Apparently Rihannas New Album Is Already Platinum..

[Starburst]

But how? There were alot of rules bent yet she still got the certification? Has anyone else read on this?

[David]

Samsung purchased 1 million copies and gave them away for free as a part of their campaign. Now, because Samsung actually paid for them, the album is eligible to be certified as platinum. If it had been given away completely for free, this wouldn't be the case. Logically speaking, it does make a lot of sense and it is very clever marketing. However, in all seriousness, they did technically BUY her this certification which is unfair to other artists who work years the traditional way to achieve the same. 

 

However, it will not contribute towards her Billboard chart position or first week sales as they're unable to find out exactly how much Samsung paid for each album and it must be sold at more than $3.49 to be included and it is obvious that Samsung would've received a discount for buying in bulk. 

 

There's a lot of chatter about how the industry is changing and "sales" like that should be included in the chart position... but at the end of the day, it's not people buying music, it's the corporations. 

[Mike.]

Rihanna is clever.

[Mrs Jared Leto]

well ....