What is a golden record award?

What is a golden record award?

A Gold record is a single or album that sells 500,000 units (records, tapes or compact discs). The award was launched in 1958; originally, the requirement for a Gold single was one million units sold and a Gold album represented $1 million in sales (at wholesale value, around a third of the list price).

What is the highest record award?

RIAA GOLD & PLATINUM AWARDS

Certification Minimum Units Date Established
Gold® 500,000 1958
Platinum® 1,000,000 1976
multi-Platinum® 2,000,000 (in increments of 1,000,000 thereafter) 1984
Diamond® 10,000,000 and counting 1999

Are gold records worth anything?

Gold for LPs/albums: $1 million dollars worth of sales. This actually can be a useful piece of information to determine authenticity of an award. So if you see for a 45/single or LP/album RIAA platinum award issued from 1958-1975, you know it can’t be genuine.

How do I get my gold record?

An artist needs to sell 500,000 copies of a single record for it to reach a gold benchmark and 1 million to go platinum. But this doesn’t mean a single stream will now carry the same weight as an album sale — instead, the RIAA says 1,500 song or video streams will be equivalent to ten track sales or one album sale.

Are gold records really gold?

The gold and platinum plaques, which cost about $100, are neither gold nor platinum, but colored plastic. And they’re almost never made from actual copies of the best-selling products they honor. Usually the records, cassettes, and CDs on the plaques don’t even contain music.

Is a gold record really gold?

These awards, given by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), represent huge sales — 500,000 albums for gold, 1 million for platinum, 2 million or more for multiplatinum. (Singles have lower benchmarks; you’ve gone platinum if you sell just 500,000.) (Gibson’s previous albums went multiplatinum.)

Are gold records rare?

The platinum certification was introduced in 1976 for the sale of one million units for albums and two million for singles, with the gold certification redefined to mean sales of 500,000 units for albums and one million for singles.

How many streams is a unit?

According to the Record Industry Association of America (the US body who dictates silver, gold and platinum sellers), one album unit equates to 1,500 streams from said album. Billboard uses the same figure, which is nice of them.

Are gold vinyl records playable?

Most gold and platinum records are actual vinyl records that are dipped in metallic paint. Since they are normal records then they will actually play! If you have a turntable or lathe that accommodates a 14-inch disc (the size of lacquer masters) you can play them.