A stream doesn’t carry the same weight as the sale of an album, of course. It takes 1,500 on-demand streams to equal 10 track sales, which is the equivalent of a single album sale. (The Digital Single Award ratio will now be 150 on-demand streams to one download.) Artists must still reach the traditional benchmarks for their album to be certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum (500,000, one million, and two million, respectively). The change comes in recognition of the “evolving music marketplace,” according to RIAA Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman.
“We know that music listening — both for albums and songs — is skyrocketing, yet that trend has not been reflected in our album certifications,” said Sherman in a press release. “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.”
Thanks to the change to the 58-year-old program, 17 albums from a variety of genres scored certifications, including Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Coldplay’s Ghost Stories, and Miranda Lambert’s aptly-titled Platinum. Interestingly, the change wasn’t all that well received by Lamar’s label, Top Dawg Entertainment, as Complex pointed out. TDE CEO Anthony Tiffith criticized the new methodology on Twitter and wrote that people should save their congratulations until To Pimp a Butterfly reaches 1 million in straight album sales.
we don’t stand behind this @RIAA bs. ole skool rules apply, 1 million albums sold is platinum.until we reach that #, save all the congrats.
— dangeroo kipawaa TDE (@dangerookipawaa) February 1, 2016
Like it or not, though, it’s not just RIAA that’s taking streaming seriously. Billboard began incorporating on-demand streaming plays late last year, using the same 1,500:10:1 ratio for on-demand streams, track downloads, and album sales. Streaming is just too big to ignore.
