BPI sales certification to be automated

 

by Tina Hart

Friday July 19 2013

 

The BPI’s Certified Awards Scheme is to include auto-updated sales data for the first time.

 

The scheme forms the official recognition of artist achievement in respect of UK sales of albums, singles and music DVDs/Blu-rays, and the basis on which the industry’s Silver, Gold and Platinum/Multi-Platinum discs are presented.

 

Previously, BPI waited for official notification from its label members of a title’s sales performance based on shipment deliveries, but from today (Friday, July 19) the awards will automatically recognise the popularity of artist releases as soon as they go past relevant sales thresholds, in-line with Official Charts Company data.

 

This new approach aims to improve the integrity of the awards scheme, making it instantly more up-to-date and accurate across all formats. BPI members will, however, retain the option of notifying the trade body’s Rob Crutchley of their new release shipment deliveries, thus ensuring the scheme remains a flexible one that enables the success of titles to be recognised at the earliest possible opportunity if required.

 

Also, Non-BPI members will now be able to participate in the Awards Scheme for the first time.

 

As part of this ‘auto-updating’ process, which is based on data stretching back to 1994 when the Official Charts Company was established, sales certifications for a number of titles have been retrospectively updated:

 

Included in the list of newly-certified albums are the likes of Ellie Goulding’s Halcyon, Rita Ora’s Rita Ora and Little Mix’s DNA – which are recognised for achieving over 300,000 sales to attain Platinum status, while Susan Boyle’s 2010 smash The Gift is acknowledged as going Double Platinum for its 600,000-plus sales.

 

A number of albums, such as Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, have been given an updated category certification – moving from Gold (100,000 copies) to Double Platinum (600,000 copies) status.

 

In relation to singles, releases that are certified for the first time include the world’s best-selling title of 2012 – Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe, which has its Double Platinum status (1.2 million-plus sales) confirmed.

 

Among the Music DVDs/Blu-rays being acknowledged with a certification is the record-breaking 2009 video release Take That Presents: The Circus Live, which is recognised for going x11 Platinum (550,000-plus sales).

 

These changes form part of a wider and ongoing review of how artist achievements in sales should be acknowledged and celebrated going forward, and further announcements will made in due course.

 

from musicweek.com

Long overdue! I never understood why this wasn't automated in the first place.

 

Does that mean Queen's GH will now overtake '21' as the most certified album of all time?

Long overdue! I never understood why this wasn't automated in the first place.

 

Does that mean Queen's GH will now overtake '21' as the most certified album of all time?

It would depend on what data the OCC/Millward Brown hold about 'Greatest Hits' by Queen. I can only see it working properly for singles, albums and videos that were released from February 1994 onwards which is when Millward Brown took over chart compilation duties from Gallup since the OCC/MB product database is only complete back to that date. All data from prior to February 1994 has had to be manually input from various sources including the weekly Gallup sales booklets and won't be as complete.

If they updated every recording that *should* be, based on sales, it'd cause a world shortage in Platinum, Gold & Silver... :lol:

Long overdue! I never understood why this wasn't automated in the first place.

 

Does that mean Queen's GH will now overtake '21' as the most certified album of all time?

A follow up to my original answer: the BPI press release has made it clear that the 'auto-update' will be based on sales as registered by the OCC from 1994 onwards and only applies to titles that have not been previously certified or are eligible for a certification upgrade based purely on sales from 1994 onwards.

 

This would definitely prevent 'Greatest Hits' from having its certification levels automatically upgraded since its sales since February 1994 will be less than the level at which is its currently certified.

The BPI press release (much of which was repeated in the Music Week article in the first post)

 

BPI Sales Awards Launch Automatic Certification

 

BPI’s official recognition of artist achievement in respect of UK sales of albums, singles and music DVDs/Blu-rays – its Certified Awards Scheme, and the basis on which the Industry’s iconic Silver, Gold and Platinum/Multi-Platinum discs are presented, is to include auto-updated sales data for the first time.

 

Normally BPI waits for official notification from its label members of a title’s sales performance based on shipment deliveries, but from Friday 19th July the awards will automatically recognise the popularity of artist releases as soon as they go past relevant sales thresholds in line with Official Charts Company data.

 

This new approach from BPI will improve the integrity of the awards scheme – making it instantly more up to date and accurate across all formats. BPI members will, however, retain the option of notifying the trade body’s Rob Crutchley of their new release shipment deliveries, thus ensuring the scheme remains a flexible one that enables the success of titles to be recognised at the earliest possible opportunity if required. Sales thresholds for the awards will remain the same (see Notes to Editors).

 

As part of this ‘auto-updating’ process, which is based on data stretching back to 1994 when the Official Charts Company first came into being, sales certifications for a number of titles have been retrospectively updated:

 

Included in the list of newly-certified albums are the likes of Ellie Goulding’s Halcyon, Rita Ora’s Rita Ora and Little Mix’s DNA – which are recognised for achieving over 300,000 sales to attain Platinum status, while Susan Boyle’s 2010 smash The Gift is acknowledged as going Double Platinum for its 600,000-plus sales.

A number of albums, such as Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, have been given an updated category certification – moving from Gold (100,000 copies) to Double Platinum (600,000 copies) status.

On the singles front, releases that are certified for the first time include the world’s best-selling title of 2012 – Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe – which has its Double Platinum status (1.2m-plus sales) confirmed.

Among the Music DVDs/Blu-rays being acknowledged with a certification is the record-breaking 2009 video release Take That Presents: The Circus Live, which is recognised for going xEleven Platinum (550,000-plus sales).

 

Non-BPI members will now be able to participate in the Awards Scheme for the first time.

 

These changes form part of a wider and ongoing review of how artist achievements in sales should be acknowledged and celebrated going forward, and further announcements will made in due course.

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

From 19th July 2013, any album, single and music DVD that has passed a qualifying threshold for a Silver, Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum certification will now be automatically updated on the Official Charts Company’s database. These titles will also be updated in Music Week’s charts pages and be added to the BPI’s consumer-facing searchable database at www.bpi.co.uk.

 

The ‘auto-update’ will be based on sales as registered by the Official Charts Company (from 1994 onwards, when their records begin) and only applies to titles that have (a) not been previously certified or (b) are eligible for a certification upgrade based purely on sales from 1994 onwards. A retrospective ‘drop’ of missing titles has been conducted and a weekly sweep will occur going forward to maintain the integrity of the scheme.

 

From Paul McCartney to Madonna, the BPI’s iconic Platinum, Gold & Silver Certified Awards have long been presented to artists by their label management by way of acknowledging and celebrating major milestones in sales of recorded music. Originally introduced in 1973, more than 9,000 awards have been issued to date during their illustrious 40 year history. Every BPI certified award disc now boasts an individually-numbered and unique BPI hologram to authenticate each certified award and enhance the look of the framed presentation disc itself. The highly coveted Awards are the ultimate way of commemorating UK sales success for the artists and the teams that support them.

 

http://www.bpi.co.uk/home/bpi-sales-awards...tification.aspx

Some artists are in serious need on certification acknowledgement (Bruno Mars for example), so I'm thrilled to hear they're doing this now.

Excellent news, long overdue.

Brilliant news! Should mean there will be more than just a couple of certifications each week, and HOPEFULLY, the BPI archive will include all certifications, not just selected ones.

 

EDIT: In fact they have! Ones which were only confirmed by their Twitter are now included.

Edited July 19, 201311 yr by liamk97

I have been crying out for this for YEARS! Makes complete sense. It looks odd (especially with the singles chart) where sales are at an all time high but according to BPI and MW, hardly anything is Platinum, Gold or Silver. I'm very happy.

Strangely enough, I wrote to the BPI some years ago suggesting that singles downloads should be automatically certified if OCC data indicated a certification level had been achieved. I expected physical versions of singles to still be certified on the basis of deliveries and album certification to stay the same. I also expected the BPI to veto non-member singles.

 

I was thinking that I must have written the letter maybe 7 or 8 years ago, but it was actually August 2003.

 

It will be interesting to see what past singles get a certification now.

 

Beatles Free as a bird and Real love 200,000 certification?

How many of their albums will be certified for the first time based on sales from 1994?

 

And it also applies to DVDs.

But can you add shipments to sales without double counting?

It sounds as though Free As A Bird will get certified silver. But I would think that the reason it didn't get certified at the time was because EMI realised how daft it would look for the sum total of Beatles singles certifications to be just one silver disc. I'm not so sure about Real Love because in DUS terms it sold under 110,000 in 1996.

 

I'm thinking that shipments will be used when record companies want to certify on pre-release orders and any upgrades after that will mainly be based on OCC totals. Record companies will go with whichever method gets them the highest award. If that's OCC data it suggests that OCC data is over-estimating sales significantly.

 

It may be that the BPI had identified that record companies are getting slower at letting them know when old product has shipped up to a new higher level of certification and are introducing auto-certfication to avoid albums appearing under-certified for long periods. Especially now that it is much easier for people like Buzzjack posters to keep track of totals than it was in the 1970s and 1980s, and complaining on here that such-and-such needs an upgrade.

Edited July 20, 201311 yr by MFR

Saturdays are owed loads of certs

Notes to Editors

 

 

I was disappointed when I realised that the next section wasn't a direct message to our favourite Birmingham Interpol tribute band. :(

Isn't madonna owed loads too ?

I'm surprised that Someone Like You hasn't gone double platinum

Is it going to take a while for this to retrospectively update?

Is it going to take a while for this to retrospectively update?

 

Well, this week's ChartsPlus has tons of updated sales certifications... :)

Oh this is amazing news :wub: I'm so glad albums (and singles) that are undercertified for no good reason are going to be a thing of the past!