soooooo this probably made a lot of people happy.
not you and i.
the consumer.
moreso the people who we listen to when we are:
happy
hurt
horny
headed to work
no,
not our parents or favs.
yes to the music artist tho.
they set some new rules on how artists will get platinum status today.
“platinum” use to mean 1 million actual records sold.
well this digital age brings new changes.
check out how an album will be platinum now via riaa…
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today announced a new Album Award methodology for its Gold & Platinum Program, the industry’s premier award for recognizing artistic achievement in the music marketplace.
Effective Feb. 1, RIAA will include on-demand audio and video streams and a track sale equivalent in Gold & Platinum (G&P’s) Album Award. The modernization of the program’s album rule follows a similar update made to digital single certifications in 2013, when the RIAA first added on-demand streams to its Digital Single Award. Collectively, this now means that the program’s iconic benchmarks – 500,000 (Gold), 1,000,000 (Platinum) and 2,000,000 plus (multi-Platinum) – will count both sales and streams for single and album certifications.
“For nearly six decades, whether it’s vinyl, CDs, downloads or now streams, the Gold & Platinum Program has adapted to recognize the benchmarks of success in an evolving music marketplace,” said Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO, RIAA. “We know that music listening – for both for albums and songs – is skyrocketing, yet that trend has not been reflected in our album certifications. Modernizing our Album Award to include music streaming is the next logical step in the continued evolution of Gold & Platinum Awards, and doing so enables RIAA to fully reward the success of artists’ albums today.”
Seventeen titles, encompassing albums from dozens of music labels and spanning many genres, are included in the inaugural certifications for the newly expanded Album Award. RIAA is today awarding the following artists with new certifications: Alt-J “An Awesome Wave” (Atlantic Records) Gold, Big Sean “Dark Sky Paradise” (Def Jam Recordings) Platinum, Brett Eldredge “Bring You Back” (Atlantic Nashville) Gold, Coldplay “Ghost Stories” (Atlantic/Parlophone) Platinum, Elle King “Love Stuff” (RCA) Gold, Fifth Harmony “Reflection” (Epic) Gold, Halsey “Badlands” (Astralwerks) Gold, Hozier “Hozier” (Columbia) Platinum, Kendrick Lamar “To Pimp a Butterfly” (Top Dawg Entertainment/Interscope) Platinum, Michael Jackson “Thriller” (Epic/Legacy) 32X Multi-Platinum, Miranda Lambert “Platinum” (RCA Nashville) Platinum, Romeo Santos “Fórmula Vol. 2” (Sony Latin) 11X Diamante/RIAA Latin G&P Program, Sam Hunt “Montevallo” (MCA Nashville) 2X Multi-Platinum, Shawn Mendes “Handwritten” (Island Records) Platinum, The Weeknd “Beauty Behind the Madness” (XO/Republic Records) 2X Multi-Platinum, Vance Joy “Dream Your life Away” (Atlantic Records) Gold and Wale “Ambition” (Atlantic Urban) Gold.
After a comprehensive analysis of a variety of factors – including streaming and download consumption patterns and historical impact on the program – and also consultation with a myriad of industry colleagues, the RIAA set the new Album Award formula of 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams = 10 track sales = 1 album sale. Also effective today, RIAA’s Digital Single Award ratio will be updated from 100 on-demand streams = 1 download to 150 on-demand streams = 1 download to reflect streaming’s enormous growth in the two plus years since that ratio was set.
i bet a bunch of artists did this:
…when they heard this news.
i mean i’m torn.
on one side,
the industry has to move with the times.
on another side,
this just means anyone can go platinum.
like,
anyone.
so any random one hit wonder will think they hot shit.
this could be good…
and a completel fuckin’ mess at the same time.
article taken: riaa
The digital age and illegal downloading have taken a toll on sales. I knew eventually the RIAA would have to modify their system. Michael Jackson’s Thriller was just certified 30x platinum a month ago, and now the new certfications its certified at 32x (because of singles). Rihanna is the queen of the downloaded singles, but has never had a cd to sell over 5million. The entire process is a mess. Artists have to be a little more smarter when it comes to marketing. Adele finds herself in a bad place right now. Unlike the previous cd 21, she has a flop followup single to “HELLO” — there is no “Someone Like You” on her cd. “When We Were Young” is a disappointing single to radio and sales. It peaked at #22. The reason is releasing all of your singles to iTunes at the same time. How can you maintain sales for your 2nd, 3rd or possible a 4th single if your singles have all been available weeks ago. This is why singles will forever outsell cds in the digital age. The labels have a choice, but lately they go for the fast money downloads and the album falls off the chart less than 2months of release. Adele shouldn’t have a problem with a cd slump , but her hit singles from this cd have come to an abrupt stop! The labels really need to think twice when it comes to the release of a cd. The Weeknd worldwide sales of “Beauty Behind the Madness” has only sold ( 1,628,000) his 3 singles from the cd
“Earn It” *released months earlier to support ‘Fifty Shades of Grey”(2,110,000) USA
“I Can’t Feel My Face” (2,171,608) USA
“The Hills”(2,662,000)USA
The labels look lazy when 1 single outsells your worldwide cd sales!
Imagine “Thriller” in 2016 7 top 10 singles. The album would probably sell about 40 million worldwide instead of 120 million worldwide
thanks for the post Jamari!
I completely agree. i think that what people are forgetting is that these accolades are a measure of music consumption as a whole and not “sales.” Since sales and radio were the only measure of music earlier, that was all that there was to measure. Why shouldn’t an artist get measured based on streaming when that is a large contributor of the way people consume music in this landscape, especially when only 1 out of every 20 downloads are acquired legally. The streaming business in America alone increased almost doubly in 2015 and more and more of the percentage of revenue is coming from streaming. Streaming is the future and should be counted. And there are studies showing that illegal downloaders are slowly but steadily switching to streaming in which the artist can finally monetize profit (no matter how trivial) from people who weren’t buying. Pennies start to add up eventually.
^ papaSmurf thanks for the info, didn’t know some of these facts
I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. You have to move forward with technology. And in all actuality, I don’t think it will be as easy to go gold/platinum as people think. People may stream an artist’s song but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll listen to the entire album.
^so it’ll be like how cd singles use to go platinum…
i feel confused with this whole thing.
lol
If you think this is bad wait until folks start scaning diamond. To think a Taylor swift album might dethrone Michael Jackson’s thriller as the best selling album of all time. All because it was streamed more. Lol.
On the bright side this will help anyones non selling favorite artists get some kind plaque or recognition.
That will never happen. MJ Thriller sales are from another planet! Taylor 1979 has worldwide sales of 9million. She needs about 111m downloads
what a joke.
On one hand it’s good because not everyone purchases albums and everything is digital, but on another hand it means that anyone and anything can be deemed as Gold or Platinum worthy. To me, it devalues or amplifies the quality of an artist’s music because most of the time, the consumers are following a trend of who and what’s hot at the moment. Credible artist will still be left in the dust, unfortunately.
I can’t say I’m truly surprised. Perhaps we’re all trying the relive the past, but I just can’t believe streams can equate to buying an actual record.
But this will definitely benefit the Flo Ridas and Jason Derulos whose singles successes don’t translate to album sales really well.
R.I.P. to album sales really meaning anything.
Yea, people are not buying albums anymore, and as a result artists will have to adjust. When Beyonce’s first week sales from 4 were her lowest in her solo career, I knew times were changing lol. Everything is digital nowadays and people rather listen to music on their phones lol.
^Not only that, but people were tired of paying full price for music, only to find one or two tracks on the disc were any good. I know that was me back in the day….big time sucker! LOL
I was glad when they started to let you buy the tracks you wanted, and not the entire album/disc.
4 also leaked a week before it was supposed to come out so that hurt her sells as well
It will be a complete fuckin’ mess because as you said, any one hit wonder will think they are the shyt!!
So sad.
^the “souljah boys” of the trap future rejoice.
smh.
I cringe sooooo badly when a one-hit wonder is revered as ‘multi-platinum.’
Pretty soon they’re going to have to make up a new level because platinum is about to become the new gold lol. I like the fact they are going with the times because it’s rare for people to by a whole album these days unless it’s their faves. Streaming music has kind of taken over and it’s only fair to include it.
^i agree.
i was wondering how an artist gets paid with all this streaming now.
do they get a cut?
how does this work?
Depends. Some are literally just getting pennies, others aren’t whatsoever. Which is why some artists choose to not let their music be available for (legal) streaming services. And it’s also why Tidal is such a big deal, not only cause it’s jay-z but b/c it’s supposed to let the ppl who created the song (writer, producers, artists, engineers, etc) actually reap the streaming benefits.
^thanks aj!
did not know that.
i see why they were kicking up so much dust with apple music.
Spotify pays like 70% of the royalties they receive from subscriptions and advertising out to record comapines/artists/publishing. Every artist gets the same pay rate for each stream but it can vary depending on how much revenue Spotify pulls in versus the number of streams. Word on the street is that it can be somewhere between $0.005 and $0.008. Usually the more music streamed the smaller the pay rate will be. The reason some artists get pennies and others millions is simply because more people listen to their music. Also if an artist is with a label they don’t get all the money, only a small portion. If they don’t write their own music or produce it, it’s even less. Say I am an artist with Def Jam. I am new and I put a song out that gets 1,000,000 streams. I did not write or produce the track. I might get 10%-25% (if I’m lucky) of the royalties. 1,000,000 x 0.007 (possible pay rate) = $7,000. Then 10% of that is $700. If I get a million a month then every six months I may see a royalty check of $4,200. Other companies are worse or better but in the same ball park. Vevo is notorious for giving weak pay. Typically something like $2 per 1000 views. Hope that helps.