I.B. BAD TAKES ON FAKE NEWS

GEE, WE DON’T THINK SO: One rumor that never seems to go away is the one that has Gee Roberson’s Blueprint label coming into Sony under the Epic umbrella. We can assure you that this one is 100% untrue and has never been close to being true. Furthermore, it’s wholly unfounded, fake news, ain’t happening. Also: uh-uh. Why does this rumor refuse to die? Who’s keeping it in circulation?

BIBLE STUDY: John Amato may have been gone since July, but Billboard hasn’t seen an end to the clusterfuck around its chart calculations. The 6ix9ine-Travis Scott kerfuffle brought a lot to the surface about the Bible’s chart difficulties, notably the lack of transparency among certain entities reporting to Nielsen. The rules of engagement are not the same for all as regards capped streams, with SoundCloud by far the worst offender. Meanwhile, YouTube will probably end up reporting video streams (though not views of user-generated content) to the album chart, weighted in a way that’s comparable to Spotify’s ad-supported tier. Many in the industry are concerned that Lyor will jack the algo to juke his cronies’ chart stats, but there’s also considerable scuttlebutt that he’s probably out. In any event, many wonder how Team Bible continues to get manipulated so easily. Meanwhile, meetings are ongoing between rights holders, the Bible and Nielsen to come up with rules for making the sausage, which Nielsen has thus far been unwilling to explain (or perhaps they’re contractually unable to be forthcoming). It’s believed that parent company Valence Media’s Managing Director, Deanna Brown—one of the grown-ups in the room and widely viewed as smart and capable—is getting into the mix; does she have the macro and micro chops to fix this?