TLC Praise Lady GaGa And Spill Beans On Opening Week ‘Cheats’: ‘Most Artists / Labels Buy Their Own Albums’

Published: Saturday 23rd Nov 2013 by David

Believe it or not, there was once a time when R&B joined Pop and Country music as being one of the music industry’s highest selling genres.

Alas, as one is reminded of far too often, those days are long- seeing the genre struggle to compete with its ever lucrative and far more aggressive sister, Hip Hop.

Now, as they prepare their hotly anticipated 2013 American Music Awards set, TLC have revealed that they know of record labels and artists who have purchased sizeable amounts of their albums just to ensure favourable first week numbers for themselves.

How the above ties into their thoughts on Lady GaGa?

Watch below…

Hit the 3.41 mark!

Your thoughts?

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  1. BeyWhoUWanna November 23, 2013

    They’re talking about Tamar of course.

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  2. ENOUGH ONIKA (KMART QUEEN) November 23, 2013

    Ok, tell us something we don’t know. Artists BEEN buying their own albums (see Tamar Braxton) for years… NOTHING real about the industry..

  3. IKNOWTHETRUTH November 23, 2013

    Leave it to TLC to always keep it 101 % about everything lol. They always tell it like it is. That’s why they’re the best.

  4. Draggin4MrsCarter November 23, 2013

    Tamar’s one is the worst because she brags about how much she sold when EVERYONE knows Vince buys them for her.

  5. Tisha November 23, 2013

    Love them but they’re late. I’d say the issue of being a puppet was very strong in the 90’s. Now with indie and alternative artists having record labels and carving their own mark in the industry, the issue is more ready and willing victims. It’s people who were very generic but had a strong style who are now molded and shaped to fit an ideal and sell – but trust they’re happy to do it as long as they make money. Example: Mikey Cyrus being all hip-hop, thug love, blunts and twerking when a year ago she was singing Old McDonald.

  6. Tisha November 23, 2013

    Gaga is an example of a ready and willing victim. She pushed too far too hard and pulled damn near every trick in the book to try to break records and sell high, now her sales are so low she’s scrapping the bottom just 5 years into her career.

  7. JaggedLittleThrill November 23, 2013

    The irony of TLC saying they love Lady Gaga when it’s Vince who is doing the album buying they’re talking about it.

  8. Molly November 23, 2013

    It makes since why 4 did 310 k first week Columbia bought them damn albums #fact

    • KissesForKelly November 23, 2013

      Beyonce always has big opening numbers. BUT I do believe she used to use payola.

    • Tika November 24, 2013

      No doubt. Columbia, Jay, and Bey all bought some. Same goes for her ticket sales. They buy some in bulk and end up trying to give them away. Remember when Bey was approaching random mofos on the street trying to hand out tickets…??

  9. Keyshia Del Rey November 23, 2013

    Tamar will be exposed sooner or later. My friend told me that some labels ask their employees to go into hundreds of stores buying 10 or 20 copies at a time, but when they want to go really HARD they buy the albums directly from the warehouse and give them away at TV shows, like when they say “everyone’s going home with a copy of so and sos album’.
    Just horrendous.

  10. ItsCheryl2Bh November 23, 2013

    This makes me so mad 2bh. Imagine how it feels knowing you could have been number one on the charts but lost out to a label who spend their money on buying their OWN albums.

  11. Rosie (TROPICO – December 5) November 23, 2013

    That’s not really a secret. We all know Tamar is the worst with it. Plus looking at Gaga’s second week sales, it seems to me that Interscope either purposefully undershipped Eminem’s second week or bought much of Artpop’s first.

    • HomeTownGloria November 23, 2013

      I concur.

  12. the real xoxo November 23, 2013

    T-Boz is everything! lmao

  13. True November 23, 2013

    I don’t know why y’all calling out Tamar I don’t believe she bought her own albums she promoted the hell out of that thing then on top of that her reality show came on 2 days after the album was release and they were promoting it during that to so I believe her sales were legit look at k Michelle numbers they were pretty high as well because she used the reality show as a promo tool also. Ariana sold over 100k to so did her label buy her album 2

  14. Rosie (TROPICO – December 5) November 23, 2013

    Ariana has a HUGE preteen fanbase though, so it wasn’t surprising that she sold over 100K.
    But she is on Republic, who is also Lorde’s US label, and I’m very suspicious of her 127K.

  15. Ciarastan(slay my lips) November 23, 2013

    They showed vocals in the beginning playing around,those were the best vocals I’ve heard from them in their whole career

    • truth…(JUST THE DAMN TRUTH HONEY)j November 23, 2013

      Tel yo fav to go sell some pusssy since she aint selln cds u h**. #tlcforeverhoney

  16. put your EBT card away, and pull that STAn card out h**! November 23, 2013

    LOL i wonder how many albums beyonce bought of her own. Tamar bought like 100k while gaga bought over 200k, but we all knew this! it’s a way to convince the public to buy your albums make it seem like you’re popping! When you’re really not!

  17. Mark111 November 23, 2013

    Freaking love them. Legends!!!

  18. True November 23, 2013

    FYI Tamar is still selling she sold over 8000 this week #30 something on the Chart and had sold 242,000 total so is Vince still buying her album and it came out September 3rd .

  19. put your EBT card away, and pull that STAn card out h**! November 23, 2013

    8000k lol yeah he pretty much is! COmpared to the 100 + K that’s nothing. Nobody want that HOT SUGA s***! #FLOP Nation

  20. SoGone4Monica November 23, 2013

    Tamar is the absolute worst because it’s so obvious. I knew something was up when she went to number one on itunes but didn’t even crack the top forty on the main charts.
    Obviously, she found a way to purchase L&W on itunes but didn’t bother with the other outlets, because if a song is so popular that it goes to number one on the biggest music store it would be selling everywhere else too.

    I think she bought around 30k of the album and hasn’t bought any more since which is why she’s neck on neck with KMichelle.

  21. True November 23, 2013

    Nope k michelle has only sold around 160 k so far sorry so she is not neck and neck with her Tamar has sold 242k so far

  22. Mark111 November 23, 2013

    If LA was smart, he’ll have TLC go on tour next year and have Ciara and other Epic artist open for them. I think a tour packed with artists that people want to see would do well. Hell if K.Michele can do it, then I know TLC can.

  23. STOP IT LILKIM!!! November 23, 2013

    PREACH!!!!!

  24. ABC November 23, 2013

    Lol they said that and then praised Gaga who is managed by VINCE the main culprit

  25. HeardAWord November 23, 2013

    The sad thing about Tamar is that people respect K.Michelle more because they know she sold all her albums the right way. Cheaters Never Prosper.

  26. Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.12) November 23, 2013

    First of all, Tamar’s album is the ONLY R&B album still charting. Brandy, K.Michelle, Ciara, etc all charted for a little bit and dropped off.

    Secondly, Lady Gaga BUYS her own albums. Non of her singles except Applause charted in the top ten, the album had a $25 million dollar promo budget, $5.99 discount with 50 layoffs at Interscope and yet the second week sales look like this,

    P!nk: TTAL- 94,330
    Prism- 92,000
    Girl on Fire- 76,686
    Femme Fatale- 75,166
    Bangerz- 72,000
    Unapologetic- 71,627
    Lotus – 54K
    ARTPOP- 50-55k

    Her second week sales are worst than MDNA which had a concert ticket bundle. Lady Gaga was bragging about an 80K Platinum certification in Canada when she actually sold 25K there, so save it. Gaga is the biggest culprit.

  27. ABC November 23, 2013

    They’re only praising gaga because she wrote them a song aswell

  28. Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.12) November 23, 2013

    Lastly, LIVENATION was making LOSSES on the Born This Way Ball.

    Livenation was using Madonna’s equipment and set during her dates in South America, South Africa, Norway and Russia. There were two for one ticket specials in South America and the stadiums were still empty. She was performing in half empty arenas all over Europe and her ticket sales in North America were LOW.

    She faked that whole hip injury story because her ticket sales were low, Interscope also didn’t like the album (which was ready during the Born this way ball) and made her record it at least 3 times.

    Applause was the best pop radio song on the album, Interscope didn’t like the rest of it. She is lucky the album even hit the shelves after $25 million promo gone.

  29. Janea November 23, 2013

    If your fave has a 360 deal, the label’s buying they singles. If you are not familiar with what the 360 deal is, google it. If your fave is selling singles, but not albums, There is a reason why record labels practice this. Unless an artist is an album seller, the label makes little money off them. When an artist is under a 360 deal the label gets 30% of everything; endorsements, tour sales, fashion line, etc, and in return the label will do anything in it’s power to make sure that artist is successful in music, twitter followers, face-book likes, etc. The more successful an artist appears to be, the more companies will want that artist to sell their brand. Everything is not always what it seems.

  30. Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.12) November 23, 2013

    It was also very suspicious that Eminem hit #2 in his second week, with Lady Gaga BARELY selling more copies only for him to be back to #1 in week 3.

    Interscope was buying those albums, it’s evident just on the sheer fact that NOW 48 will sell more copies 2nd week than Artpop.

  31. nivea November 23, 2013

    leave it up to tboz to set the record straight…they always got something to say…lol

  32. Naomi November 23, 2013

    Yawn… They’ve got an album to sell…

  33. Navy nick November 23, 2013

    Yesssssss they are so great!!!! Truthful movie yes it was.., get em TLC

  34. Kyle November 23, 2013

    Omg I love TLC but come on now they are defending Gaga of all people with the ‘buying’ thing. She even discounted BTW so she could sell over 1 million first week and now look. Best BELIEVE Gaga cares but yall are only brown nosing her because you’ve got one of her songs on your album. Puhleaaase!

  35. Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.12) November 23, 2013

    I believe Beyonce also purchases her albums, especially 4 seeing that,

    1.) It had not a single TOP TEN hit.
    2.) After 3 re-releases, it is still stuck at 2.8 million
    3.) The Pregnancy promo and still the album is stuck at 2.8 million.

    Those Grammy’s she won when Matthew Knowles was on the Grammy committee are also bought and paid for. Not forgetting the reason Beyonce has been able to get a #1 hit since Single Ladies is because of PAYOLA.

    Sony BMG case shows radio ‘payola’ persists

    The state investigation found that Sony BMG, which releases music by Jennifer Lopez, Good Charlotte and Beyoncé Knowles, among others, had provided stations with entertainers for station-affiliated concerts or paid for station equipment or other bills in exchange for having its songs played. It also provided vacations and electronic goods for on-air giveaways in a direct trade for airplay. And it hired independent promoters to funnel money to stations.

    Source: NY Times

  36. Omari November 23, 2013

    We all know DefSCAM does the most for RIHANNA aswell.

  37. Say What!?! November 23, 2013

    Well an employee during Mariah Carey heyday at Columbia said they would put her scan number on other artists CDs so she would get credit for the sale.

    • Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.13) November 23, 2013

      LOL, DEAD.

  38. christinastherealtalent November 23, 2013

    I really do not want to lose respect for TLC BUT if their special guest is Lady Gaga and they use her name just to put themselves back out there, I will NOT be here for their comeback.

    • SMH November 23, 2013

      Well, they’re not doing that. They used their movie to put themselves back out there.

  39. Yaz November 23, 2013

    Didn’t Katy Perry openly have a Payola deal as well. Payola aint nothing these days all mainstream artists have used it at some point even Mariah Carey. You’re naïve if you believe your faves label hasn’t done some shady s*** at some point. The industry is a mess.

  40. Yaz November 23, 2013

    I wonder what Lisa would have thought of Gaga…

  41. Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.13) November 23, 2013

    Katy Perry doesn’t need payola, radio already demands her music.

    • QUEENHANNA November 23, 2013

      LOL DELUSIONAL MUCH?

      KATY PAYOLA IS THE CURRENT QUEEN OF PAYOLA. RADIO DEMANDS HER MUSIC-AFTER THE CHECK CLEARS LOL

  42. Yaz November 23, 2013

    @Lovebird LOL.

  43. Yaz November 23, 2013

    She needs Clear Channel which is practically the same funny how she doesn’t have it for Unconditionally and its not doing as well.

  44. HOTSTUFF November 23, 2013

    LOL they’re praising Gag ( because she wrote ‘posh life’ for them) but this fits perfectly for GAG. Seeing how desperate the Force Feeding Queen is , i wouldn’t be surprised if she bought ARTFLOP just to debut ahead of Eminem. With a 25M promo from his label THE DESPERATION IS REAL THIS ERA. #ARTNO #FLOPART #FLOPTART #FARTPOOP

    • GAGARULES November 23, 2013

      LOL DON’T ACT LIKE ASSEMBLYLINEHANNA ISN’T DEF JAM’S RESIDENT PAYOLA ICON LOL

  45. Whut November 23, 2013

    Katy Perry, Rihanna, MIley Cyrus, they’re ALL payola queens-just like J.Lo, Beyonce, and yes even Britney are. and Mariah Carey was one of, if not the, biggest payola queens of the 90’s (if you notice all of Mariah’s albums, the total number of albums scanned are all lower than what their certified for.) this isn’t anything new.

  46. SMH November 23, 2013

    TLC is THE JAM, always have been, always will be. I’m LOVING the subliminal shade they were throwing at Pebbles; ‘truthful movie’, ‘make sure your manager isn’t in bed/cahoots with the president of the label’, LOL I LOVE IT!!! #TLC4EVA

  47. Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.13) November 23, 2013

    I have brought receipts of Beyonce using Payola, receipts of Katy or Rihanna using Payola please.

    They don’t need it, radio loves them and their music.

    • GAGARULES November 23, 2013

      LOL GURL PLEASE, RADIO LOVES KATY PAYOLA & ASSEMBLYLINEHANNA-AFTER THE CHECK IS DEPOSITED.

      CHECK THEIR SALES STATS & HOW THEY DECLINE AFTER THE FIRST WEEK. THERE’S YOUR ‘RECEIPTS’ LOL

      • Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.13) November 23, 2013

        But Katy’s saleshaven’t declined. She’s sold another 100K WW and 900K total, after 3-4 weeks.

        I still don’t see any receipts of Katy or Rihanna using Payola.

  48. FAF November 23, 2013

    I think gaga’s labels banking on a big holiday sales boost ,but the industry is crazy so anythings possible…..

    Um also, I agree Tamar had her albums purchased. Neither of her singles charted past #40 on bbhot100 yet she sells 117k first week

  49. Yaz November 23, 2013

    LOL everyone uses payola, you are in denial if you think its only people you dislike. Trust me anyone with inside tea, knows this. If Radio loves their music so much why did Katy use a f****** Clear Channel deal with Roar? #BYE.

  50. Jmoore November 23, 2013

    You really hating rite now…Tamar is still moving units because her album is the truth…what yall haters gon say when she walks away with those grammys? Yeah thats rite grammys.

    • Lovebird (Britney Jean – 03.12.13) November 23, 2013

      I’ll be happy if Tamar walks away with Grammy’s as long as Vince doesn’t pull a Matthew Knowles if you know what I mean.

  51. Mya November 23, 2013

    I have mad respect for TLC but I would respect this tea more if it wasn’t so superficial and biased towards Gaga (we know why). Its like a double standard.

  52. B**** Please November 23, 2013

    This industry was always shady & messy It just got worst why you think these musicians don’t be surprise or don’t smile as much as they did back in the days at Awards shows & tv shows?

  53. JER November 23, 2013

    While Pebbles hides behind “confidentiality” TLC keep it SO F****** REAL like they always have

  54. truth…(JUST THE DAMN TRUTH HONEY)j November 23, 2013

    Tel yo fav to go sell some pusssy since she aint selln cds u h**. #tlcforever

  55. thetruth November 23, 2013

    Lets not pretend that Vince didn’t buy some of her album sales. It’s mighty strange that her Christmas Album only sold 10k units 1st week! Thats awful for someone who claim they can push albums so well and have two big platforms!

    • Anonymous November 23, 2013

      Thats because Christmas albums dont sale much from any artist. its not just Tamar. Notice that every artist has lower christmas album sales than their regular albums. Mariah Carey’s Album had more promotion and a video so of course thats why her Christmas albbum sold more than others.

  56. FutureCIARA November 23, 2013

    Ms.Girl you are sooo naive.

  57. miss ross the boss *icon* November 23, 2013

    i remember there was a lot of drama surrounding murder inc and ashanti when her debut album sold 500k in its first week. best buy employees were spilling bookoo teas hunty.

  58. HOTSTUFF November 23, 2013

    AppleSAUCE is Gag biggest radio hit and it has now only sold 1.6M LMAOOO the sales do not equal the HEAVY promo but yet it’s his biggest radio hit. Roar sold 3.4M. Gag is not using payola anymore, at this point he’s RAPING payola LMAO! #DEAL

  59. Say Hi to Peak Godney Jeansus November 23, 2013

    I’m so thankful that Britney sold so much when people actually cared and bought physical albums. Look at the receipt from August 2000. Oops… I did it again was selling 237,000 in the 12th week of it’s release. http:// 24.media.tumblr. com /e9678e505c0af3c0b70955df617d3ef0/tumblr_mwqowv97PK1qfvwk9o1_1280.jpg Say hi to Peak Britney! How hard do these girl have to work these days just sell these type of numbers in the first week even! Britney’s star may have faded but in her peak she was way above any of these current pop singers’s peaks. Britney’s “Britney Jean” may sell 100,000 less than Gaga’s “ARTPOP” in first week sales but it’s not really as bad it being Britney’s 8th album and she hasn’t given a single f*** with no promotion or performances compared to Gaga’s promo schedule which was long and she performed everywhere. Enjoy the article btw! It’s from MTV in 2000

  60. Say Hi to Peak Godney Jeansus November 23, 2013

    Damn tumblr and it’s long links…

    Join the link to see

    http:// i.imgur. com/9filXYB.jpg

  61. HOTSTUFF November 23, 2013

    that was for @GAGARULES …replies are not working for me , this blog -_-‘….

  62. miss ross the boss *icon* November 23, 2013

    chile — idk how applause has been perched in the top ten for so long. i never hear it on the radio, no ones talking about it and it hasnt sold big numbers. what’s tea with that??

  63. Gilberto November 23, 2013

    Shouldn’t you be worried about Britney Jean? The album is around the corner, and no one is checking that s***.
    Did you forget that during Femme Floptale era, Britney had 3 top 10 hits but her album sold 700k? LOL. That’s what I call payola.
    Did you forget that JIVE bought her Femme Floptale’s Platinum plaque? They had the audacity to ship other 300k albums, so Britney could have another Platinum album. LMFAO! There are +300k copies of Femme Floptale getting dust on the shelves. LOL.
    Flop It Agaisnt Me is the worst selling #1 single of this decade. It sold less than 1.5kk which is abysmal number for a #1 hit.

    “After 3 re-releases, it is still stuck at 2.8 million”
    3 re-releases? I never heard of them. She didn’t re-release 4. Weren’t you saying that 4 sold 2.1kk just a few months ago? What did happen? I see it’s going to take you some time to see FACTS. 4 sold over 3kk.

  64. Stephy The Lambily November 23, 2013

    They are not legends…

  65. xedos November 23, 2013

    only thing real i heard that’s interesting is that artist should be judge by end of album instead of 1st week sales Rihanna is a good example. GGGB sold 160.000 1st week,but end up selling close to 10 million WW. T-Pain who beat her for the number 1 spot by 5000 did not even went gold

  66. mk November 24, 2013

    The only label that does not entertain that is REPUBLICRECORDS. They do not pay payola, they don’t give their artists enough money for promotion, and they do not purchase their artists’ albums. They expect artists to fair on their own and it is crap in this cruel industry, where payola helps garner fans especially urban and pop fans who have proved to be the most ddumb and easily influenced by blogs and radio airplay. DRAKE FOR INSTANCE SELLS SOLELY ON HIS NNAM

  67. TinaMinaj November 24, 2013

    The irony right??? Lol

  68. Lolz November 24, 2013

    @shitbird why do you need receipts? Its ok for you to post a theory without real receipts (grammys) so have a f****** seat.

  69. Tika November 24, 2013

    Why just call out Tamar? This has been happening for a long time. I remember Roc-a-fella records sending their street teams in to record stores to buy all of the copies on release date. So you have the record label, the artists, and also the volunteers and employees buying music on the first day. People aren’t buying music as much anymore so it’s still happening. Who needs to buy it on the first week? Who needs to buy it at all when you can download it for free?

  70. JOHNVIDAL November 24, 2013

    LOL Look at these desperate trolls acting as if they knew who the hell buys their own albums or who don´t! 🙂
    The mere fact that you need to troll even about things which are completely unknown for you makes you an instant joke. Of course @Trollbird is always the biggest clown.
    When you don´t know what´s happening in the industry, sales, etc, you only have the music and talent to judge , and there is where some artists become real respected legends for decades to come and some don´t. Remember you stan for Justin Beiber, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Britney Spears! lol Enough said.

  71. Jeff November 24, 2013

    No Rihanna is the puppet here. She is being told what to wear ake all those sexual moves etc. If I not mistaken they probably gave her the ok to smoke weed in front of the public. Even though they all smoke but Rihanna takes to another level. I watch Wendell Williams last week and she commented about Drake and his new boo. What got me is that she said that everyone in the industry knows that Rihanna is around the way girl for s** only. Rihanna is they puppet that they are talking about.

    Listen they know L.A. Reid and Rihanna was with him at one point for a good while. He was also stealing her money.

  72. Marcel November 27, 2013

    Well being an indie artist I can only hope for this type of exposure or the money to buy my records to make it seem like folks are really in support of my work.

    Until then I am just going to wait it out and see what happens…

    Check out “Dare” from new artist Marcel
    http://youtu.be/UjNYIt2znVo

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