The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is one of the world's leading statistical agencies. BEA produces economic statistics that enable the government, economists, statisticians, and the public to understand the performance of the Nation's economy. BEA collects source data, conducts research and analysis, develops and implements methodologies, and disseminates statistics to the public.

BEA provides many economic measurements as part of the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs). The NIPAs are used for a variety of purposes in setting national economic policy and in forecasting and interpreting macroeconomic activity. They include gross domestic product (GDP), which is considered the most useful summary measure of the Nation's production. BEA, as the nation's accountant and one of the world's leading statistical agencies, collects source data, conducts research and analysis, develops and implements estimation methodologies and disseminates statistics to the public. In this role, BEA collects source data from many specific sectors of the economy.

BEA is interested in obtaining additional data for the digital and sharing economy. BEA would like to purchase monthly US music sales data for use in our PCE Prerecorded discs, tapes, and digital downloads estimate (RTD). This data would be superior to the current Census retail sales approach for estimating. The Census retail sales includes sales data by retail industries such as Warehouse Clubs & Superstores and Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses, which sell a wide variety of products that aren't necessarily good indicators for these specific products. Using monthly US music sales data for our monthly indicator trend would also alleviate concerns over using Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) data. RIAA data does not have a monthly indicator, using their annual indicator for this series shows a different general trend than the current monthly retail sales indicator.
The monthly US music sales data would further advance BEA's goal to better identify and measure the digital economy, providing more accurate monthly RTD estimates. RIAA does not provide this data on monthly basis and Census Bureau data does not give us an accurate measure.
The contractor shall provide the following:
The data must be provided in a consistent time series and must represent a significant share of the transactions in the major markets.

A. ONE TIME HISTORICAL DATA DELIVERY
One-time historical data for US market between Monthly, January 2012 and March 2017.
Data delivered in .xls
The following data points per week:
• Physical Album Sales (configuration breakout: CD, DVD, LP & Cassette)
• Digital Album Sales
• Physical Single Sales (configuration breakout: CD, DVD, LP & Cassette)
• Digital Single Sales

B. Monthly DATA DELIVERY
Monthly data for US market between Monthly, April 2017 and April 2018.
Data delivered in .xls
The following data points per week:
• Physical Album Sales (configuration breakout: CD, DVD, LP & Cassette)
• Digital Album Sales
• Physical Single Sales (configuration breakout: CD, DVD, LP & Cassette)
• Digital Single Sales

C. The Report Period:
• Historic Monthly data, Jan 2012 - March 2017
• Current Monthly data, April 2017 - April 2018

All responsible sources may submit their capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. For questions concerning this procurement please contact Pamela Miller, Contracting Officer at [email protected]