RIAA

Every time a new technology with a wide scope of applications emerges, the music industry suffers one of the first blows. Be it compact discs, MP3 players, or websites capable of streaming/hosting songs, the music industry has always suffered the consequences and come out in protest. The biggest reason? Copyright issues. Music is one of the most vulnerable intellectual properties as it is very easy to pirate or steal, modify, and repackage to divert revenue from the artists and the record label.But so far, the industry…

Lawsuits won’t stop change from coming, so it’s better to learn everything we can about new technologyGoogle Bard, the ubiquitous search engine’s answer to Microsoft’s breakout Bing Chat, was recently asked what it thinks generative AI is good at. Its verbatim answer, “tasks that require creativity,” isn’t particularly music to the ears of artists and others in the entertainment industry.  Bard specifically self-identified its top skill sets to be “creating art and music, writing stories and poetry, designing products…

Nearly 15 years after becoming Lil Wayne’s first No. 1 single, “Lollipop” has officially been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).Released in March 2008 as the lead single from Wayne’s sixth studio album Tha Carter III, “Lollipop” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five non-consecutive weeks en route to winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song. Most recently, the track has experienced a second life on TikTok, emerging as the No. 1 song on the platform’s U.S. Top Tracks.Shortly after…

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images One of Post Malone and Swae Lee’s songs got the recognition it deserved. The track, ‘Sunflower,’ a song that was featured in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has become the highest-certified single in the RIAA’s history. Malone and Lee celebrated at the RIAA HQ with a giant plaque that solidifies the song’s achievement. The RIAA tweeted that ‘Sunflower’ is now a 17x Platinum certified record, making it the highest-certified song in recording history. The song was streamed…

Cardi B has multiple reasons to celebrate this week.In addition to its status as Cardi’s 30th birthday, Oct. 11 also brought with it a pair of new Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), including for the ubiquitous 2017 single (and Cardi’s breakout hit) “Bodak Yellow.” The track, as previously reported, was certified diamond (i.e. 10 million units) in March of last year. With that certification, Cardi made history as the first woman in rap to see a solo track achieve such RIAA heights.On Tuesday, “Bodak Yellow”…

Following a celebration at the Nice Guy in Los Angeles over the weekend, Lil Wayne’s 40th birthday-commemorating festivities continued on Tuesday with the announcement of 22 new platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).Among the Weezy tracks given new plaque-worthy certifications is the 2 Chainz collab “Rich as Fuck,” now certified as triple-platinum. The song, which appeared on Wayne’s I Am Not a Human Being sequel, first achieved RIAA gold status back in December of 2013.Other…

Lil Baby and Lil Durk will have to make more room on their mantels. On Friday, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced the rappers had earned nine new certifications for The Voice of the Heroes. The collaborative project, which was released more than a year ago, has officially gone platinum along with two fan-favorite joints, “How It Feels” and the Travis Scott-assisted “Hats Off.”The 18-song album also received six gold certifications for “Still Runnin” featuring Meek Mill, “2040, “Who I Want,”…

As one of the world’s most successful artists, Future has been honored with a RIAA plaque that commemorates 95 million units certified throughout his career.The Atlanta rapper, who released his No. 1 album I Never Liked You earlier this year, now has nine albums and 68 songs certified gold or platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. That means he’s got one of the highest totals in recorded history, and the plaque was presented to him by RIAA COO Michele Ballantyne during an event at Soho House Miami…

As the debate about whether or not she’s a rapper rages on, Doja Cat has added several more certifications to her expanding trophy case.Doja earned herself 22 new RIAA certifications on Friday, as her last two albums, 2021’s Planet Her and 2019’s Hot Pink, were certified platinum and her 2018 debut Amala was certified gold.The Los Angeles artist earned an additional 19 new certifications thanks to her catalog of hit singles. Hot Pink’s chart-topping hit “Say So” is now five-times platinum, while her 2021 SZA-featuring…

Fresh off earning his first No. 1 solo album on the Billboard 200, Lil Durk has added several more certifications to his expanding trophy case.The Chicago rapper now has a total of 12 platinum and 30 gold plaques, as Durkio’s 2020 album The Voice has been certified platinum. “Still Trappin,” Durk’s hit collaborative single with the late King Von, has also sold one million units in the U.S., giving him his 12th platinum plaque.Meanwhile, six additional Lil Durk offerings were certified gold this week: 2018’s Signed to the…