RIAA has changed its rules for album certification.

[bono2017]

About a year ago, RIAA changed its rules for album certification.

"After a comprehensive analysis of a variety of factors," writes the organization in a statement, "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."

So from now on, new album certifications whether they be gold, platinum, or multi-platinum will likely be do to streaming of one or two songs from the album. This will result in multi-platinum awards for albums where not even a million people have purchased the whole album or listened to it at all.

This confuses the success of singles with albums. I say award the track or single, but not the entire album. As long as a single is successful, now the album is guaranteed success, even if virtually no one has listened to any of the other songs or even know it exists.

So when it comes to the RIAA, there is where things stood prior to February 2016 and then the situation post 2016. Two very different worlds when it comes to albums sales and defining album success.

 

[Yahweh]

It is the way of the world today - but yes it does cloud the playing field a bit that is for sure.