Lawsuit… Energy Drinks Thwarts DJ Khaled Billboard #1 Spot!!!
First Name Tom, Last Name Foolery… And I’m Everybody’s Uncle!
Even this pissed on producer… DJ Khaled.
DJ Khaled’s latest offering was not No. 1 in America, & energy drinks are to blame.
His new album “Father of Asahd,” which dropped on May 17, had the trappings of a chart-topping record. It featured guests such as Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Cardi B, Justin Bieber & John Legend, to name a few. While promoting it, Khaled appeared on “Saturday Night Live” with surprise guests Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Jeremih, Meek Mill, Lil Baby, J Balvin, SZA, & John Legend.
Yet there it was debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, bested by “Igor,” the idiosyncratic record by eclectic rapper Tyler, the Creator. It has since dropped to No. 3.
Complicating matters was the fact that each record received nearly the same number of streams — Khaled actually received slightly more — a major factor the folks at Billboard take into account when deciding album placement. But they also looked at another factor: merchandise.
To understand why, it’s first necessary to understand “bundling,” one of the many innovative ways artists try to scheme their way to top of the charts. It’s a simple concept: Buy something, such as a concert ticket or a piece of clothing repping the artist, & you get a free album download. Take advantage of it, & the number of records sold grows by one. Everybody wins, right?
Not exactly. In this particular case, Tyler, the Creator bundled his record with clothing & novelty items such as “Vote Igor” lawn signs, while Khaled chose packs of energy shots (similar to 5-Hour Energy) through Shop.com as his chart-tackling Trojan Horse.
That’s where the problem came in. According to the New York Times, Billboard suspected “that some of the marketing by Shop.com & its corporate parent, Market America, had crossed a line by encouraging unauthorized bulk sales.”
“In this particular instance, we saw an organization encouraging purchases among their members by promising them material & organizational benefits,” Deanna Brown, the president of the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, told the newspaper.
That, apparently, is against the rules. But the rules aren’t spelled out for the general public.
The story blew up when the New York Post reported that Khaled was planning to sue Billboard, though that was unconfirmed. His team did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Washington Post. But clearly they are not happy.
“We dispute their decision on behalf of DJ Khaled &, frankly, every artist who is forced to navigate bundling an album download with an inexpensive item that still effectively represents their brand. It’s confusing & demeaning to the art,” Roc Nation’s chief operating officer Desiree Perez said in a statement.
“We’re obviously not fans of bundling. . . . But our hands are being forced by Billboard’s desperate, last-ditch effort to keep streaming from eliminating what’s left of music downloads.”
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By: Travis M. Andrews
Image: Getty
