The truth about gold, platinum and silver records

Of course, everyone kind of knows that the gold, platinum and silver records awarded to artists for their market success aren’t made of precious metals. This is just an estimate of the copies sold. In the US, for example, 100,000 album copies were once silver; now 500,000 means gold, a million means platinum, and ten million means a diamond record. Europe is more modest: the numbers are many times smaller and therefore it’s much easier to become twice gold, three times silver and even multi-platinum.

But who knew that the gold records hanging on the honour boards in the artists’ studios aren’t theirs at all. Not the ones they were rewarded for. The commission just goes to the warehouse, takes the first available disc they see and paints it as you wish, gold or silver. That is, when David Guetta received his gold disc, he most likely had a repainted Metallica record or the second Spice Girls album in a yellow frame.