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Tour de force could help Janet Jackson flog 'Discipline'
Wednesday, June 25th 2008
Madonna's ticket sales may have gotten off to a slow start, but Janet Jackson's are doing fine, claims Live Nation, their concert-tour company.
Jackson is hitting the road to promote her latest CD, "Discipline," which has moved just 392,000 copies. Even with changes in the music biz, that's less than half what it should have sold. In a further bid to keep her name in the headlines, the pop star has announced plans to star in a reality show.
Jackson blames the album's poor showing on her new label, Island Def Jam, where she fled with boyfriend Jermaine Dupri after leaving Virgin when her CD "20 Y.O." tanked. The breast-bearing singer says that Island isn't promoting the CD - her first without producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
Could it be the reviews? Giving "Discipline" a grade of C- in Entertainment Weekly, Margeaux Wilson called Jackson's X-rated lyrics "creepy" and tells her, at age 41, to "drop the nympho shtick instead of competing with the Beyoncés and Rihannas." A source told us that when label bigs heard the album, they did decide to promote ... Mariah Carey.
But hopes are still high for Jackson's tour at Live Nation, where the chairman shoeleathered last week after criticism that he was paying stars too much for the return. She's a tour record-breaker, having grossed more than $100 million in her career.
So why is Jackson apparently selling well while only half of the seats at Madonna's L.A. show have been sold? Her tickets are cheaper than Madonna's, ranging from $46 to $126 at the Izod Center in New Jersey, for example, where Jackson performs Oct. 17. And unlike Madonna, who almost always favors her new material in shows, Jackson is willing to do the fan-favorite hits.
"We're very happy with the ticket sales," said a Live Nation spokesman. "She hasn't complained about us. Thank God."
Si dice che a diferenza di Madonna JAnet sta vendendo bene i biglietti per il suo tour. Dicono che l'album però è alquanto scadente e che Janet non dovrebbe tentare di competere con Bejoncè e Rhianna.
