While DJ Khaled continues to promote “We The Best Music” to his 15.5m followers on Instagram his “Father Of Asahd” album “BundleGate” Debacle continues.
Earlier in the week Charlamange Tha God weighed in on DJ Khaled threatening to sue Billboard and now more details are in. Read on…
CelebNMusic247.com reports that the controversy surrounding DJ Khaled and Tyler the Creator chart topping battle has become a HUGE problem for Sony Music, the parent company of Epic Records and Columbia Records.
Not to mention, but it is also home to both DJ Khaled and Tyler, respectively. Khaled has been PISSED and siad to have thrown a tantrum when Tyler the Creator’s Igor album took no. 1 spot over his.
Here is the tea on DJ Khaled BundleGate :
See, Khaled’s bundle album sales were disqualified from his overall tally so he has been SOUNDING OFF AT EVERYTHING.
Here is what we’ve learn via HNHH:
While DJ Khaled continues to claim that he is “not being in the bundling business,” he found himself lamenting a bundle-deal gone awry, after Billboard deemed his energy-drink packaging deal had “crossed a line by encouraging unauthorized bulk sales.” Now, with reports of brewing lawsuits and an uncharacteristically bitter Khaled, Sony Music has found itself playing peacekeeper between Epic Records and Columbia Records. Variety came through with a deep dive report on the situation and the relative awkwardness this has caused.
Despite what some artists claim to feel about sales, first-week numbers stand as a point of interest for myriad reasons. Strong sales might be the difference between a sizeable album budget and a permanent place on the shelf. Of course, DJ Khaled has already established himself as a viable commercial presence, even after falling behind Tyler, The Creator’s Igor.
Apparently, much of the animosity stems from the vast fortune spent on creating Father Of Asahd, with a reported budget of $5 million. For the most part, much of said budget went to securing features from Post Malone, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, SZA, Travis Scott, and many more. As Khaled’s label Epic poured oodles of ducats into the project, Khaled expected his investment to pay off in the long-run.
From the sound of it, Epic chairman Sylvia Rhone received the brunt of the tongue lashing. While accounts of his tone and demeanor differ from hostile and threatening to “passionate and concerned,” Variety claims that Sony Music wasn’t entirely pleased with the otherwise affable mogul. Still, perhaps we oughta sympathize with the man, who was simultaneously made and undone by the bundle; after all, Tyler’s bundling counted, while his were disqualified.
So what was the reason for the DJ Khaled BundleGate ?
Khaled had 101,000 direct-to-consumer sales that were disqualified for his “Father of Asahd” album which were included with sales of energy drinks through an e-commerce site, Shop.com. The problem with the sales from Shop.com were determined by Billboard who deemed the site unauthorized because the site had crossed a line by encouraging unauthorized bulk sales, according to the New York Times.
Is that fair? Still DJ Khaled’s “Father Of Asahd” continues to spark new questions on how sales are counted because bundle sales are bundle sale regardless on how they are sold.
Khaled may have a solid lawsuit and possbily change the game for record sales with this.
