Jay-Z’s “Magna Carta” 1 Mil Sales Don’t Give Him Platinum Status, SoundScan Rep Speaks

Written By S. Samuel

Rap mogul Jay-Z may have already sold a million copies of his upcoming Magna Carta Holy Grain album to tech giant Samsung, however, a Nielsen SoundScan representative claims they cannot all be tallied up.

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According to the rep, bulk album sales are not added into SoundScan totals.

And while that appears to guarantee Jigga instant platinum status before the album even hits shelves, Nielsen thinks otherwise. “Nielsen doesn’t count bulk sales,” a SoundScan spokesperson told MTV News. That longstanding edict means that if anyone, even, say, Beyoncé, buys a million copies of Magna Carta and gives them away as Independence Day party favors they can’t be counted as sales according to Billboard magazine’s long-standing policy on bulk purchases. The source said this differs from major retailers like Walmart or Target that buy large quantities of popular albums with the intent of selling them to consumers for a set price. (MTV)

Further reports claim a project must have at least a month on store shelves before receiving gold and platinum certification.

As for whether Magna Carta can go platinum before it goes on sale to the general public, a spokesperson for the Recording Industry Association of America (the folks who hand out gold and platinum certifications) told MTV News on Tuesday (June 18) that albums only become eligible for RIAA certification 30 days after their initial release date. Also, albums must be sold by a label/artist/music company to a retailer (such as Target, Best Buy, Amazon or Samsung) at a minimum of one-third of the album’s Suggested Retail Price. According to reports, Samsung paid $5 a piece for each Jay-Z album. (It was unknown at press time what the SRP would be for Jay’s album.) (MTV)

Jigga, not known for being active on Twitter, unleashed a flurry of comments about his new album and the enormous sales on Monday (June 17).

“If 1 Million records gets SOLD and billboard doesnt report it, did it happen? Ha. #newrules #magnacartaholygrail Platinum!!! VII IV XIII,” Jay tweeted June 17th.

Kanye West “lead single” projected on buildings worldwide #newrules #magnacartaholygrail”

J Cole app for listening session. Don’t talk just listen..#newrules”

Wale up next week #newrules”

“Ok that was my yearly allotment see ya’ll 2014..#newrules #magnacartaholygrail” (Jay-Z’s Twitter)

Technology giant Samsung has purchased one million copies of the album to give away.

The connection: Samsung has purchased 1 million copies of Jay-Z’s coming album, entitled “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” slated for release July 4, and plans to give them to Samsung Galaxy smartphone users for free – 72 hours ahead of the release. The users are to receive the music through an app they’ll receive later this month. (Recipients won’t be able to share it until the official release date.) Samsung paid $5 apiece for the albums, according to a person familiar with the matter. It wasn’t immediately clear if Nielsen SoundScan will count Samsung’s purchases in its sales tallies. (Wall Street Journal)

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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