NVPI

NVPI (Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld - en geluidsdragers) (The Dutch Association of Producers and Importers of image - and sound carriers) is the Dutch trade association of the entertainment industry. The NVPI represents most of the Dutch record companies, video distributors and game-software distributors.

History
The NVPI is found in 1973 as a representative of the record companies in the Netherlands. In 1983 video film distributors were included in the association and in 1996 the producers of entertainment software. Every division has got its own board. The three divisions form a federation. The NVPI represents both major and small independent producers. The (board) structure guarantees influence by every included company.

The NVPI represents (looked at the total volume of trade) approximately 85% of the record companies, 80% of the video film companies and 50% of the entertainment software. NVPI is included with the international organization IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), IVF (International Video Federation) and the ISFE (Interactive Software Federation Europe).

Core branches
The core branches of NVPI are:
 * Lobbying
 * Announcements to the press and others
 * Market investigation
 * Representation in consultative bodies
 * Distribution of Home copying compensation to audio producers
 * Cultural/social activities
 * Information to its members

Certifications
Since 1 January 2024, NVPI certifies only singles and albums. Certification is based on the number of streams, including paid and ad-supported streaming, but excluding free streams such as YouTube and social media. Diamond certifications are only awarded to recordings which were not awarded multi-platinum awards in the past.

Single downloads are counted at a rate of one download being equivalent to 215 streams for singles. The certification levels for popular music singles are as follows:


 * Gold: 10,000,000
 * Platinum: 20,000,000
 * Diamond: 50,000,000

For album certifications, the album must include at least five tracks and only tracks which did not appear on previous albums are counted. A full album download or physical sale counts as 2,150 streams. The certification levels for popular music albums are as follows:
 * Gold: 40,000,000
 * Platinum: 80,000,000
 * Diamond: 200,000,000

The certification levels for jazz and classic music are half the ones for popular music.

Historical certification
Prior to 2024, NVPI awarded certifications to albums, singles, DVDs and entertainment software. Certifications for music recordings began in 1978. The following levels were used over the years:

Classical music albums
Includes jazz and world music.

Entertainment software
Games were certified separately for each gaming carrier (PlayStation/Xbox/GameCube/Nintendo/PC).

Charts
NVPI works with two different chart organizations in the Netherlands. Those are the Dutch Top 40 (a weekly singles chart including downloads, single sales and radio airplay) and MegaCharts (weekly charts of the Album Top 100, Single Top 100, Music DVD Top 30 and several others).