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| Billboard sets the record straight about Britney Spears and Lady Gaga |
Bill Werde, the editorial director of Billboard, wrote the article after some fans of Britney accused Billboard on Twitter of bias towards Lady Gaga and her new album, Born This Way. The alleged bias stemmed from the company's decision to count the sales from Amazon's 99 cent sale of her album, which have pushed first week projections of her album to over 1 million copies.
Some fans are also still upset over Billboard's 2007 decision to change the chart policy that prevented sales from one sole retailer from counting towards the album chart. The decision resulted in The Eagles topping the Billboard 200 instead of Britney's album Blackout, which was originally projected to hit the top.
Although the situations are different, fans are arguing that Billboard is unfair in not changing the rules against Gaga, when they were changed against Britney. To retaliate, some Britney Twitter users were trying to trend #Billboardcorrupt and #FraudThisWay.
In response, Werde called out Britney fans directly for spreading misinformation about the Amazon situation: "In the hope of clearing up misinformation I've seen around the web -- Britney fans, I'm looking at you, or at least at the evil ones who keep cursing me on Twitter without asking questions -- I'll share a few guiding dynamics, as well as some specifics for this week."
He explained in detail both situations, and gave his stance that Billboard examined situations on consumer interest, not on prices. He also wrote that Billboard had no intention of setting a lower-bound price limit in its analyses. He did concede, however, that Billboard is always looking into new changes and shifts in the market, and adjusts the methodologies accordingly.
Essentially, he told Britney Spears fans to stop crying over spilled milk.
While I wonder if the shade was necessary, it was a well-written article that definitely put all of the information out there. It should clear up any confusion (or lies).
Here is the link to the article: http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/retail/why-billboard-isn-t-revising-chart-policies-1005205422.story
Do you guys think that Billboard is right? To fans of Britney, are you guys upset over the Blackout incident in 2007, or about Gaga's Amazon deal counting? Share your thoughts with me!
2 comments:
LOL-Billboard anti-Britney bias, give me a break.
Apparently some have select memory over an event that only happened a few weeks ago when Rihanna had a single out for several weeks that was peaking at all levels but was at no. 2. Spears added a few lines of vocal and a remix over it was issued. Those sales were then added to the original radio edit for sale which then put the single at no. 1. This is all fine but what happened next is unfathomable: Britney Spears was credited with having a no. 1 single on a track 1) whose radio edit features no vocal from Spears 2) whose original Rihanna solo version was also edited to the overall single. It is the most blatant example of any pro-Britney bias I have ever seen, so for people who obsess over this former teen pop star from the 90s who suspiciously was suddenly given radio airplay life out of nowhere around 2008 to be angry because Billboard is counting legitimate sales of Gaga's record need to stop their idoltry of this Britney Spears figure. Unlike this celebrity figure Spears, Gaga is a major American artist-musician, I doubt she looks at Billboard, she wants to reach a mass audience and Amazon is helping her. What is Billboard supposed to do? Say "we can't count Gaga's sales because even though Amazon is paying $7 or so for each Gaga disc, Spears' comoterie of 90s nostalgia sycophants are angry because Gaga is going to demolish any impact Spears has on popular culture. They're angry enough about this, therefore we had better not report her record selling more than 1 million even if it does so they can hold onto their fantasy that their 1990s demigod is somehow bigger than Gaga. Reporting the actual sales of Gaga's record they will not be able to handle this psychologically so we had better nullify some of Gaga's sales when we do our report for Spears' nutty fans' mental health."
Is that what Billboard is supposed to say?
Besides, who really cares about how a record sells--either your a fan of the music or your into idolatry which needs verification by a sales number.
Good point. I honestly had a serious problem with Rihanna and Britney's remix of S&M after the surprise and excitement wore off. At the end of the day, it didn't really add much musically, it was clearly meant to push S&M to #1.
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