Streaming figures will now count towards album sales
Platinum and gold status now considers the digital realm
This Monday, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced on-demand song and video streaming will be collected and counted towards artist album sales.
A major milestone for the digital age of music lovers, platforms like Spotify and Apple Music will now tally every 1,500 streamed plays as one album sale. However, for applications like Pandora, in which the user does not select specific tracks by choice, will not count in the new record sales system.
Dating back to 1958, RIAA has granted artists platinum status for every million records sold and gold for half a million. With the implementation of streamed figures now being considered, several albums (including Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp a Butterfly' and Coldplay's 'Ghost Stories') may soon receive newly honored gold and platinum awards.
[Via: Pitchfork]
Sydney Jow is Mixmag's US Digital Content Editor. Follow her on Twitter