With the government’s ongoing crackdown also known as its Qing Lang campaign fresh on everyone’s minds, singer Cai Xukun found himself the subject of a mini controversy recently after people challenged the release strategy of his latest Unknown (Mi)迷 album for violating consumer protection laws since its release in April 2021.
According to reports, Mi 迷 has already sold 3.23 million copies on QQ Music with sales reaching close to 84.19 million yuan (approx 13 million USD) in the four months it’s been on the market. However, out of the promised 11 songs on its playlist, only 5 have been released online. So aside from questioning the legality of selling an “incomplete” product for full price, the beef people seem to have is the fact that consumers aren’t even aware when (and if) they’ll be receiving the next installment of songs in the album.
To keep the issue from fermenting too long, five songs have been released simultaneously on August 30. Cai Xukun studio has also issued an apology for their failure to fulfill their obligations and for not keeping consumers up to date with the schedule of his song releases.
From what’s being said online, this sort of staggered release supposedly isn’t something new and that Cai Xukun hasn’t been the only artist in the industry to employ such a move. Likewise, with it being announced from the very beginning that the entire release concept of Mi revolves around “a mystery being unveiled gradually in batches”, a portioned distribution to the market is somewhat expected.
