Is No Platinum Selling Album in 2014 the End of Recorded Music Sales?

2014 has yet to have a platinum selling album by anyone. Not a single artist has sold a million copies of an album, whereas last year by this time, five artists already had.

Platinum selling albums used to signify the true popularity of an artist. These days that is not the case. In today’s age of technology, many people don’t even buy music as pirating has become so commonplace. Downloading has also allowed for the purchase of just one song instead of having to buy the full album. This is good for the listener as they can buy only what they want, but it has drastically reduced the value of albums in their entirety.

Is the death of certified album sales really a bad thing? This puts an end to artists needing to be backed up by record company executives who take large portions of their money. True artists were never being signed by record companies anyway, as they want not what’s best for the music, but the most marketable and attractive. If anything, the death of the platinum album signals a new era that will regenerate the value of music. The music listener is no longer being forced to listen to what someone else chooses to be popular, but can rather pick and choose for themselves.

Photo from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Thriller_platinum_record,_Hard_Rock_Cafe_Hollywood.JPG