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Gold Records and Musical Success

-- By ChristopherWlach - 30 Mar 2008

Summary

The RIAA Gold and Platinum Records Program promotes a model of the musically successful record as a monetarily successful record. The criteria for Gold status ensures that the award is reserved for records that fit this model. In the current landscape of music production and distribution, however, the Program will no longer be able to maintain this model of the musically successful record without significant changes.

I. Introduction: The Gold and Platinum Records Program

In 1958 the Recording Industry Association of America (the “RIAA”), the trade group for the U.S. recording industry, instituted the Gold and Platinum Records Program (the “Program”). The Program issues awards to records with high domestic sales. Provided the record meets certain qualifying criteria, a record with 500,000 sales is awarded “Gold” status. Other awards are available for records with higher sales: “Platinum” (more than one million sales), “Multi-Platinum” (one million to ten million sales), and “Diamond” (more than ten million sales). * Although “Gold Records” had been awarded in popular music before the Program, the Program standardized the Gold Record as a sales award. The RIAA has even registered GOLD and PLATINUM as service marks.

II. The Program Promotes a Model of the Musically Successful Record as a Monetarily Successful Record.

Technically, Gold status simply indicates that more than 500,000 units of a record have shipped for sale. This status, however, often connotes musical success, which I use to mean that a large quantity of people actually enjoyed the music on the record. # This connotation likely stems from the historic correlation between record sales and musical success. Before the advent of widespread file-sharing online, purchasing music was one of the few ways that people could regularly listen to a record. High sales were thus a relatively reliable indication that many people had enjoyed the music. The RIAA also markets the Gold award as more than merely a sales award. It declares on its website: “Spanning over 40 years, the Gold®, Platinum®, Multi-Platinum™ and now Diamond® award programs are the longest-running objective measure of achievement for sound recordings in the United States, and provide an unmatched historical perspective on the success of countless recording artists.” The Program thus promotes a model of the musically successful record as a monetarily successful record.

III. The Current Criteria for Gold Status Ensures That Gold Status Is Limited to Records That Fit This Model.

The RIAA has established strict criteria for Gold certification. Although the award is open to members and non-members of the RIAA, only U.S. firms or corporations “engaged in the legitimate production and sale of sound recordings” may request certification. Before awarding a record Gold status, the RIAA also performs an independent audit to ensure that the record has met the minimum domestic sales requirements. For a full-length album to be certified, the album’s sales must also reach a minimum dollar volume. Through these regulations, the RIAA ensures that Gold status is available only to records that are monetarily successful.

IV. In the Changing Landscape of Music Production and Distribution, the Current Criteria for Gold Status Fails to Capture Many Musically Successful Records.

Today, artists can achieve significant musical success without the capital or distribution network of a major label behind them. Inexpensive recording software and equipment allows artists to produce high-quality music at low costs. Through the internet, artists can then make their music available to large audiences at virtually no distribution costs. And because independent artists are not tied to labels, they can price their music as they choose, or even offer it for free. Consequently, many artists have the potential to attain musical success without achieving the same levels of monetary success that Gold status requires. Artists are also able to distribute music online that the RIAA considers illegal, such as music containing unauthorized samples. Although these artists may face legal consequences for making such music, the internet does not initially check the distribution of such works to the same extent that retail stores do.

The current criteria for Gold status do not reflect these new pathways to musical success. By limiting Gold certification to corporations or firms, the RIAA makes Gold status unavailable to individuals who distribute their music independently. By requiring a minimum monetary sales volume, the RIAA also fails to count records distributed for free or at prices much lower than those of major labels. Furthermore, by excluding music that it deems not “legitimate” from its audit, it does not account for current artists who make musically successful records containing unauthorized samples.

Even with major label artists, record sales are no longer as closely correlated with musical success as they historically have been. The availability of music for free online allows people to enjoy music without purchasing records. Downloads cannot be tracked or audited to the same extent as sales of physical records. While there is no doubt still some link between record sales and musical success, it can no longer be determined as accurately as it once was.

V. Conclusion: If the Criteria for Gold Status Do Not Change, the Program Will Be Unable to Maintain Its Model of Musical Success as Monetary Success.

The Gold award has always been a sales award first. This is hardly surprising: the RIAA represents companies engaged in the business of selling music. However, as the link between monetary success and musical success becomes more tenuous, the Program will no longer be able to maintain its model of the musically successful record as the monetarily successful record.

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FOOTNOTES

* I primarily discuss the Gold Record in this essay, but much of the analysis is relevant to the other awards. Throughout the essay, I use "record" to refer to full-length albums, singles, and authorized digital downloads.

# I am limiting my discussion to popular music in the U.S. Like the RIAA, I am considering musical success in quantitative terms: the number of listeners who enjoy the music on a particular record.

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