If you haven't heard the news yet, your favorite artists might be selling a whole lot of merch to get on the charts. Moreover, Billboard recently announced they are reinstating their controversial rule that merch bundles (i.e. selling socks along with a physical or digitally purchased record) will contribute to that release's chart placement. However, many artists are calling this out as a mistake. Furthermore, the organization eliminated that rule back in 2020 after years of pushback. The most recent artist to speak out against it is Rich The Kid, who spoke to TMZ about the reinstated "merch rule."
"That’s fire,” the Queens-born and College Park-raised MC said. “Because them floppin’ a** artists can get- you know what I’m saying- yeah, that’s some bulls**t. But you know what? My new album’s coming out this summer, and I ain’t sellin’ no Crocs with ’em!" While that's a valid point, a lot of the conversation around Billboard's "merch rule" (now referred to as "Fan Packs") targeted some of the biggest artists in the world. However, one artist who actually wanted to see the "merch rule" reinstated was none other than 6ix9ine.
Rich The Kid Dismisses Billboard's Rule Change
"The rule got changed in June/July 2020,” he lamented via Instagram. He made the distinction to claim that they specifically changed the rule to prevent artists like him from succeeding. “I sold over 3,000,000 dollars of bulged merch for gooba. The nicki and travis thing was in 2018 for queen because I promoted it. The industry changed rules and laws just to blackball an artist that’s how I know I’m really him. Get mad all you want but this is facts."
Furthermore, the incident between Travis Scott and Nicki Minaj that he referred to was the biggest public example of this rule's divisiveness. After ASTROWORLD beat Queen for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts, Nicki unleashed on La Flame and pointed blame at the "merch rule." "What we’re not gonna do is have that Auto-Tune man selling f***ing sweaters telling you he sold half a million albums, because he f***ing didn’t,” she said on Queen Radio. “You stupid fuck. You got your f***ing homeboy talking for you and you got your girlfriend selling tour passes. Stop it. Knock it the f**k off." Let us know your thoughts on Billboard's "Fan Packs" down below. Also, stick around on HNHH for more on this rule change and the latest from Rich The Kid.
