Music recording sales certification

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"Golden record", "Gold disc", "Diamond disc", "Diamond award", and "Double platinum" redirect here. For the golden phonograph records on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, see Voyager Golden Record. For gold masters, see Master recording. For the Edison phonograph, see Edison Disc Record. For the award of the World Music Awards, see Chopard Diamond award. For other uses of "double platinum", see Double platinum (disambiguation)
A gold record for The Beatles' "Hey Jude"

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see List of music recording certifications).

Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after precious materials.

The number of sales or shipments required for these awards depends upon the population of the territory in which the recording is released. Typically, they are awarded only to international releases and are awarded individually for each country in which the album is sold. Different sales levels, some perhaps 10 times lower than others, may exist for different music media (for example: videos versus albums, singles, or downloads).

History

The original gold record awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize their sales achievements. The first of these was awarded by RCA Victor to Glenn Miller in February 1942, celebrating the sale of 1.2 million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo". Another example of a company award is the gold record awarded to Elvis Presley in 1956 for one million units sold of his single "Don't Be Cruel". The first gold record for an LP was awarded by RCA Victor to Harry Belafonte in 1957 for the album Calypso (1956), the first album to sell over 1,000,000 copies in RCA's reckoning.

At the industry level, in 1958 the Recording Industry Association of America introduced its gold record award program for records of any kind, albums or singles, which achieved one million dollars in retail sales.[1] For albums in 1968, this would mean shifting approximately 250,000 units; for singles the number would be higher due to their lower retail price.[1] The platinum certification was introduced in 1976 for the sale of one million units, album or single, with the gold certification redefined to mean sales of 500,000 units, album or single. No album was certified platinum prior to this year. For instance, the recording by Van Cliburn of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto from 1958 would eventually be awarded a platinum citation, but this would not happen for another two decades after its release. In 1999, the diamond certification was introduced for sales of ten million units.

RIAA certification

Main article: RIAA certification
Gold record presented to Artie Schroeck for his arrangement on "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", 1967

The first official designation of a "gold record" by the RIAA was established for singles in 1958, and the RIAA also trademarked the term "gold record" in the United States. On March 14, 1958, the RIAA certified its first gold record, Perry Como's hit single "Catch a Falling Star". The Oklahoma! soundtrack was certified as the first gold album four months later. In 1976, RIAA introduced the platinum certification, first awarded to Johnnie Taylor's single, "Disco Lady", and to the Eagles album, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975). As music sales increased with the introduction of compact discs, the RIAA created the Multi-Platinum award in 1984. Diamond awards, honoring those artists whose sales of singles or albums reached 10,000,000 copies, were introduced in 1999.[2]

Like many record industry awards and rankings, the measurement is based on wholesale shipments to all types of retail outlets, and is not based on actual retail sales or financial transactions. As a result, an early award or ranking for a new release reflects only the distributor's market power expectations.[citation needed]

Certifications no longer apply solely to physical media. Sales awards recognizing digital downloads were created in 2004.[3] In June 2006, the RIAA also certified the ringtone downloads of songs. In total, eighty-four music artists/groups were cited as gold winners, forty as platinum, and four as multi-platinum.[4] Starting in 2013, streaming from on-demand services such as Rhapsody and Spotify, as well as video streaming services such as VEVO, Yahoo! Music and YouTube began to be counted towards the certification with the formula of 100 streams being equivalent to one download.[5][6]

IFPI certification

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) was founded in 1996, and grants the IFPI Platinum Europe Award for album sales over one million within Europe and (as of October 2009) the Middle East.[7] Multi-platinum Europe Awards are presented for sales in subsequent multiples of one million. Eligibility is unaffected by time (from date of release), and is not restricted to European-based artists.

Certification thresholds

Main article: List of music recording certifications
Boy band Plus One displaying their gold records.

Below are certification thresholds for the United States and United Kingdom. The numbers in the tables are in terms of "units", where a unit represents one sale or one shipment of a given medium. Certification is often awarded cumulatively, and it is possible for a single album to be certified silver, gold, and platinum in turn. An album that becomes platinum twice over, for example, an album which has sold 2,000,000 copies in the United States, is said to be "double-platinum", or sometimes "multi-platinum". Note also that since 2013 streaming counts towards certification in the US with 100 streams the equivalent of 1 unit sold, RIAA certification for single therefore no longer represent true sales.[6]

United States[8][9]
Media Silver Gold Platinum Diamond
Album 100,000 500,000 1,000,000 10,000,000
Single 100,000 500,000 1,000,000 10,000,000
Music video 25,000 50,000 100,000 N/A

 United Kingdom[10]
Media Silver Gold Platinum
Album 60,000 100,000 300,000
Single 200,000 400,000 600,000
Music video N/A 25,000 50,000

Manufacture of awards

Somali singer Saado Ali Warsame receiving a gold record Lifetime Achievement Award.

The plaques themselves contain various items under the glass. Modern awards often use CDs instead of records. Most gold and platinum records are actually vinyl records which have been vacuum metallized and tinted, while trimmed and plated metal "masters", "mothers", or "stampers" (metal parts used for pressing records out of vinyl) were initially used. Rarely does the groove on the record match the actual recording being awarded. Individual plaque-makers produced their awards according to available materials and techniques employed by their graphic arts departments. The plaques, depending on size and elaborateness of design, cost anywhere between US$135 and $275, most often ordered and purchased by the record label that issued the original recording.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shelton, Robert (1986). No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan. New York: William Morrow. p. 389. ISBN 068805045X. 
  2. ↑ "History of the Awards". RIAA.com. Retrieved December 11, 2008. 
  3. ↑ "Goodbye, 2004. Hello, 2005!". Recording Industry Association of American. Retrieved 23 June 2012. 
  4. ↑ Associated Press (June 14, 2006). "RIAA Certifies Ringtones as Gold, Platinum". FoxNews.com. Retrieved December 28, 2009. 
  5. ↑ "RIAA Adds Digital Streams To Historic Gold & Platinum Awards". RIAA. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Alex Pham (May 09, 2013). "Exclusive: On-Demand Streams Now Count Toward RIAA Gold & Platinum". Billboard. 
  7. ↑ "IFPI Awards". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 21, 2009. 
  8. ↑ "Certification Criteria". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 22 June 2012. 
  9. ↑ "History of the Awards". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 22 June 2012. 
  10. ↑ "Certified Awards Search". British Recorded Music Industry. Retrieved 22 June 2012. 

External links

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