I think it’s fair to assume that every kid has, at one point, dreamed of being a music superstar.
We were raised on MTV Cribs, taken through luxurious mansions with countless hot tubs, massive TV sets and bedrooms bigger than most apartments. The centerpiece of these luxury homes are the platinum records on the wall, a shining symbol of excellence.
Awarded for the sale of one million copies, the platinum label is seen as the ultimate achievement in the music industry, as determined by the Recording Industry Association of America.
So far this year, no artists have sold one million units. The only album to reach it was the Frozen soundtrack — which is the work of several artists and doesn’t count.
The runners-up are country star Eric Church’s Outsiders and Coldplay’s Ghost Stories. Neither broke 750,000.
Upcoming releases might save 2014 — Taylor Swift’s 1989 and Foo Fighters’ Sonic Highways in November. But that boundary may prove unreachable with 12 weeks left.
Technology has moved and re-shifted the definition of the music industry. Napster, Rhapsody and iTunes drove the digitalization of music. That change shows how people interacted and thought about music. Purchasing music is not tied to an album – the pricing structure emphasizes singles over a collection of tracks.
But now the music industry is moving to streaming.
Spotify’s growth has been monumental — mainly because it made the purchase of an album antiquated and irrelevant. Previously, you purchased a record to get the full experience and hear all the tracks. Since that experience is available elsewhere for a fee or an ad model, the market has shown what it wants.
Paying $10 for an album just doesn’t fly anymore. Apple, whose iTunes platform is the market leader in music sales, is also aware. The company’s purchase of Beats last year wasn’t just about headphones — the deal included the Beats Music streaming service.
Technology isn’t just shifting how we listen to music – it’s also changing what we listen to.
When U2 gave its record Songs of Innocence away for free to iTunes users (roughly 8 percent of the population), it shocked many industry veterans, including The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney, who told The Seattle Times the stunt “devalued their music completely.” He also critiqued Spotify’s business model for “snubbing” the musicians. (And he’s not the only one.)
Lead singer Bono has been an advocate for the value of music; he encourages artists to respect the band’s craft and charge a fair price for the work. The state of the industry led him to blame the decision on a “deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years might not be heard.”
Streaming services make discovering music easier than ever. It’s possible to listen to a band’s entire album legally without spending a cent.
People will never stop loving music. It’s a part of who we are as a culture, but the way we experience it is tied to technology and will never stop changing. Perhaps in the long term, things like the Platinum record will fall out of style.
Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25