• RIAA Reports Streaming Service Revenues Brng in More Cash than CD Sales for First Time Ever; Digital Downloads Still Dominant

    Music trends are often not as dramatic as we make them out to be. For example, the resurgence in vinyl still only accounts for 2 percent of all album sales...not exactly as earthshaking as coverage might suggest. Up until this point, streaming has somewhat been in the same boat, but a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America shows that during 2014, for the first time ever, revenues brought in from streaming accounted for more than the sales of CDs. Streaming services brought in $1.87 billion during 2014, compared to $1.85 billion for compact discs.
  • 2014 US Record Industry Earnings: Sales Dip; Streaming, Vinyl Up

    Each year, the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) releases a recap for yearly earnings. They have generally been pretty doom and gloom with the overall industry bleeding money with sales from CDs dropping dramatically and the major players unable to capitalize and create new sources of revenue for themselves and their artists. The 2014 report shows that while total revenues did dip from $7 billion to $6.972, a .5% change, there are plenty of promising signs, notably in streaming.
  • J. Cole '2014 Forest Hills Drive' Gold in 2nd Week

    The holiday buying season has been kind to J. Cole. It has been so kind that he just received a large delivery of gold to his doorstep. That gold comes in the form of an RIAA-certified gold record, which reportedly is for his new, critically acclaimed album "2014 Forest Hills Drive." Last week, his album sold 371,000 copies and earned him the No. 1 spot on the charts, the third consecutive time he has done that. Second-week sales reportedly have dropped to 135,000, which is the fourth highest for the week and earns him his third gold record at more than 500,000 albums sold. The album sales include equivalents from album streams.
  • RIAA Issues Platinum/Gold Single and Album Certifications for Fall 2013

    Some of music's biggest acts are getting an early Christmas gift of gold and platinum. Today (Dec. 11), the RIAA released its list of songs and albums that have gone gold or platinum over the last two months, and the long list features both familiar names and some unexpected gems.
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