Talk:This Is My Time

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I think that Hollywood Records should not drop her because they didn't even promote her album like how they did Hilary, Jesse and Aly & AJ. Does anyine agree with me.

[Response] Unless TMG is a label that was created within the realm of Disney (as is Hollywood), then she may have already left. This does not bode well for her as a solo artist, even with the star power she has behind the album From Then Until... We'll have to wait and see..

By the way, This Is My Time sold 500,000 copies worldwide. She only sold 250,000 in the U.S. And as proof, I offer this report, taken from SoundScan on April 27, 2005, which was posted at SOHH.com the next day by someone with access to SoundScan:

HOL RAVEN-SYMONE THIS IS MY TIME 795 882 -10% 205,166

HOL refers to her record label, Hollywood Records. As you can see, she sold 795 that week, and 882 the week before, a 10% drop. She registered a grand total of 205,166 as of that week, and was still falling. Let it be known, she dropped out of the Billboard 200 in January, 2005, never to return, after only 13 weeks on the entire chart. At the sales pace she was going, as of the April 2005 report, it is highly doubtful that she could have ever reached 500,000 in the U.S. alone by now (January, 2007). 250,000 U.S. sales seems to be the logical figure.

Now, if there is a report from Hollywood Records or the RIAA that they shipped 500,000, Raven might have a case for gold based on net shipments. The RIAA would have made such a report by now. In which case, I assume they may have shipped only 300,000 to 400,000.

At any rate, I have petitioned the RIAA to check the shipment status on this album. I suspect that maybe Hollywood Records did indeed ship at least 500,000, but perhaps never bothered to put in the appropriate paperwork for certification. Either that, or the RIAA themselves never bothered to follow up on this album, if the paperwork was properly submitted. It remains to be seen if the status of this album changes, and Raven finally gets her solo gold, to join fellow Disney divas Hilary Duff and Miley Cyrus. -CookyMonzta (13 Jan. 2007, 3:09 A.M. E.S.T.)

[edit] To whomever posted the figure of 235,000 sales:

Thank you for doing so. I am absolutely surprised that you were bold enough (even bolder than I might have been) to go directly to the source, namely, Keith Caulfield of Billboard (http://billboard.com/bbcom/ask_bb/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003541465), and ask him directly (if you were in fact the one); and I am equally surprised that he responded, with figures that put this argument to rest once and for all. Such a question should be asked every time, no matter who the artist is or how well or poorly they have sold, if ever there is a dispute as to whether an artist went gold, platinum, double-platinum or not at all.

I must say, though, that it is unfortunate that Raven failed to come close to the CD sales success of her (soon-to-be-former) Disney compatriots, Hilary Duff and Miley Cyrus, both of whom have gone double-platinum. But given the figure of 205,000 at the end of April, 2005, and the most accepted estimate, at the end of 2006, was 250,000 (only her most rabid of fans resorted to inflating the figure toward 500,000 and gold, when it really wasn't), the latest figure of 235,000, is obviously credible. Caulfield has the SoundScan database at his complete disposal (the information is sold for the rest of us), and would not feed us false sales figures. Most of us who saw the rough estimate of 250,000 accepted it based upon the last known SoundScan figures and sales rates revealed to us, and the fact that this album had dropped off the Billboard 200 quite rapidly from such a low position (#51).

Consider that, in April, 2005, she was selling at a rate of about 800 a week and dropping. No way could this album have gone gold, unless Hollywood Records shipped a half-million, which is the only other way she could have earned a gold album (rumor has it they shipped only 325,000, give or take a few thousand). Once more, the increase of only 30,000, between April, 2005 and February, 2007, represents a failure for this album to capitalize on the success of the soundtrack for Cheetah Girls 2. Mind you, this album is nearly two and a half years old.

I dare say that the official SoundScan figure should serve notice to those who believe otherwise, choosing without considerable evidence, to quote completely unsubstantiated figures (exact or fairly approximate) only to justify their need to always be right, evidence be damned, even if the argument and evidence are solidly against their claims. It is a delusion and a disservice to the artist and those who read the information, whether it be this site or anywhere else.

Please keep in mind that I don't take pleasure in supporting the latest sales figures revealed upon us by Billboard, but those figures are what they are, against which there is virtually no argument. Whoever gave the rough estimate of 250,000 beforehand, obviously called it right down the middle (as I would have if I were in that person's shoes), based upon the information he or she had. Let's just hope Raven fares far better with her 4th album. --CookyMonzta 06:01, 12 February 2007 (UTC)