if you have any ideas or contact the OCC directly.
Registering and Approving Smart Formats
It is the responsibility of the artist team or label to register and approve their Smart Formats.
You must:
Create a UPC for the Smart Format.
Register the UPC with Kantar.
Approve the Smart Format with the OCC.
For more information on UPCs, see [this link].
Even though Serenade Smart Formats are pre-approved as a product category with the OCC, you must still approve your specific release and any designs with the OCC .
Approval Factors
The OCC may ask the types of questions below when approving a Smart Format:
An image or mockup of the item and design
The price you'll be selling it at
Where you're selling it (D2C store, merch stand, live shows, etc.)
Details of how you'll be describing the item when selling it
Details of any bonus content, and when it'll be added
Pricing
Minimum eligible price: £6 PPD (per unit, before VAT and retailer margin) This is the OCC's minimum dealer price for a chart-eligible format.
Chart Sales
For Smart Format sales, the sale counts at digital redemption. This means the chart sale is counted when an item has been tapped with a mobile phone and accessed by the fan — it is not counted at the point of sale.
Serenade is accountable for logging and sending all sales/redemption data to the OCC against the UPC registered and provided by the artist team/label.
Pre-orders: Smart Formats can be sold on pre-order, and all redemptions during release week count toward week-one chart numbers, just like traditional formats.
Chart accreditation and Bonus Content
All Smart Formats can include digital bonus content as well as the Album/EP.
Bonus content must relate to the album and be approved by the OCC before it's added to the digital page.
To give you an idea of what (likely) is and (definitely) isn't eligible, refer to the table below.
Eligible | Not Eligible |
Voice notes relating to the album/song | Access to a listening party or Zoom call with the artist |
Original artwork, liner notes, lyric sheets | Personalised message, video or text from the artist |
Inner sleeve photos, tour photos | Meet & greet or ticket to an upcoming show (incl. lifetime tickets) |
Studio/BTS footage, demos | Personalised performance or poem |
Song download, music video, video outtakes | Exclusive merchandise or discount code |
Live/acoustic recordings, album booklet, camera roll pictures | Competition/prize draw for an experience or content |
A good rule of thumb is: if this piece of content helps tell a deeper story about the music and doesn't have a clear market value, it's likely to be eligible.
Please note: All bonus content must be directly related to the album and made available on or around the album release date. Final decisions and all bonus content must be reviewed and approved by the OCC prior to upload.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sell more than one Smart Format for the same release?
If you want to sell multiple Smart Formats for one release/campaign and keep them all chart eligible, please contact Serenade to discuss.
Can you have differently designed products for the same campaign?
Each specific Smart Format per campaign must only have one design.