From their MySpace:

Alloy.com has a cool video quiz with B5. You get different videos depending on whether or not you answer the question right.

Though it may not have much in the way of impact, you can vote to help B5 decide their next single. My vote would be for "In My Bedroom". As I write, here are the poll results:

1. "She Got It Like That", 44%.
2. "In My Bedroom", 28%.
3. "Right to Left", 16%.
4. "Teardrops", 12%.

There are only 2 days remain in AOL Breakers voting. B5 is, of course, nominated in the Southern Comfort category. They have a slight edge over Hurricane Chris, 41% to 40%. Plies is a distant 3rd at 19%.

Here it is: most people don't like what they've heard from B5. That's the simple fact here. People do not like what they have heard up to this point. If they did, their sales would be higher.

To blame Bad Boy, Diddy or promotion in general is an excuse - and an absurd one, at that. B5 has been promoted well. They've been on BET's 106 & Park (twice), including one performance. They've been on Access Granted. They've been promoted heavily online through the Bad Boy and label channels. They've had a paid ad campaign online and on TV. They've been featured on heavily trafficked websites like TeenHollywood.com, Meez and AOL. They've been featured in major publications. They've participated in a good sized media tour, dealing with TV, radio and internet (including me), providing them with a solid amount of coverage and interviews. They've been on tour. And that's just what is coming to mind at this moment. And then, of course, you have the various fan based efforts and street teams that exist.

Do you know how many artists would kill for one performance on 106 & Park, let alone the rest of that stuff? Artists with a quarter of that marketing sell 18,500 records. It's not promotion. It's the fact that what the public has heard of B5 isn't clicking with them. With the first album, this meant "All I Do" and "U Got Me". With this one, it means "Hydrolics". People just aren't into what they've heard and see of B5.

B5 has their fans, yes. And that's mostly a good thing and, hopefully, those fans bought records. (I don't know if I'd consider myself a B5 fan - I'm a Bad Boy fan - but I bought 2 copies). But, it's just not enough for their fans to like them. Their music has to click with a wider audience and it has not. This is an album that has had a solid promotional push, at least, with some money behind it. On top of that, this couldn't have been a cheap album to make, either. Not everyone gets to work with Mario Winans, Bryan Cox and Danja. For the most part, a song is either going to catch or it's not. Promotion can be a reason for poor sales (it is plainly not, in this case), but at the end of the day, songs either catch or they don't. None of their songs have.

With any group that doesn't sell well, you have a set of fans that blame everyone and act like everyone is out to get them and/or the act they are a fan of. It's sabotage! The label, the executives, TV stations, retailers, the media, whatever. They're not doing their job, they're not realizing how great the act is, they're "hating" and on and on and on. It doesn't matter how much promotion they've had, some people would always say it wasn't enough. At some point, you have to step up and stop blaming everyone.

Personally, I want them to be successful. When I interviewed them, they all struck me as nice, polite young men. Like I said, I'm a Bad Boy fan and I bought 2 copies of their album. I cover them like I cover every other artist here. But, this is just how I see it. We're 2 albums and 3 singles into their career. Neither album has been a measurable success (their first album has sold 230,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan) and they have not had a single song chart on the Hot 100. To put that into perspective, Gorilla Zoe's "Hood Figga" is currently at 72 on the Hot 100 chart. It's his first single - ever. The reason is simple enough - more people want to listen to it.

Does this mean that this album is not going to be a success? No. You can't dismiss albums in their first week. That said, for most albums, their first week is their biggest week. It's more of a rarity that albums have better weeks than their first. But, it can happen. Maybe, just maybe, with their 4th single - their 2nd from this album - something will catch with that larger audience that will lead to increased sales. I hope that happens. If it doesn't - you don't know how many chances they are going to get.

MTV reports that B5 has debuted at #27 on The Billboard 200 with first week sales of 18,500 units. It goes without saying that this is a poor showing. I'll have more later today.

AOL Music has a full CD listening party for "Don't Talk, Just Listen".

Via ballergirl at the B5 Online forums.

B5 was on 106 & Park today. They came out and performed "Hydrolics". Bow Wow performed both of his verses as a "surprise" guest. B5's performance was pretty good. I liked it better the second time I saw it. The reason for that is that it seemed a little sloppy in parts. It focused more on dancing than singing and there's nothing wrong with that - but the dancing and lip syncing must be on point and it was, for the most part. There were a couple missteps. Bow Wow added to the performance in a great way and served as a hype man when he wasn't rapping. Overall, a pretty good performance.

After their performance, they did a quick interview where they talked about the album, how they've grown, etc. Bow Wow stuck along and mentioned that B5 has a standing invite to tour with him (he mentioned the Face Off tour). So, that might be something to watch for.

Previously, we reported that Circuit City would have an exclusive bonus track for "Don't Talk, Just Listen" and that that track was "Boom Boom Boom". Having received my copy of the Circuit City version of the album, I can share some info for those that don't yet have it.

Despite what the back cover says (another back cover error - noooooooooo!), "Boom Boom Boom" is track number 13 on the album. I daresay this has led to a lot of frightened gasps from B5 fans when they skip to track 14 only to find "Things I Would Do". "Rockstar" is included on this version of the album, as well, as a hidden bonus track after "Things I Would Do" - as it is on the normal version of the album.

"Boom Boom Boom" is featured in the album booklet. It was produced by The Co-Stars and Mischke.

The September 15 issue of Billboard has a short review of "Don't Talk, Just Listen". Read it here.

Updating a previous story, according to Bad Boy, the 106 & Park episode with B5 will not be airing on Thursday at 6:00 PM ET. It will be airing on Friday at 6:00 PM ET.

They will be in studio to record the show on Thursday at 2:00 PM ET.

SOHH.com has a quick write up on B5 and the fact that their album was released the same day as Kanye West and 50 Cent.


The fact of the matter is this. If B5 comes in at 4th on the Billboard 200 chart, behind Kanye, 50 and Kenny Chesney, that'll be an accomplishment and should not be looked at as a disappointment. These are big acts that will move big units. B5's not going to move those kinds of units. However, coming in at 4 would be very good and, if they can get their album to a gold certification by the RIAA, that'd be a big deal, as well.

The Circuit City exclusive bonus track for "Don't Talk, Just Listen" is called "Boom, Boom, Boom".

The Wal-Mart exclusive is now online.

From their MySpace:

Update 2: They will not be on on Thursday. They will be on on Friday.

B5 will be on 106 & Park on Thursday. The show starts at 6:00 PM ET.

Update: They'll be performing "Hydrolics" with Bow Wow.

Via Jenn on B5 Online.

Watch below. They talk about the following tracks:

"Tear Drops"
"In My Bedroom"
"All Over Again"
"What It Do"


See Part 1, as well.

Update: It is now online.

The Wal-Mart exclusive voicetone for "Don't Talk, Just Listen" is supposed to be at http://www.b5online.com/walmart. But, that is currently a dead link. I've been in contact with someone in mobile promotions at Atlantic and hope to know more soon. I imagine that it it isn't up today, it'll be up within a week or two.

That said, it's just plain bad that Bad Boy/whoever doesn't have these mobile exclusives online on the day that you can buy the album. In a market where it's hard enough to sell CDs, you don't need to do things that make consumers feel like they've been taken. That's not what Bad Boy is going, but it's how people will feel. Anyway, hopefully it'll be up soon.

Back when we broke the new tracklisting, I guessed that "Rockstar" may be a hidden track in the vein of "Sleep On It" from Danity Kane's album. That's exactly how it worked out. Donnie mentioned it earlier today and I have a copy in my hands now, so I can confirm that that is the case.

This explains the long track time of "Things I Would Do" listed on various sites. If you check out iTunes, you can buy "Rockstar" by itself, as well.

Today marks the release of B5's sophomore album, "Don't Talk, Just Listen". Buy it now at Amazon.com.

Tracklisting:

1. "Hydrolics" featuring Bow Wow and Diddy
2. "How You Not Gonna"
3. "Right to Left"
4. "Erika Kane"
5. "Got It Like That"
6. "Tear Drops"
7. "In My Bedroom"
8. "All Over Again"
9. "What it Do"
10. "No One Else"
11. "I Must Love Drama"
12. "So Incredible"
13. "Things I Would Do"

"Rockstar" is supposed to be a bonus track, but I am unsure as to where that will come in. I asked B5's management on Sunday and they weren't even sure. So, we'll see. Circuit City has an exclusive bonus track (perhaps "Rockstar", perhaps not) while Wal-Mart has an exclusive voice tone. Both can be purchased online.

Just a note of update: the prizes on the prizes page are accurate. For more on B5 mobile trading cards, please see my previous post on them.

Just as with Joc, B5 has a mobile trading cards program at http://cards.b5online.com. And, also just like with Joc, they are running a giveaway. The prizes page says that if you collect all 40 cards, you will be entered into a drawing from which 10 people will be chosen to receive a phone call from B5. They also list 25 instant winner prizes of a B5 poster.

However, that's not what the rules page says. The rules state that there will be a grand prize of $1,000 cash, 10 second place prizes of a phone call from B5 and 50 instant winners of an autographed B5 poster. I'll hopefully know what the official prizes are soon and we'll have an update then.

Update: The prizes on the prize page are the correct ones.

"Don't Talk, Just Listen" will have 2 bonus editions (that I know of at this moment).

Wal-Mart will have an exclusive B5 voicetone.

Circuit City will have an exclusive bonus track. No word on what that track is, but I'll find out and report back as soon as I do.

It doesn't appear that Best Buy, K-Mart or Target are doing anything - B5 isn't featured in their fliers, even, let alone with any bonus material.

You can listen to snippets from B5's second album, releasing Tuesday, on the Circuit City site.

You can listen to these tracks on their imeem.

B5 will be hosting a live chat event from 3:00 to 4:00 PM ET on Monday, September 10 in their Meebo chat room.

B5 will be holding a release party at Wal-Mart in Atlanta on September 11 at 6:00 PM ET.

Listen to it at the links below:

Real Player
Windows Media Player

Watch below. It's labeled as part 1, so you expect at least 1 more of these, perhaps 2. You get to hear snippets of all of the tracks that they talk about. They discuss the following:

"Hydrolics" featuring Bow Wow.
"How You Not Gonna" (produced by Mario Winans).
"Right to Left" (produced by Bryan Cox, written by Adonis).
"Erika Kane" (produced by Bryan Cox, written by Adonis).
"She Got it Like That" (written by Patrick and Blaze).

B5 is featured on the cover of the October 2007 Right On! magazine. For more, see the B5 official site.

Nothing too specific, but from the official site:

B5 will be interviewed and will perform on Good Day Atlanta on Fox 5 on Monday, September 3. The show starts at 8:00 AM.