Jay Chou says his album sales figures seem relatively low because they're genuine

Wednesday November 07,2007 Singapore

That's the number of copies Jay Chou's new album, Jay Chou on The Run, has sold in Asia within a two-week pre-sale period.

This comes from the man himself, at a press conference in Taipei last week. That isn't saying much for someone known as the best-selling male artiste in the Mandopop scene.

Especially if you compare to other A-list pre-sale figures released by their respective record companies earlier this year - Jolin Tsai's 80,000 copies in Taiwan within a week and S.H.E's 50,000 copies in Taiwan in four days.

But Jay, 28, claims his sales figures are genuine.

He also revealed that only 1,079,980 copies were shipped out to stores all over Asia when it was released last Thursday, and hoped his honesty will set a good example for other record labels to follow.

Sony BMG distributes the album in Asia.

Is he being the hero, or is this just another publicity stunt?

Detractors claim it is common practice in Taiwan to inflate sales figures to boost artistes' image and exposure.

Jay also eluded to that.

'I want to stop this bad habit in Taiwan's music industry. It's a fact that sales have fallen across the board, but whether I'm No1 or not still matters a lot to me.'

During the press conference, Jay posed next to a poster stating the 'genuine' figures, but no document to prove the sales was provided.

But Jay's action has drawn mixed reaction in the music industry here.

'Who knows whether he inflated his figures or not?' asked Mr KH Ngiam, managing director of Rock Records Singapore.

Ms Susan Tay, Sony BMG's marketing director here, said Jay was merely trying to end the recent media furore over his rivalry with his rumoured ex-girlfriend Jolin Tsai.

When asked about Jolin's record label's claim that her new album has sold 150,000 copies in Taiwan, Jay had said: 'I don't want to claim this or that. Just say how much is actually sold.'

Ms Tay insists there is no need for Jay to lie.

'This is the truth, he really did sell so much. Don't tell me you want to audit us now?'

Ms Tay said their regional offices provided the figures that made up the final tally.

But Mr Ngiam feels it's a ploy to generate publicity.

'Jay is playing the hero and giving the media another angle to pursue.

'It's a clever way of doing it, but the end result is the same - to get publicity. Whether the figure is real or not becomes secondary.'

Mr James Kang, marketing director of Warner Music Singapore, thinks that the figures Jay announced are 'fairly believable'.

He said it is definitely possible to sell 40,000 copies for a pre-sale in Asia - 5,000 each in Singapore and Malaysia, 10,000 in Hong Kong and 20,000 in Taiwan.

That's not counting China's market that can easily fulfil a 600,000-copy order upon the album's release, he added.

But is there a way to get to the bottom of it?

Mr Ngiam said that the regional offices of major labels are required to submit genuine figures to their headquarters, but no label will commission an audit check just to prove itself to the media.

In Singapore, the market is small and the Record Industry Association of Singapore tracks sales figures.

Still, Mr Kang thinks that Jay's unprecedented act will 'set a standard' for the industry.

'You're clearly bluffing if you claim you can sell more than him, since he's already undeniably the best.'

credits: newpaper.asia1.com