It's hard to move units when the biggest retailers in the country won't sell your album.
That's a lesson Nicki Minaj is learning with her new record Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded — The Re-Up, a re-release of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded with additional songs on it.
"It is hard to get the album because the stores basically said that the last few re-releases they had put out did not do well and they didn't want to take a chance," Minaj explained in an interview with Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club. "So, Target and Walmart is not selling the album. Target is actually my biggest retailer— they've always been my biggest retailer. They've sold the most Nicki Minaj albums ever, so, thank you, Target. But I wish you could've sold this one."
According to Minaj, other chain stores also declined to support her.
"Best Buy only took limited because they're like 'Oh no, we want to play it safe,'" she said. "So it's very difficult and it kind of sets you up to fail."
While the chips are stacked against her for this album performing well, when the numbers come out this week Nicki may wind up surprised. Brick-and-mortar record sales are still very relevant and Black Friday sales at stores like Walmart, Target and Best Buy would have certainly given her album a boost. But there are many ways to buy and/or consume an LP these days (iTunes, Amazon's MP3 store, Spotify, Youtube). If you're into Nicki Minaj, you're not going to have a hard time hearing the album.
[via Huffington Post]
