Tyler Childers Posts Gold ‘Purgatory’ Edition, Sells Out in 1 Hour
As Saving Country Music has been chronicling here in 2020, Tyler Childers has been on one hell of a tear in the sales department, and specifically his 2017 breakout album Purgatory. The song “Feathered Indians” was the first independently-released single in country music to be Certified Gold in the modern era for hitting 500,000 in sales and streaming equivalents when it broke the mark in February.
Then in September, “Feathered Indians” was Certified Platinum for sales of over 1 million. And then on November 10th, the Tyler Childers singles “Lady May” and “Whitehouse Road” were also Certified Gold. Purgatory by Tyler Childers will now go down in history as the record that shattered the glass ceiling for country artists not supported by mainstream country radio.
To commemorate the achievement, Tyler Childers listed for sale a commemorative edition of Purgatory stamped in 180-gram gold vinyl on Monday (11-30), with a metallic Certified Gold sticker on the jacket. However, proving his commercial mite once again, within an hour of posting the commemorative record bundled with a T-shirt, it was already sold out.
No word yet if more copies will be added in the future. With COVID-19 and the vinyl record shortage, copies of certain titles have been hard to come by. Officially, the Purgatory album itself has yet to be Certified Gold by the RIAA, but Saving Country Music is being told it’s just a formality, and it will happen very soon.
No longer are Gold and Platinum records only the domain of the mainstream, and we can expect more songs, albums, and artists to hit that status in the coming months and years. Along with Tyler Childers being the first to break the barrier, Cody Jinks has Gold records for his single “Hippies & Cowboys” off his 2010 album Less Wise, and Cody’s song “Loud and Heavy” now has a Platinum certification. Southern rock band Whiskey Myers also received Gold certifications for their songs “Ballad of a Southern Man” and “Stone” this year.
December 1, 2020 @ 10:01 am
Less Wise went gold?
December 1, 2020 @ 10:41 am
Worded that wrong. The song “Hippies & Cowboys” went Gold, off of his album “Less Wise.”
December 1, 2020 @ 10:48 am
Damn.
Anyway, I really hope that years from now this is seen as a big part of country music history, much like Wanted! going platinum, and that the impact will be major, especially on the radio.
Any idea when the last time was that an independent country album went gold?
December 1, 2020 @ 11:44 am
I’ve been trying to answer that question, and with the way charting companies are being so tight with their data these days, it’s hard to answer. But I think it’s probably Chris Ledoux’s “Whatcha Gonna Do With Cowboy” that went Gold back in 1993. But you know, Garth Brooks appeared on the title track, and that’s when Chris sort of got swept up by the mainstream, so I’m not sure if it’s the best example. But that’s the only other example I can put my finger on that isn’t from the 50’s or something.
December 1, 2020 @ 2:12 pm
Looking at the RIAA database, the following albums were released on independent labels:
Gold:
2011 – Thompson Square – Self-titled / Stoney Creek Records (a division of BBR Music Group)
2002 – Nickel Creek – This Side/Suger Hill Records
1977 – The Kendalls – Let the Music Play / Heaven’s Just a Sin Away – Ovation Record Label
Platinum:
2005 – Little Big Town – Road To Here/Equity Records
2000 – Nickel Creek – Self-Titled/Sugar Hill Records
Chris LeDoux’s two gold-selling albums “Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy” and “Best Of” compilation were released on Liberty Records – they changed their name back to Capitol in the mid 90s. All of his previous releases were self-released.
December 1, 2020 @ 2:44 pm
Good research.
Though I would say Stoney Creek/BBR are definitely part of the major label ecosystem under BMG. That’s Jason Aldean’s record label, and Thompson Square definitely received radio play with two #1’s. I would say the same for Little Big Town. They received significant radio play on “Road To Here.” I guess “independent” is in the eye of the beholder. Big Machine was independent up until a few months ago. It’s still definitely a major label though.
Sugar Hill is a subsidiary of Universal, but those early Nickel Creek records are pretty good examples of a group that defied odds and saw major success outside the Nashville system. They never get enough credit, partly because they faded just about as fast as they blew up. But Nickel Creek also saw massive radio support on AAA and other places and are not exactly “country,” so it’s not a perfect comparison to Tyler Childers, but it’s still definitely an interesting example.
Good catch with The Kendalls as well. That would be a prime example of an independent release.
Clearly these words like “independent” and “non radio supported” are relative. Tyler Childers is played on Americana radio, and on some independent country stations. But it’s nowhere near the audience of even a #40 on mainstream radio. And now he is on a major label, so he’s a major label artist, even if “Purgatory” is an independent release.
December 1, 2020 @ 2:17 pm
Another one I meant to add to that list:
Alison Krauss’ 1995 record “Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection” is certified double platinum by the RIAA.
December 2, 2020 @ 6:06 pm
Wouldn’t guess this but smokin’ armadillos. I had sort of an encyclopedia of country music I got from an ex girlfriend around 2002 or so. It had around 1,400 artists or so. Pretty much any that had a top 40 hit. Small album reviews. They put in their they had sold around 750k independently. I’m not sure if it was ever officially certified or not.
December 13, 2020 @ 8:45 pm
Concord/Sugar Hill/Rounder, etc. are definitely independent. UMG distributes their product, they don’t own it. While not the same as Tyler, et al., they’re still indies.
December 1, 2020 @ 10:39 am
Who are these psychic record collectors?!
December 1, 2020 @ 11:23 am
You write, “Purgatory by Tyler Childers will now go down in history as the record that shattered the glass ceiling for country artists not supported by mainstream country radio.” I’d be curious to see the sales figures for Johnny Cash’s work with Rick Rubin. Granted, he was already famous but I’ll bet the numbers were stronger than those he’d been getting for the previous 15 years or so (Highwaymen aside) and without any country radio support.
December 1, 2020 @ 11:49 am
American IV went platinum, V and Unearthed went gold.
He probably was the last artist this successful without radio support, and the fact that we can compare Purgatory with Johnny Cash’s last albums really makes this even more impressive.
https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&ar=johnny+cash&ti=&lab=&genre=&format=Album&date_option=release&from=&to=&award=&type=&category=&adv=SEARCH#search_section
December 1, 2020 @ 11:59 am
Yeah, that’s another case of success without country radio. But let’s be honest, that’s Johnny Cash, that’s Rick Rubin, those were still major label releases since American Recordings are part of Universal. “Purgatory” was released on Tyler’s own record label distributed by Thirty Tigers, and barely anyone outside of Kentucky knew him from Adam when that album was released. Not to take away anything from Cash. His late career resurgence has gone down in history too.
December 1, 2020 @ 1:25 pm
Haters can hate ive been listening to tyler for years hes just that good every now and again it happens colten walters is another to watch out for
December 2, 2020 @ 4:35 am
if you like Colten Waters wait till you hear Sturgeon Simples!
December 1, 2020 @ 2:34 pm
So although mainstream country is rubbish nowadays there’s more opportunities for independent country artists?! Is it easier for independent artists nowadays (at whatever stage they’re at in their careers) than in the 70s and 80s for example?!
December 1, 2020 @ 2:56 pm
I definitely think this is the case. Guys like Tyler Childers and Cody Jinks are proving you don’t need the Nashville system to have major success, and are presenting models other artists can follow, and opening doors. It’s one thing to have a big debut week with your new record. It’s another to get Gold and Platinum certifications when the major label system is ignoring you.
December 2, 2020 @ 6:14 pm
Probably I would say yes. Just depends your level of success in your eyes and how much you think they’re spending. What level to compete. 2010 I was in a studio in Nashville with an indie record producer. Guy had written a lot of songs also on an album that really hit. Does a handful of releases a year. At that point you could spend about $10,000 on an album and break even at about 1,000 units. A lot of local bands can do that. In fact it’s happened here many times in Buffalo.
Knowing the numbers of Aaron Watson though on his edge of indie country and his own label he had 24 full time employees. Which doesn’t include maybe a song or two a year trying to put it on mainstream radio at a million a song.
December 1, 2020 @ 3:20 pm
I’m happy for the *outlaws* who defy the wanna be’s in trashville-
December 1, 2020 @ 9:01 pm
Definitely didn’t sell out in an hour. It was up for about 4 hours before the record showed sold out and there was still T-shirt / vinyl bundles available at that time.
December 1, 2020 @ 9:31 pm
Huh. Well I happened upon the listing about an hour after it was posted, and it said “Sold Out.” Also if you look on social media and the comments beneath the announcement, it’s about an hour after it was posted where people were complaining it was sold out. Granted, I don’t have a time stamp of when the listing actually went live on the website proper, so maybe it was up for a little longer than when links were posted to it on Facebook. But as soon as the wide public was alerted, it was sold out in about an hour after that point.
December 2, 2020 @ 2:08 pm
I wonder how much money an “independent” artist makes from a song that goes Gold or Platinum versus an artist on a “major label.”
Forget it, it’s really none of my business. But I hope it’s more. It’s gotta be more, right?
December 2, 2020 @ 6:18 pm
It depends. Average major label on articles I’ve read has about $9.22 out of every thousand spent on the artist going to them. Don’t forget though other than a signing bonus a good majority of them don’t make money or get a cut. It costs 2-3 million to break a new artist. With 360 deals have to pay that back first.
Thirty tigers has around a 10% royalty going to their artists on sales.
Garth owning his music rights and delivering his album as a full product got a 16% royalty rate.
This gives you an idea of the range that is out there.
December 2, 2020 @ 6:27 pm
“Purgatory” was released on Thirty Tigers, which is a distribution company that only takes 10% of sales, and makes its money off of volume. Artists on Thirty Tigers act as their own labels, retain ownership of their masters, and can leave any time. This is much, much less than most major labels, but every contract is different.
December 3, 2020 @ 2:52 am
Tyler Childers is like my favorite singer song writer right now and a year ago i couldn’t stand country music but that stuff that Nashville puts out sucks this stuff from Tyler Childers, Codi jinks and so on is real country new grass whatever it’s great and i love it!