Jay-Z continues to make headlines since announcing his plan to release what will be his 12th solo album.
During game 5 of the NBA Finals, the veteran rapper had a three minute long commercial sponsored by Samsung, during which he announced the title (Magna Carta Holy Grail) and the release date (July 4 for Samsung customers, and July 9 commercially) of the album.
Samsung has already bought the first one million copies of the album, and with this came the debate of whether MCHG should be certified platinum upon its release.
At first, the RIAA was opposed to giving the album the platinum label immediately, but they changed their decision three days before the album's release. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jay-zs-magna-carta-holy-grail-to-benefit-from-revised-riaa-policy-20130703
When the clock strikes midnight, and the calendar turns to July 4, MCHG will be a platinum album. But one caveat to this whole deal is that this will not help Jay-Z on the charts. Only the amount of albums he sells commercially will count towards where he ends up on the Billboard charts a week after the commercial release.
Jay-Z used a new marketing pitch for this new album (considering he announced it less than a month before the release) and it has already led to a platinum album, but it will be interesting to see if people respond to this by buying the work commercially and giving him a No. 1 album.