Comparison · facts verified July 28, 2026
SpinCounts vs Mediabase
This one isn't a feature fight — it's two different jobs. Mediabase is the industry airplay panel behind the format charts, built for radio programmers and major-label promotion departments. SpinCounts is a public airplay tracker: 6,700+ monitored stations with spin-level data — stations, exact timestamps, maps — open to anyone, free. Which one you need depends entirely on who you are.
What Mediabase actually is
Mediabase electronically monitors a curated panel of (primarily terrestrial) radio stations and turns those detections into the rotation reports and format charts the U.S. radio industry runs on — the data behind countdown shows and trade coverage, on programmers' desks every morning. Access is sold to industry professionals through sales contact: no public pricing, no self-serve signup, no public lookup of any artist, song or station (verified July 28, 2026). None of that is a flaw — it's the design. The panel's currency is precisely that it's the industry's shared, controlled reference.
What that design can't give you
If you're an independent artist, manager or small label, the panel model leaves specific needs unmet: you can't search your own song, can't see which stations played it or when, can't share a link as proof, and can't get access without a sales conversation priced for companies. Those are exactly the needs a public tracker exists for — every spin SpinCounts logs is on a public page with its station and timestamp, the charts link every position to its underlying data, and reports are self-serve from a free tier up.
Side by side
| SpinCounts | Mediabase | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Public radio airplay tracker | Industry airplay panel & chart reporting service |
| Built for | Artists, indie labels, managers, promoters, DJs | Radio programmers, major-label promo departments, trades |
| Coverage | 6,700+ stations — U.S.-focused FM streams (incl. iHeart), SiriusXM, internet radio | Curated panel of monitored (primarily terrestrial) stations across North American markets |
| Public lookup | ✅ Any artist/song/station, free, no account | — (login-walled) |
| Spin timestamps | ✅ Public on every track page | In-platform for subscribers |
| Charts | ✅ Weekly public charts, every row links to its data | The industry format charts (subscriber access; excerpts via trades) |
| Pricing | Free public data; free account; plans listed publicly | Not published — sales contact only |
| Getting access | Self-serve, instant | Sales-negotiated, industry-oriented |
| Audience weighting | Spins only, equally weighted, auditable; charts rank songs released in the last 24 months; each station counts at most 50 plays of a song per chart week | Spins and audience-impression metrics for chart math |
| API | ✅ REST API incl. free chart access — docs | Enterprise arrangements |
Verified July 28, 2026 from public materials. Mediabase details reflect its public surface — as a sales-negotiated service, subscriber capabilities may exceed what's publicly documented. Panels differ; neither dataset is a superset of the other.
The honest recommendation
If you're a radio programmer, or a label promotion department whose job is the official format charts — you need Mediabase; that's not a competition SpinCounts is entering. If you're an artist or independent team that needs to see, prove and act on your own airplay — station-level, timestamped, shareable, today — that's the job SpinCounts was built for, starting free. Plenty of promotion teams effectively use both worlds: the panel for chart strategy, the public tracker for catalog-wide visibility (including the internet and satellite radio the panel doesn't cover) and for data their artists can actually be shown. How our numbers are produced is public too: see the methodology page.
SpinCounts vs Mediabase FAQs
Is SpinCounts an alternative to Mediabase?
For artists and independent teams, yes — it answers the questions Mediabase's model doesn't serve them: who played my song, when, where, with public proof. For radio programmers and chart-reporting departments, no — Mediabase is the industry panel behind the format charts, and that job stays theirs.
How much does Mediabase cost?
Mediabase doesn't publish pricing — access is sales-negotiated and industry-oriented (verified July 2026). SpinCounts' data is free to browse, with self-serve accounts and publicly listed plans.
Can independent artists get Mediabase access?
There's no self-serve signup; access runs through sales contact and is priced for industry use. That gap is precisely what public trackers fill — SpinCounts' spins, stations and timestamps are open to anyone immediately.
Do SpinCounts and Mediabase monitor the same stations?
The panels differ. Mediabase monitors a curated, primarily terrestrial panel across North American markets. SpinCounts monitors 6,700+ stations — U.S. FM streams (including iHeartRadio), SiriusXM, and internet radio the panel model doesn't cover. Neither is a superset of the other.
Will my SpinCounts spins show up on Billboard charts?
No — Billboard's airplay charts are built from industry panel data. SpinCounts charts are computed from its own network's verified spins with all data public. Different panels, different math; see how airplay charts work for the full picture.
See your airplay without a sales call
Search your song right now — stations, timestamps and maps are already public.
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