CHRIS BROWN IS A TWITTER QUITTER: Singer ends account after falsely accusing Wal-Mart of blackballing his CD. Industry says album is in stock, but not selling.

(December 16, 2009)
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     *Chris Brown's has quit microblogging service Twitter in the wake of his recent tweet rant accusing music retailers of boycotting his new album "Grafitti," an allegation that turned out to be false.

      Brown tweeted in a series of messages: "im tired of this sh*t. major stores r blackballing my cd. not stockin the shelves and lying to customers. what the f**k do i gotta do... ... yeah i said it and i aint retracting sh*t im not biting my tongue about sh*t else... the industry can kiss my a**."

      He also noted specifically that he "JUST WAS AT WALMART IN Wallingford CT,844 north colony.. they didnt even have my album in the back... not on shelves, saw for myself."

      Wallingford's Wal-Mart has responded, saying they are indeed carrying Brown's album.

      "We are surprised at the comments on Twitter, since all Wal-Mart stores carried the CD since its release, including the Wallingford store mentioned in the post," a rep for the chain said, according to Billboard.com. "This store had in fact sold through their copies over the weekend. The majority of our stores are showing today they have copies on hand."

      Billboard further reported that a survey and store visits found that Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Trans World and Newbury Comics are all carrying the Brown record and sources say that his album received widespread distribution and promotion by his label, Jive Records, and his distributor, Sony Music Entertainment. Jive shipped over 400,000 units of "Graffiti," and also had it positioned in prime stores space at all key accounts, according to sources. In fact, sources suggest that Jive may have overshipped his record, as sales are slow.

      "Not only am I carrying it, I am over carrying it, because it isn't selling," says the head of purchasing at one large chain. "I wish I could return it." He says the album's first week sales only reached 40% of expectations. At 27-unit Newbury Comics, Carl Mello head of purchasing, echoes that sentiment. "We have it; it's not selling much."

      Although Brown pleaded guilty to charges in connection with his attack of former girlfriend Rihanna in February, Mello says the chain never even considered boycotting Brown -- an accusation leveled by the singer on Twitter. "We never considered not bringing it in. If we stopped bringing in records from every unsavory character that puts out an album, there would be tumbleweed floating around our stores."

      Sources project that Brown sold about 100,000 units last week, well below the 150,000-175,000 units he was expected to sell. Mello says that the album is probably about the No. 40 best-selling title at the chain.

      In any case, Brown has decided to get rid of his Twitter account @mechanicalDummy, which now greets fans with the words "doesn't exist."

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