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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 2, 2016 9:44:42 GMT -5
^Certifications are only done by the request of a label as I'm sure you know.
Album certifications have been at all time lows in the past few years. Labels wanted to certify digital singles instead of albums.
Michael Buble's Christmas album has sold 3.9 million copies, but WBR has not certified it.
The Grease Sdtk. could be 20xP+, but it hasn't been certified since 1984.
Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon could be 21xP+, but it hasn't been certified since 1998.
Beyonce's Dangerously In Love and I Am Sasha Fierce have been eligible for new certs. for over 2 years, but they have not been updated.
Bruce Springsteen's last studio album sold 500k, but it has not been certified Gold.
Lady GaGa's "The Fame" has sold 4.6 million, but it's still 3xP.
Eminem, Janet Jackson and Michael Buble have 5 under-certified albums each.
Dr. Dre has two of the most popular rap albums of all time, but they are both under-certified.
The last studio albums by Usher, Robin Thicke, Lady GaGa, Foo Fighters, Childish Gambino, Josh Groban, Casting Crowns, Muse, The Black Keys and Jill Scott have all not been certified Gold.
Certifying albums is easy. The fee is $350.
We'll see this year if these updated requirements cause an increase in album certifications.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 2, 2016 16:11:11 GMT -5
Click on the link to see the tweets: www.rapbasement.com/tde-020216-/tdes-top-dawg-speaks-new-riaa-certification-rules.htmlTDE’s Top Dawg Speaks On New RIAA Certification RulesPosted by Robo on February 2, 2016 Top Dawg Entertainment‘s Top Dawg expressed his feelings for the RIAA‘s new certification rules, calling them ‘BS’. In his tweets, Top Dawg made it clear that it takes a million albums to go platinum in his mind: The Chairman and CEO of RIAA, Cary Sherman, explained that the rules for album certifications have changed drastically due to how music is consumed today. “The Gold & Platinum Program has adapted to recognize the benchmarks of success in an evolving music marketplace,” Sherman says in a press release that was released today (February 1). “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.”
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Feb 2, 2016 17:28:06 GMT -5
^Certifications are only done by the request of a label as I'm sure you know. Album certifications have been at all time lows in the past few years. Labels wanted to certify digital singles instead of albums. Michael Buble's Christmas album has sold 3.9 million copies, but WBR has not certified it. The Grease Sdtk. could be 20xP+, but it hasn't been certified since 1984. Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon could be 21xP+, but it hasn't been certified since 1998. Beyonce's Dangerously In Love and I Am Sasha Fierce have been eligible for new certs. for over 2 years, but they have not been updated. Bruce Springsteen's last studio album sold 500k, but it has not been certified Gold. Lady GaGa's "The Fame" has sold 4.6 million, but it's still 3xP. Eminem, Janet Jackson and Michael Buble have 5 under-certified albums each. Dr. Dre has two of the most popular rap albums of all time, but they are both under-certified. The last studio albums by Usher, Robin Thicke, Lady GaGa, Foo Fighters, Childish Gambino, Josh Groban, Casting Crowns, Muse, The Black Keys and Jill Scott have all not been certified Gold. Certifying albums is easy. The fee is $350. We'll see this year if these updated requirements cause an increase in album certifications. Yeah I was referring to labels getting people retroactively certified based on multi-platinum physicals. Think somebody like MJ or Madonna who has a reason to want to protect a legacy and hold onto relevance against a new generation of popstars It's still a high bar to hit platinum/good based just off track sales and streams. An album that only sells 100k in raw sales would need to move 9 million tracks to go platinum. That's not happening very often. It would take almost a billion streams to go gold with just streaming. Nobody is getting anywhere close to that with only US based streams, even with several big hit singles
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85la
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Post by 85la on Feb 2, 2016 20:48:22 GMT -5
Interesting fact about the under-certifications, especially Grease and Dark Side of the Moon. And since it's so cheap (comparatively, for the labels) to certify them, it's really quite surprising they don't. It would add huge marketing value to the album itself, likely causing even more sales, and increase the standing of the artist and label as a whole as well.
There's always been a lot of fraud in labels trying to get albums over-certified, especially in the days before Soundscan, so it seems crazy that if they actually have albums that have legit sales, they don't certify them!!! You'd think they'd jump right on it!
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Feb 2, 2016 22:25:12 GMT -5
I guess the question is, does certification mean the same thing in used to in the public psyche? There has to be some reason why labels wouldn't bother paying a pittance for what used to be a prime marketing tool.
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Post by Daryl the Beryl on Feb 2, 2016 23:19:08 GMT -5
The CEO of Top Dawg Entertainment (i.e. Kendrick Lamar's label) has stood up against the new rule.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 2, 2016 23:34:13 GMT -5
Hypocrite:
KENDRICK LAMAR Title: TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY Certification Date: February 1, 2016 Label: TOP DAWG ENTERTAINMENT / INTERSCOPE Format: ALBUM Award: Gold, 1xP
802,000 sold.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 2, 2016 23:37:38 GMT -5
I guess the question is, does certification mean the same thing in used to in the public psyche? There has to be some reason why labels wouldn't bother paying a pittance for what used to be a prime marketing tool. I've been posting the RIAA album certs for the past 2 years here. Each thread had very few comments. Labels switched from certifying albums to certifying digital single sales when sales exploded in the late 2000s. 934 digital single certs in 2015. Only 101 standard album certs...
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 3, 2016 9:10:26 GMT -5
This is a good article! When it comes to the Billboard 200: "We also looked at certification levels for the past decade. We found, for example, in 2005, 90% of the Top 200 Albums were eligible for an RIAA Album Award. In 2014, that number was only around 30%. Even with the new rules just announced, only about 40% would be eligible for a possible certification! The threshold for a certification is still very high." and... "Album certifications are down precipitously during the last 10 years. In 2005, the RIAA certified 479 albums. In 2015, that number was 122 even while album listening and consumption through streaming is way up." www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/heres-why-1500-youtube-views-now-equates-to-an-album-in-the-us/In this exclusive MBW blog, the RIAA’s EVP of Communications and Marketing, Jonathan Lamy, and its Director, Communications and Gold & Platinum Program, Liz Kennedy, explain their justification for the move – and what it might mean for artists and labels in the decades to come… Why Now? Why This Formula?Like all fans, we cherish the concept of the album. We all rightly celebrate the albums that reach the pinnacle of marketplace success. The modern reality is that the way fans consume those albums has changed – drastically! That’s why, when we started to develop a new formulation to better integrate streaming into the Gold & Platinum Album Awards last year, we identified a handful of overriding imperatives to guide our work. First, we must adapt and be flexible. Sitting on our laurels and gazing warmly at the status quo is not tenable. Look no further than the past 15 years and the tumult exacted upon the music business to appreciate that point. Second, our 58-year program must continue to recognize the very best of the best, the cream of the crop. Rewarding only quality and rare commercial success is essential. “IT IS WELL KNOWN BY MBW READERS THAT INDUSTRY REVENUES HAVE DECLINED OR REMAINED FLAT EVEN THOUGH CONSUMPTION HAS INCREASED DRAMATICALLY.”Third, our analysis and the determination of a formula must be based on comparative consumption patterns, not their marketplace value. It is well known by the readers of MBW that music industry revenues have declined or remained flat even though consumption has increased dramatically. Inadequate monetization by music services is a serious challenge, but the program should reflect the demand and listening habits of music fans rather than today’s commercial revenues. Lastly, we must preserve the integrity of the program. We must ensure that our updates to the program do not dilute the significance of previous awards. Album certifications are down precipitously during the last 10 years. In 2005, the RIAA certified 479 albums. In 2015, that number was 122 even while album listening and consumption through streaming is way up. None of the decisions that went into creating the new 1500 streams / 10 tracks equivalency proportions were made lightly. Along with our label members, we sifted through reams of data on digital track and album downloads and all kinds of streams. We also looked at certification levels for the past decade. We found, for example, in 2005, 90% of the Top 200 Albums were eligible for an RIAA Album Award. In 2014, that number was only around 30%. Even with the new rules just announced, only about 40% would be eligible for a possible certification! The threshold for a certification is still very high. Let’s also not overlook some key criteria of any certification: external auditing company Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman reviews every submission to confirm that each award recipient has qualified based on a number of mandatory requirements, like requisite sales and streaming figures, demonstrated consumer demand, and much more. “NONE OF THE DECISIONS THAT WENT INTO CREATING THE NEW 1,500 STREAMS / 10 TRACKS EQUIVALENCY PROPORTIONS WERE MADE LIGHTLY.”Additionally, only on-demand streams requested by a user in the United States count. And for videos, only official releases count – no user-generated content. We hope everyone would agree that the 17 artists receiving inaugural awards are considered very successful. Yet two-thirds of them had not yet been eligible for their first Gold or Platinum Album Award. That surely can’t be right. Change is hard. We understand that. Music has become a highly diversified business, with multiple revenue streams and multiple ways for fans to listen to their favorite songs and albums. We have to find ways to recognize that collective activity, even if it may not always be perfectly elegant. A Gold or Platinum album award is the result of demand for that artist’s work, just demonstrated in a different way than 25 or even 10 years ago. We welcome the conversation and questions and feedback about the rule change. It is gratifying that people care so deeply about the program and what it means. As its custodians, and as guardians of its integrity, we do too.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 3, 2016 12:49:56 GMT -5
New cert benefiting from the updated requirements:
SELENA GOMEZ Title: REVIVAL Certification Date: February 2, 2016 Label: INTERSCOPE Format: ALBUM Award: Gold
Pure album sales: 287,000
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85la
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Post by 85la on Feb 4, 2016 18:36:09 GMT -5
^ So the part about how only official videos and no user-generated content will count, along with only on-demand streams differentiates their method from Billboard.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 4, 2016 22:00:50 GMT -5
www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/music-sales-are-music-pr/459378/Music Sales Are Music PRPlatinum and Gold certifications now reflect streaming figures, but it’s still very hard to quantify a musician's commercial success. SPENCER KORNHABER FEB 2, 2016 MUSIC When people talk about commercial success in popular music, they’re often talking about one of three concepts. There’s the reach of a work of music—the number of listeners it gets. There’s perception, or bragging rights. And there’s the money made—arguably the most important metric, almost entirely obscured from public view. The announcement that the Recording Industry of America will now count on-demand streaming figures when doling out Gold and Platinum certifications for albums means such certifications will better reflect the first aforementioned category: actual listenership. Over the past few years, more and more people have stopped paying to download or physically own albums and started instead consuming music on platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music (Pandora, too, but because you don’t get to pick individual songs its data still won’t factor into RIAA certifications). The RIAA’s rule change means those people can push an album to Gold or Platinum status, and that’s a good thing if certification is meant to capture real marketplace interest in a musical work. But the rule switch-up also makes understanding what exactly Gold or Platinum status means more difficult than ever before. Until now, Gold indicated at least 500,000 copies sold in stores or through platforms like iTunes, while Platinum indicated a million. Now, those numbers are the sum of sales and the equivalent of sales. The formula for equivalency: “1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams = 10 track sales = 1 album sale.” The question of whether that’s a “fair” calculation is inherently unanswerable. What’s clear is that certifications will go from being a cut-and-dry benchmark to an approximation. Should the public mind? Probably not. An album sells what it sells regardless of certification; certificates are only handed out after a record company or musician puts in an application for one. For artists, the incentive to do so is the same incentive to pursue any kind of award: recognition for hard work. For everyone else, Gold and Platinum plaques have always been about that second idea of musical success that I mentioned earlier: appearances. Certificates allow musicians and their record companies to market themselves as successful. They give fans ammo in their online wars against rival fandoms. The RIAA’s own press release makes certifications sound like promotional gimmicks: "Gold & Platinum recognition is often among the most celebrated news in an artist’s social media feed. The RIAA utilizes a myriad of social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipagram, and a YouTube page – to market and publicize artist award achievements. The RIAA also recently unveiled a new RIAA.com and Gold & Platinum database where fans can more easily search and share the award recognition." That third version of commercial success, how much money a song or album has made, remains hard to talk about. Remember, RIAA awards are a marker of thresholds—an album can sell anywhere between 1,000,000 and 1,999,999 copies and still be Platinum. The other widely used commercial metric in music, Nielsen Soundscan, does keep precise sales and streaming totals, but much of that is only available to subscribers. The Billboard charts simply use those totals to render success in the relative terms of a ranking. And even when the public does know the full consumption figures for a work of music, that’s far from a full portrait of financial success. It’s always been the case that the amount an artist makes from an individual sale—as opposed to how much the record company or distributor profits—has been confidential. But today, the picture is even less clear. That’s in part because streaming payouts are famously complicated and mutable. It’s also because in many cases, profitability has been largely decoupled from sales in favor of merchandising, touring, and, of increasing importance, sponsorships. Take the case of Rihanna’s new album, Anti. On Friday, The New York Times reported that by Nielsen’s count, only 460 copies had been sold. That’s a shockingly low number, but as the reporter Ben Sisario wrote, it’s surely so small only because of quirks of rules and timing. As I wrote the same day, the RIAA certified Anti platinum within 14 hours of it hitting the Internet—apparently because Samsung, with whom Rihanna’s signed a reported $25 million marketing deal, bought up a million album copies that were then gifted to fans who typed in a download code. Nielsen doesn’t count such free promotions in its numbers; the RIAA does, on the theory that they still reflect consumer demand for an album. One measure of counting is certainly better for Rihanna’s publicity machine. Neither tells anyone how much money she’s made.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 11, 2016 13:26:16 GMT -5
All benefiting from the new rules. Luke Bryan would have went 1xP without them:
New album certs:
Nicki Minaj, The Pinkprint: 1xP, 2xP
Pentatonix, That's Christmas To Me: 2xP
Luke Bryan, Kill The Lights: Gold, 1xP J Cole, Born Sinner: 1xP J Cole, Cole World: The Sideline Story: 1xP
Future, DS2: Gold Kid Ink, My Own Lane: Gold Walk The Moon, Talking Is Hard: Gold Andy Grammer, Magazines or Novels: Gold Grateful Dead, 30 Trips Around The Sun: Gold
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pnobelysk
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Post by pnobelysk on Feb 12, 2016 9:31:49 GMT -5
The albums that are benefiting are the ones around 300k sold. Not enough for a Gold album certification, but with the streams, they are now eligible for Gold: Halsey Alt-J Shawn Mendes (1xp) Elle King 5th Harmony Vance Joy Big Sean Brett Eldridge Big Sean I'm against this , to me it's crazy that fifth harmony album that has sold less than 200k can be gold
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Feb 18, 2016 14:45:29 GMT -5
Good article: www.billboard.com/articles/business/6882083/riaa-nah-after-anti-goes-platinum-execs-explain-the-new-rules-for-going?curator=MusicREDEFRIAA-Nah? After 'Anti' Goes Platinum, Execs Explain the New Rules for Going Gold (and Platinum and Diamond)2/17/2016 by Ed Christman When Rihanna’s Anti went Platinum two days after its exclusive release via Tidal and Samsung, some RIAA (Recording Industry Assn. of America) critics smelt a rat, questioning if Samsung’s giveaway cheapens the RIAA’s the million unit milestone designation. Still others questioned how it could even reach 1 million in domestic U.S. sales, given that Samsung's deal was reported as being limited to 1 million units, and that the giveaway wasn’t limited to the U.S. Samsung customers. Rihanna's award was announced a few days before the announcement that the RIAA, in recognition of the times, will count streaming toward its certification sales milestones. Consequently, 1,500 streams will count as an album unit. This move comes on the heels of its 2013 alteration to its Gold Single award where it announced that 100 streams would count as a single download, and last month had upped that ratio to 150 streams in recognition of how streaming has grown. Billboard spoke with RIAA chairman and CEO Cary Sherman, RIAA director of communications/director of the certification program Liz Kennedy and executive vp of communications Jonathan Lamy about the change. Does the RIAA certification program only count U.S. sales?Sherman: Yes. Since its inception, how many sales awards has the RIAA issued?Sherman: Currently, there are 8,887 Gold albums [sales of 500,000 units], 4,262 Platinum albums [sales of 1 million units], 1,348 multi-Platinum albums [sales of 2 million or more] and 112 Diamond albums [sales of more than 10 million]. Are those numbers inclusive of each higher sales award threshold?Sherman: Yes. [Another way to look at the numbers then would be to say: 4,625 albums have only reached Gold; 2,914 have gone past Gold and reached Platinum; 1,236 have gone past Platinum and reached multi-Platinum and 112 have reached Diamond.] Is this the first time you have changed the formula for a Gold and Platinum albums?Kennedy: There was a time in 1958 where the requirement was proof of 500,000 units sold or the money equivalent back then -- $1 million in sales. Were labels giving out awards on their own before the RIAA initiated its program in 1958. I know of one instance where a family member has a Gold album from their artist parent hanging on the wall from an album back in the '50’s that is not in the RIAA database.Kennedy: I don’t know if anybody was doing something like that before the RIAA, but the RIAA is the one that has maintained the standards. That’s why we introduced the hologram in the early '80’s, in order to differentiate the RIAA awards from the counterfeit plaques. Why change the formula now? Sherman: For a while we've recognized that we would need to put streaming in the mix as consumption changed -- but we needed to do it carefully. So we started with the easiest one to change, the singles awards. We watched that and made sure it worked out, and then after about a year, we started on the albums. While looking at how to implement for the album, we went through an elaborate process, getting feedback form the industry, and going through the same data analysis that we did for the single. What impact will streaming inclusion have on the number of albums that reach the certification status each year?Sherman: 10 years ago, nearly 90 percent of those albums sold enough in that year to reach Gold status. 10 years later, about 30 percent were eligible. With the new rules, we figure about 40 percent of the top 200 best-sellers for the year will be eligible. We were very cautious in our approach to changing how we calculate what is eligible because the integrity of the process is our foremost consideration. It's difficult to get certified sales awards, and it's a big deal and we didn’t want there to be a huge change in how many would be eligible. Yet you caught some heat on the Rihanna certification of Platinum for Anti, which got the award based on the Samsung giveaway?Kennedy: No more than we did when we certified Jay Z. Rihanna was certified before the change to consider streams in certification. There are two key requirements for the certification program. That there is consumer demand and that the artist and label get paid a certain minimum amount. We satisfied both of them with Rihanna. We got the data from the service, we saw the redemption of the download codes. They couldn’t just send the album to consumers, the consumer had to initiate the acquisition. The redemption is the indication of the demand. But what about the report that Samsung was only going to give away a million copies, which included international customers as well. So how could it have reached a million in the U.S.?Sherman: We saw more than a million confirmed downloads to U.S. customers. We would not count international customers. So in Fifth Harmony, we now have their Reflection album with 155,000 units in sales that is now considered Gold. Won’t the bands that obtained Gold status purely from sales feel like Roger Maris' family must feel when they see their father's home run record broken time and again by modern ballplayers, who are benefitting from lower pitcher mounds, a livelier ball, modified bats, smaller distances to the outfield fences, and performance enhancing drugs?Sherman: We haven’t needed an asterisk yet. Lamy: Even the most successful album of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, only went up two levels [2 million] under our new rules. You are not seeing people jump five levels. When we looked at the criteria we changed it so that the artists from 20 years ago won’t feel like this is now less of an accomplishment. When you announce the certifications, will fans be able to see the breakout of the numbers -- how many were sales, streams, TEA?Sherman: There will be no breakout. When we changed for the single, we never specified what the breakout for sales to streams were. Will streams and track sales of songs released ahead of an album count toward the certification of that album?Sherman: These are lifetime awards, so before and after an album’s release all count. Its my understanding that if there are multiple single versions of a song from the album, only the version of the actual track will count toward the certification? Is that correct? Why that ruling?
Kennedy: There has to be a version on the album that will count. That is a small difference from the single, where all versions, as long as they are not longer than the album version by 90 seconds or less, can count toward the certification. What services streams are counting?Sherman: All interactive services. Will user-generated streams on YouTube count?Sherman: No, only official video streams. Why 1,500 streams. Is that because the industry’s standard blended stream rate is about $0.005 cents and that 1,500 streams equals the average album wholesale price of $7.50?Kennedy: The streams-to-sales ratio is consumption, not valuation, based and over time we will review consumption habits, which is why we raised the single stream count to 150 streams. We will always continue to review consumption to recognize artists and celebrate their work. Sherman: We do not take into account the value of the stream. We see the number of streams as a measure of consumer demand, not the value. As it is, we think streams are under-monetized, and we are complaining loudly about that. If the value of a stream changes, we won’t alter the count because we don’t want to alter the history of the program because that would impact these milestone achievements.
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Feb 18, 2016 16:16:58 GMT -5
Good article: www.billboard.com/articles/business/6882083/riaa-nah-after-anti-goes-platinum-execs-explain-the-new-rules-for-going?curator=MusicREDEFRIAA-Nah? After 'Anti' Goes Platinum, Execs Explain the New Rules for Going Gold (and Platinum and Diamond)2/17/2016 by Ed Christman When you announce the certifications, will fans be able to see the breakout of the numbers -- how many were sales, streams, TEA?Sherman: There will be no breakout. When we changed for the single, we never specified what the breakout for sales to streams were. Will streams and track sales of songs released ahead of an album count toward the certification of that album?Sherman: These are lifetime awards, so before and after an album’s release all count. Its my understanding that if there are multiple single versions of a song from the album, only the version of the actual track will count toward the certification? Is that correct? Why that ruling?
Kennedy: There has to be a version on the album that will count. That is a small difference from the single, where all versions, as long as they are not longer than the album version by 90 seconds or less, can count toward the certification. There 3 questions/answers are the big ones for me Why don't they want to show the breakout? Because the labels don't want to change the perception of gold/platinum albums. Even with the change, the average consumer things gold=500k and platinum=1 m. Streams/sales of pre-release singles is complicated IMO. How are instant grats being counted? If I preorder an album and get 3 songs instantly, are they counted towards the TEA total for the album's cert or do they get returned when I complete the album? Soundscan "returns" the singles when you complete the album, but RIAA doesn't use Soundscan data, they use audit label provided numbers. His answer about multiple versions of a song is confusing. Does he mean that only the album version of a song will count? Or that any version of the song will count as long as there is 1 version on the album?
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kanimal
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Post by kanimal on Feb 18, 2016 16:44:28 GMT -5
-- Not sure I follow the Rihanna explanation. I mean, I'm glad that they held the giveaway to some sort of standard, but I'm not sure why that particular standard was imposed.
Albums are certified based on shipments rather than sales or "demand." Only 400,000 people "demanded" Ariana Grande's album, but it went platinum due to Republic confirming 1 million shipped units.
Isn't Samsung "buying" 1 million albums to distribute to its customers similar to a label sending 1 million units to Best Buy and Target with the possibility that Best Buy and Target find buyers for those albums? If anything, it's actually a higher standard, since there aren't "take-backsies" on the Samsung buy.
Exactly. I cringed when I saw Hailee Steinfeld's plaque explicitly claiming 1,000,000 "sold" copies of Love Myself. Same with the Halsey banner claiming 520K+ *Sales* of her album, which hadn't actually sold even 300K at the time of certification.
I also love how he just says "there's no asterisk," as if people haven't been complaining about this from the moment it was announced.
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Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815...
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Post by Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815... on Feb 19, 2016 1:23:53 GMT -5
This whole thing seems so foul to me. His answers are weird and short as if he doesn't want to elaborate at all. The answer he gave on the Samsung deal with Anti makes no sense as well.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Mar 2, 2016 15:44:42 GMT -5
www.rollingstone.com/music/features/have-gold-records-lost-their-luster-20160301Have Gold Records Lost Their Luster?The RIAA just changed the criteria for gold records. But did they cheapen the accomplishment? By Steve Knopper March 1, 2016 For 58 years, going gold was a simple matter: Sell 500,000 copies of your album or single, get a shiny record to hang on your wall. But thanks to new guidelines the Recording Industry Association of America introduced in early February, it just got easier — and more complicated. Now, along with actual sales, the formula factors in listens on streaming services, as well as YouTube plays, and counts 10 digital-track downloads as the equivalent of one album sold; 1,500 plays on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal or any other streaming service now count as one album sale, meaning that an LP with 750 million streams would be credited with a gold record. (The rule changes only affect albums; the RIAA began taking into account streaming data for gold and platinum singles in 2013.) The changes had an immediate effect. Albums like Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, Miranda Lambert's Platinum and Hozier's self-titled LP went from gold to platinum instantly, even though they had not reached the 1 million in sales that were previously required. Midlevel acts like Elle King and Alt-J also became gold-plated success stories overnight. So far, the RIAA has certified 29 new gold or platinum albums under the new rules. This includes previously certified albums that jumped to the next level — like Thriller, which leaped from 30 to 32 times platinum. The RIAA's new math reflects a sea change in listening habits. Streaming revenue grew from $500 million in 2012 to more than $1 billion in 2014. Ten years ago, 90 percent of the albums on Billboard's Top 200 sold enough copies to go gold or platinum; in 2014, just 30 percent of them did the same. Billboard updated its charts to include streaming data in 2014. "We can't be the same program we were 58 years ago, and even three years ago," says Liz Kennedy, the RIAA's gold and platinum director. "We'll have to continue to adjust over time." Peter Paterno, attorney for Dr. Dre, Metallica and Van Morrison, adds, "If they stick to [sales], they're not going to have any charts in five years. If you don't include streaming, you're not painting an accurate picture of what's going on." Not everybody is thrilled with the new rules. Larry Stessel, a former executive for major labels Sony, Mercury and EMI, says, "Streaming, to me, is no different than radio airplay, so to count it in a certification on sales doesn't make any sense. It makes it less meaningful. There are still artists like Adele who can sell 8 million copies." Even harsher was Anthony Tiffith, owner of Lamar's label, Top Dawg Entertainment, who called the RIAA's decision "bs." He summed up his feelings in a tweet after To Pimp a Butterfly got its status bump: "Ole skool rules apply. 1 million albums sold is platinum. Until we reach that #, save all the congrats."
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Mar 2, 2016 15:46:22 GMT -5
New RIAA certs on the 3/12 Billboard 200: www.billboard.com/biz/charts/the-billboard-200Chris Stapleton, Traveller 1xPtwentyone pilots, Blurryface 1xPFetty Wap, Fetty Wap Gold, 1xPFall Out Boy, American Beauty/American Psycho 1xPG-Eazy, When It's Dark Out GoldG-Eazy, These Things Happen GoldKelly Clarkson, Piece By Piece Gold
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Mar 3, 2016 13:01:07 GMT -5
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Mar 10, 2016 14:50:12 GMT -5
28 new RIAA album certs were announced today: www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/Too many for me to type out. "The Essential" series has numerous updated certifications.
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onebuffalo
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Post by onebuffalo on Mar 10, 2016 15:22:20 GMT -5
28 new RIAA album certs were announced today: www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/Too many for me to type out. "The Essential" series has numerous updated certifications. I'm assuming the one for Alabama was the same album they put out in 1998 called 41 Number One Hits.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Mar 10, 2016 15:33:33 GMT -5
^No. That album is 5xP.
This is "The Essential" series through BMG.
Their album "Ultimate 20 #1 Hits" needs to be certified Gold.
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onebuffalo
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Post by onebuffalo on Mar 10, 2016 16:01:48 GMT -5
^No. That album is 5xP. This is "The Essential" series through BMG. Their album "Ultimate 20 #1 Hits" needs to be certified Gold. I'll bet it's got the same track listing.
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Post by Carriefan1190 on Mar 14, 2016 16:22:18 GMT -5
This new formula in my opinion degrades the prestige of having a gold or platinum record. Now you can sell almost nothing as far as physical copies go and still go platinum based on streams.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Mar 14, 2016 18:46:28 GMT -5
^Yes, look at Rachel Platten. Less than 100k sold and she's Gold!
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kanimal
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Post by kanimal on Mar 15, 2016 10:52:23 GMT -5
This new formula in my opinion degrades the prestige of having a gold or platinum record. Now you can sell almost nothing as far as physical copies go and still go platinum based on streams. Your opinion is predicated on the notion that 10 track sales and 1500 track streams are NOT the consumption equivalent of 1 album. You're certainly entitled to that opinion, and it's shared by many within the industry. That said, the movement is to assert that those levels of consumption are, in fact, totally equal. That when assessing overall prominence, an album that sold 100K pure copies and 5 million tracks is equivalent to one that sold 500K pure copies and 1 million tracks. Not incorporating tracks and streams into certifications, the Billboard 200, etc would be to stunt the proliferation of this "total consumption" mindset. -- Personally, I think we're still in a gray area. I'm certainly sympathetic to those who oppose an album like Rachel Platten's going gold when the majority of its activity is really coming from one (two at best) singles. On the other hand, if you look at something like the Justin Bieber, The Weeknd or Rihanna albums which are driving big levels of across-the-board streaming (and track sales as well in Bieber's case), I don't think it's inaccurate to suggest that they're "bigger" than is reflected by their pure sales. We obviously can't capture that nuance in practice, so we ultimately have to choose which side we want to protect.
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craziaskowboi
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Post by craziaskowboi on Mar 21, 2016 15:19:17 GMT -5
This means Nickelback could soon have their first Diamond-certified album. 'All The Right Reasons' is currently certified 8X Platinum. I can't wait for all the wailing and gnashing of teeth when that happens.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Mar 23, 2016 21:13:18 GMT -5
New certs under the updated requirements:
Lorde, Pure Heroine 3xP
The Weeknd, Trilogy 2xP
Ariana Grande, My Everything 2xP
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