MUSIC TANGENTS: Should the RIAA Change Album Certifications?

There was a time when albums were certified Diamond in the United States, which signifies the shipment (and usually sales) of 10 million albums domestically. However, the last album to achieve that was Usher's Confessions which was released in 2004. Since then, album sales have experienced quite the dramatic fall. And with sales reaching record lows, it appears that for the foreseeable future no album will earn that certification. Albums today are struggling to make Gold (500,000 shipments) and Platinum (1,000,000 shipments) certifications as well, distinctions once expected for even the relatively unknown artists. With album sales dying off, will the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have to readjust the sales threshold for album certifications?



There are strong opinions about the certifications from both sides of the argument. Those who feel the RIAA should readjust the certification thresholds point to the history of the "gold record" as an example in which the changing climate of the music industry was influential in what that threshold signified. Before 1975, an album received a Gold certification if it had achieved sales of 1,000,000 albums. However, the growing sales of albums led to the readjustment of the Gold threshold to 500,000 albums and the introduction of the Platinum certification for 1,000,000 in album shipments in 1976. Multi-platinum certifications followed in 1984. Singles followed different certification threshold than albums with 1,000,000 in sales/shipments for Gold and 2,000,000 for Platinum. However, the changing sales of singles led to the reduction in certification to 500,000 for Gold and 1,000,000 for Platinum by the early 1990s. As album sales soared through the 1990s, the RIAA introduced the Diamond certification in 1999, which was applied retroactively.

With all of the changes in these figures, supporters of changing the thresholds say that the tanking of album sales creates the incorrect illusion that influential albums of today, which may only muster a platinum or double-platinum certification, are less significant than relatively insignificant 3x or 4x platinum selling albums of the late 1990s or early 2000s. Furthermore, there is a growing number of albums that don't reach certification, which is a reflection of a growing sales differential between today's numbers and those of the past.

It is also important to note that while album sales have fallen by the wayside, single sales are exploding due to digital downloads, and the pro-adjustment group is equally supportive of changing single certifications accordingly. The concept behind these changes is to provide a better snapshot of album and single successes across different eras and will facilitate a better comparative of similarly certified albums and singles. For example, Lady Gaga has built a 200+ date sold out world tour for an album that has been certified 3x platinum, an achievement that would likely be associated with a much higher certified album of the past.

However, this opinion is far from universal. Many believe that album and single certifications have remained largely unchanged for some thirty years even though the sales trends of albums and singles have changed radically over the course those decades. Furthermore, albums that have sold remarkably well and have the most prolific certifications also hold records that can be compared across different eras, like the number of weeks at number on the albums chart. They point to the fact that some of the highest selling albums, which are predominantly from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, continue to be some of the groundbreaking and transformational albums that influence music and musicians today.

Those who are proponents of maintaining the status quo also contend that while significant albums of today may not be a highly certified as their "equivalents" in the past, artists of today are more recognized and respected for the music videos and singles than albums. Although there are a few exceptions to this rule, from artists that primarily originate from another era, most of today's artists invest highly in music videos and singles than albums, which reflect a general depreciation in the artistic and commercial value of an album today.

Although albums will never die off, it is interesting to see their decent in todays market. Furthermore, it begs the question, when will albums finally hit rock bottom. This week is a first step I guess.