Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Recording Industry Association of America emerged in 1952 as a trade organization representing the U.S. recording industry. The association operated from Washington, D.C., where it continues to maintain its headquarters today.
Originally, the requirement for a Gold single was one million units sold and a Gold album represented $1 million in sales at wholesale value. In 1976, the Platinum award was added for albums able to sell one million units.
In October 1998, the RIAA filed a lawsuit in the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco claiming the Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300 player violated the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act. In September 2003, the RIAA filed suit in civil court against several private individuals who had shared large numbers of files with Kazaa.
Mitch Glazier became chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America in 2019 after serving as executive vice president for public policy and industry relations from 2000 to 2011. He joined the organization 20 years ago and has played a role in the music industry's transition to streaming and anywhere anytime access to music.
The association has sued more than 20,000 people in the United States suspected of distributing copyrighted works. Of these, approximately 2,500 were settled pre-trial.