12/09/00
We did not write this article. Chicken Girl #1 received an email today with it attached. The girl that sent it to her is trying to get this information out to everyone she possibly can. Even though we have yet to see any reliable sources concerning this issue, we feel this article is probably true, based on some of the other articles and notices we have previously received. When No Strings Attached first broke Millennium's record, we read several complaints from fans who said that upon buying copies of any Nsync or Backstreet album, their receipts would simply say "No Strings Attached- Copies: 3" Until reading this article, we figured those rumors couldn't have possibly been true because not even the members of Nsync could be that greedy or disgusting. We were wrong. They are. Read on:
**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' millennium 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 Wal Mart'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.
(Theres alot more different comments about this on the site)
PEOPLE SAID ON THEIR RECEIPTS THAT IT SAID 'NSA' AND THAT THEY DIDNT EVEN BUY IT AND SOME BOUGHT NSA ONCE AND IT SAID 4...IF ANY OF U HAVE A RECEIPT THAT SAYS NSA @ .00 ORRRRRRRRRR THAT U BOUGHT NSA AND U DIDNT OR BOUGHT 1 AND SAID MORE THAN ONE DO NOT DESTROY IT I INTEND TO SERVE JUSTICE FOR BSB. IF YOU HAVE A RECEIPT EMAIL ME(Luckybsb@aol.com) AND TALK TO ME... I SUGGEST EVERYONE WRITE INTO JIVE, MTV, AND DIFFERENT RADIO STATIONS TO ANNOUCE WHAT HAS HAPPENED AND FOR SOMETHING TO BE DONE!
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