***SCANDAL??? Judge for yourself. I found this in the g/b at Backstreet.net.***From blackbsbfans list.
http://www.egroups.com/group/blackbsbfans
**The Boys sold 3.6 copies of Black and Blue here in
the U.S. it's first week.**
But don't hold your breath waiting for Soundscan or
Jive to announce it because it isn't going to happen.
Here is how I came about this information. I was
waiting in line for concert tix this morning when I
struck up a conversation with another woman who was
getting tix for another venue. But she also thinks the
Boys are pretty good, even though she admitted she
wasn't a "die-hard fan". She actually likes 'NSync
better, not because of the vocals (she said the BSB
are far superior), but because she just likes the
up-tempos more and likes the dancing emphasis in the
'NSync shows. This lady has a very wide taste in
music, believe me! From Nine Inch Nails to Limp to 98
Degrees.
We started talking about Black and Blue and she said
she really liked it. She had also heard of the MFC,
and she said she would look us up on the Internet
because she liked the idea about all the charity work
that we do. :)
Anyways, we got to talking about first week sales, and
she told me that she grew up in the Orlando area, and
she has a good friend who is directly affiliated with
Jive. Her friend's family owns Kingworld productions,
and she mentioned several names that I know for a fact
are associated with the Boys and Jive. (No, she has
never met them, nor does she claim to know them
personally).
**Anybody remember that little post from the BOOST
club that ended up on the MFC message board and other
boards that stated the Boys had sold 3.6 million so
far? And then it suddenly "disappeared"
justlikethat?**
Well, this was the EXACT number this lady quoted to
me!
I asked her how she came up with this information, and
she said it all started back with the sale of NSA when
she went to buy a copy for her daughter the first week
it came out, and she noticed a #2 by the "quantity"
line. But yet she only paid for one. She said she
asked the store manager about it, and he said that was
how Jive had instructed all of them to be keyed in.
(??)
She wasn't happy with that answer, so she called her
friend in Florida because she knew she was associated
with Jive, but she claimed ignorance about the whole
thing. But then after Black and Blue came out, her
friend gave her the whole scoop and told her that NSA
did NOT sell 2.4 million that first week. It only sold
1.2 million, just barely beating out the Boys' record.
The inflated figures came from carefully-placed marks
on the bar codes that automatically registerd a single
purchase of NSA as being 2 copies, although most
consumers never saw the discrepancy or were aware of
the marks.
I was still a little skeptical here, so I asked her
why Jive would intentionally do this, and she quoted
the "boy band" feud thing... trying to keep the fires
of competition going between the fans.
So why would Jive deliberately LOWER the numbers for
Black and Blue if it really sold 3.6 million copies?
She said her friend told her that this will actually
BOOST sales for both albums, and that they (Jive) are
centering a lot of attention on NSync right now and
trying to keep them "on top" because they figure they
can get one more album out of them before they lose
their very young teen and pre-teen fanbase. And then
it will be all over. NO multi-album deals have been
offered to NSync, and we all know that the Boys have a
5-album deal, which will probably take them at least
6-8 years or so to fill, depending on whether or not
double-album or single-album releases are planned for
the future.
**In other words, Jive knows that the Boys are here to
stay, and they're milking the NSync cash cow for
everything they can right now!**
If the Boys leave Jive, which they have hinted at
recently in the press, Jive will plummet rapidly. They
will have Britney and NSync, both of which have a very
"iffy" chance at longevity.
So do the Boys know about this? That I can't tell you,
but her friend told her that she thought they did, and
that they're okay with it because they're trying to
get away from the "boy band" competition between them
and NSync. Beating their record would have just fueled
the fire even more. They're distancing themselves from
this whole mess and trying to re-invent themselves
both musically and personally.
Do I believe this person? Well, I can't imagine why
she would make something like this up. And she
admitted to liking NSync more. And if you look at some
of the "rumors" that were flying around when NSA first
came out about messed-up receipts and such, it makes
sense. And did anyone notice how tight-lipped sources
were with giving the public any info about Black and
Blue's sales at first? The media was broadcasting
NSA's sales tallies almost on a daily basis earlier
this year! And nowhere have I seen WalMart's actual
first-week sales posted.
Very interesting to think about. But I have to say
this... if this is true, I have just gained a huge
amount of respect for the Boys. To know what is going
on and NOT say anything says volumes to me. And on the
opposite hand, for Nsync to be equally knowledgeable
about all of this literally makes me ill.
