The German Federal Music Industry Assn. (BPW) has begun granting sales awards for audiobooks as well as comedy and children’s products on the basis of audited sales figures. The new awards became effective on Jan. 1.
“In this way, the Association is responding to the growing popularity of these product categories and the fact that more and more labels are entering these segments,” said BPW managing director Stefan Michalk.
The new audiobook award is granted for sales of 100,000 units. The comedy award is available in two categories — audio and video. A golden audio comedy award is earned on sales of 100,000 and a platinum audio comedy award on sales of 200,000 units. In addition, there is a gold video comedy award for 25,000 units and platinum for 50,000 units.
In the newly created children’s award segment, there is also an audio and a video category. Sales of 100,000 units give rise to a gold children’s award and 200,000 units to a platinum award. In the case of children’s videos, the thresholds are 25,000 (gold) and 50,000 (platinum) units.
