I saw this on another site and I still don't get how 1500 views of a Youtube video can count as 1 album sold. Nothing was bought. It's not even a download.

MickyDolenz said:

I saw this on another site and I still don't get how 1500 views of a Youtube video can count as 1 album sold. Nothing was bought. It's not even a download.

I know. It's crazy! These are ever-changing times.

This is ridiculous.

The music industry is over, not that it already's wasn't but I think this decision makes it official. With this new rule, anybody can get a platinum album. Since people stream a thousand times a day artists can potentially surpass MJ, Elvis or Beatles in sells. This is ridiculous seriously. A stream is NOT a sell. The music is not purchased. This is NOT fair to artists who actual sold music,

MotownSubdivision said:

Yeah, I think this is pretty stupid too. This comes off more as a short-sighted and hasty reaction to catalog albums outsellinh current ones last year. I fail to see how this will be beneficial to the industry in the long run. This is basically just a way of cooking the books to make record sales seem more impressive than they are and giving acts hollow certifications despite their actual sales not matching up. Most of these acts will be gold and platinum sellers in name alone; someone could be certified platinum yet only sell a couple hundred albums whether physical or digital now. This is idiotic. The main line of defense for those who support this is how it helps indie artists. It helps them by giving them accolades they never actually earned and a slightly bigger chance to gain widespread exposure but that's about it. Major labels aren't going to be any more willing to support them just because they sold 500,000+ albums on paper via free streams and only 300 actual albums sold. At best, this new rule changes nothing and at worst... http://www.digitalmusicne...60-copies/ [Edited 2/4/16 5:07am]

This is a reaction to the new Rihanna album but I agree it was a "irrational decision"
Your right, Nobody is not going to benefit from this in the long run. This decision encourages consumers to stream instead of purchasing music which is one way artists make money. The whole point of services such as TIDAL is to get people to buy music...well this new decision encourages the opposite. Also, as you already said, these so called "platinum/gold plaques" serve as vanity symbols of so called "sold purchases" that don't even exist Everything is make believe now. There are no more music super stars any more. When you think about the true elite of super stars like MJ , Prince, Madonna, Whitney, etc. They were super stars off their music and they sold millions of albums world wide. Its crazy how in today's industry things are so easily given to these stars now when back in the day the real super stars had to WORK hard to achieve the same things. Not just in achievement, even in opportunities. Its bewildering how some of these artists get the opportunities that they do....

Just another NAIL in the coffin.

They never (could) count the "spins" an album got once it was bought. I don't see how requesting a song by computer is closer to being a sale than, say, phoning up a radio station or FAXing MTV back in the day. Streams are just requests. Youtube views were already being doctored to indicate false popularity. I can't imagine how streaming will falsely skew sales. Dammit, nothing was sold! Show me a sale!

Oh Lord, they'll do anything these days to keep from admitting that today's music is actually bullshit and not worthy of buying. A sale is a form of success because someone likes it enough to actually buy it. Having your music simply "listened to" isn't success at all. Hell, a person has to listen to something to even know it exists, that doesn't mean they like it. People have recommended songs to me all the time and many times I google and listen to them and can't stand the song. That "listen" shouldn't count towards a so-called artist's success. Oh well, if these little juvenile delinquents are crazy enough to think they're successful with a bunch of "listens" and not have a dime in their pocket to show for it, that's their loss.

.

Wonder if Prince will reconsider youtube listens now

vainandy said:

Oh Lord, they'll do anything these days to keep from admitting that today's music is actually bullshit and not worthy of buying. A sale is a form of success because someone likes it enough to actually buy it. Having your music simply "listened to" isn't success at all. Hell, a person has to listen to something to even know it exists, that doesn't mean they like it. People have recommended songs to me all the time and many times I google and listen to them and can't stand the song. That "listen" shouldn't count towards a so-called artist's success. Oh well, if these little juvenile delinquents are crazy enough to think they're successful with a bunch of "listens" and not have a dime in their pocket to show for it, that's their loss.

.

Exactly.

I was hoping the success of "Uptown Funk" would have every artist rushing to do funk.

Cinny said:

vainandy said:

Oh Lord, they'll do anything these days to keep from admitting that today's music is actually bullshit and not worthy of buying. A sale is a form of success because someone likes it enough to actually buy it. Having your music simply "listened to" isn't success at all. Hell, a person has to listen to something to even know it exists, that doesn't mean they like it. People have recommended songs to me all the time and many times I google and listen to them and can't stand the song. That "listen" shouldn't count towards a so-called artist's success. Oh well, if these little juvenile delinquents are crazy enough to think they're successful with a bunch of "listens" and not have a dime in their pocket to show for it, that's their loss.

.

Exactly!

Cinny said:

vainandy said:

Oh Lord, they'll do anything these days to keep from admitting that today's music is actually bullshit and not worthy of buying. A sale is a form of success because someone likes it enough to actually buy it. Having your music simply "listened to" isn't success at all. Hell, a person has to listen to something to even know it exists, that doesn't mean they like it. People have recommended songs to me all the time and many times I google and listen to them and can't stand the song. That "listen" shouldn't count towards a so-called artist's success. Oh well, if these little juvenile delinquents are crazy enough to think they're successful with a bunch of "listens" and not have a dime in their pocket to show for it, that's their loss.

.

Exactly.

I was hoping the success of "Uptown Funk" would have every artist rushing to do funk.

So did I. But I guess Mark Robson, Bruno Mars, & Daft Punk are THE only true funk soliders in their generation of artists.

paisleypark4 said:

Wonder if Prince will reconsider youtube listens now

I gave up on that dream along with any chances of a Prince & The Revolution reunion album AND tour.

Is this for real?

Funk is a form of black music. The only reason why people were interested in that Uptown song was because of Bruno Mars. It is rather unique to see a young person of latin decent recording that type of music. We already know the industry/public is more interested in non-black artists who record R&B music. If Tank, Usher or Jaheim would have recorded that exact same song, their label would not have given a damn and it would not have made it outside of black adult radio. In fact, I would think their label would probably have discouraged them from recording such a song.

TonyVanDam said:

Cinny said:

Exactly.

I was hoping the success of "Uptown Funk" would have every artist rushing to do funk.

So did I. But I guess Mark Robson, Bruno Mars, & Daft Punk are THE only true funk soliders in their generation of artists.

I also like Dam-Funk, Tuxedo and Chromeo, but I was hoping for new Rihanna to sound like Sheila E or something

kitbradley said:

Funk is a form of black music. The only reason why people were interested in that Uptown song was because of Bruno Mars. It is rather unique to see a young person of latin decent recording that type of music. We already know the industry/public is more interested in non-black artists who record R&B music. If Tank, Usher or Jaheim would have recorded that exact same song, their label would not have given a damn and it would not have made it outside of black adult radio. In fact, I would think their label would probably have discouraged them from recording such a song.

Damn. That's a thinker.

Cinny said:

TonyVanDam said:

So did I. But I guess Mark Robson, Bruno Mars, & Daft Punk are THE only true funk soliders in their generation of artists.

I also like Dam-Funk, Tuxedo and Chromeo, but I was hoping for new Rihanna to sound like Sheila E or something

I need to listen to some more Chromeo.

[Edited 2/10/16 14:59pm]

vainandy said:

Oh Lord, they'll do anything these days to keep from admitting that today's music is actually bullshit and not worthy of buying. A sale is a form of success because someone likes it enough to actually buy it. Having your music simply "listened to" isn't success at all. Hell, a person has to listen to something to even know it exists, that doesn't mean they like it. People have recommended songs to me all the time and many times I google and listen to them and can't stand the song. That "listen" shouldn't count towards a so-called artist's success. Oh well, if these little juvenile delinquents are crazy enough to think they're successful with a bunch of "listens" and not have a dime in their pocket to show for it, that's their loss.

Hi Andy

Allow me to join the AMAN corner., exactly.

This bullshit fall under...

Pissing in folks faces and tellimg them its rain.

kitbradley said:

If Tank, Usher or Jaheim would have recorded that exact same song, their label would not have given a damn and it would not have made it outside of black adult radio. In fact, I would think their label would probably have discouraged them from recording such a song.

Bruno also brings a dance routine to the video and live performance of that song.

TonyVanDam said:

Cinny said:

Exactly.

I was hoping the success of "Uptown Funk" would have every artist rushing to do funk.

So did I. But I guess Mark Robson, Bruno Mars, & Daft Punk are THE only true funk soliders in their generation of artists.

No, those are maybe the most wellknown and mainstream ones but there are many Funk artists out there that are, in my opinion, much, much funkier than those groups you´ve mentioned above.

I mean, D´Angelo is more or less back, DamFunk´s Seven Days of Funk album with Snoop was very funky, and then there´s this producer named Brenk Sinatra from Vienna who is also very funky. He´s worked with MC Eiht from CMW and his mixtape Midnite Ride is one of the funkiest pieces of music I´ve heard in a long time , maybe since the release of D´s Black Messiah.

Funky music is still being made and it´s out there but the thing is that these days, one has to actively look for it because it is not as prominent in mainstream music as it used to be.

.

But I agree with you....one would´ve expected at least some sort of retro-revival of the true Minneapolis Sound with a modern twist, or maybe more Funk in mainstream music in general, but nothing of that sort happened. .

-

I think streams should not count as sales. But downloads should. And Youtube is still a great way to discover new artists and download their music ,and then buy it legally later, whether in CD form or as a download.

Cinny said:

kitbradley said:

Funk is a form of black music. The only reason why people were interested in that Uptown song was because of Bruno Mars. It is rather unique to see a young person of latin decent recording that type of music. We already know the industry/public is more interested in non-black artists who record R&B music. If Tank, Usher or Jaheim would have recorded that exact same song, their label would not have given a damn and it would not have made it outside of black adult radio. In fact, I would think their label would probably have discouraged them from recording such a song.

Damn. That's a thinker.

I love it when you two post in the same thread Double Garfield!

Interesting...I guess this means that one day someone will break MJ's Thriller record based on views on the internet? This makes NO sense. What a joke! I guess the industry is just DYING to produce an artist that will surpass Michael Jackson. Sorry but there will never be another artist that will (legitimately) do that without this obvious scam that they are doing which includes the already fabricated Youtube views...

SeventeenDayze said:

I guess this means that one day someone will break MJ's Thriller record based on views on the internet?

Nah. To get platinum, a video needs 1.5 billion views. The only video that qualifies of right now is Psy's Gangnam Style, which is currently 2,518,678,091. I only looked up the main official video on Youtube though, not other fan uploaded videos or streams on audio only sites. There's maybe a few others that are close to "platinum" on Youtube. I guess adding all sources together a few others will be "platinum". Otherwise I think it will be difficult to get any huge sales this way.

MickyDolenz said:

SeventeenDayze said:

I guess this means that one day someone will break MJ's Thriller record based on views on the internet?

Nah. To get platinum, a video needs 1.5 billion views. The only video that qualifies of right now is Psy's Gangnam Style, which is currently 2,518,678,091. I only looked up the main official video on Youtube though, not other fan uploaded videos or streams on audio only sites. There's maybe a few others that are close to "platinum" on Youtube. I guess adding all sources together a few others will be "platinum". Otherwise I think it will be difficult to get any huge sales this way.

So a "real" platinum album in terms of sales is one million right? So for views to count they need over one BILLION? This is ridiculous. Makes no sense! Why did they change the rules then? What's the angle?

SeventeenDayze said:

So a "real" platinum album in terms of sales is one million right? So for views to count they need over one BILLION? This is ridiculous. Makes no sense! Why did they change the rules then? What's the angle?

Also RIAA only counts USA sales. Since the numbers for Gangnam Style are worldwide, it doesn't really count. They would have to determine how many views are from the US.