As of now, Justin Bieber’s new album is looking to be a bust as the first week numbers are lower than expected. This is what showbiz says:

Justin Bieber’s “Believe” will be the highest first week sales of the year so far when it’s all counted. But it will also be at least 50,000 copies fewer than originally predicted. Right now, “Believe” is looking like it sold 370,000 copies–or less. This is way off the 420,00 copies hoped for. But Bieber’s TV special was a bust. And then his numbers on amazon.com significantly trailed off over the weekend. Amazon is now selling a downloadable version of the album for $4.99– a bad sign, as Madonna herself could tell us. The fact is, Bieber is not moving CDs digitally or physically in big numbers a week after “Believe” was made available. The amount of publicity he’s engendered simply is not resulting in sales, or even airplay. Given that this is particularly fruitful moment for Top 40 and pop–with “Someone I Used to Know,” “Call Me Maybe.” “What Makes You Beautiful,” and “Payphone” all full of good melodies and hooks–Bieber is not a factor. So hold on–because for once, substance may triumph over hype. And that will be a rude awakening. (Showbiz411)

Two veteran acts Maroon 5 and Linkin Park are set to release their anticipated albums on June 26th. Each are hoping for the #1 spot and I’m surprised their respective teams did not push back one of the releases considering both are projected to debut with 200k in the first week. The competition is close. Both Maroon 5 and Linkin Park’s previous album were released with disappointing results and had many wondering if their luck ran out. It seems each band could re-capture some of the fan base they lost.

NBC’s The Voice gave the Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine his second life. He also replaced his funk rock routine with electronic dance that apparently worked for him. He came out with 2 big hits this year – ‘Moves Like Jagger‘ featuring Christina Aguilera and his featured role on the Gym Class Heroes’ ‘Stereo Hearts’.

Linkin Park’s new single Burn It Down sold close to 400k. The fan enthusiasm is quite noticeable this time around compared to their last failed Rick Rubin produced album ‘A Thousand Suns’ (2008).

We recently reported that Justin Bieber is set to have the biggest debut of the year with his new album ‘Believe‘ which is projected to sell 400k within the first week. But to put everything in perspective Bieber is falling below expectations and could be a sign that his star power is cooling off. His most recent single ‘Boyfriend’ was floundering on the charts and his label had to beef up marketing and promotion to give it new life. Showbiz says this:

“His TV special last night on NBC, “All Around the World,” was a bust. For an 8pm show aimed at pre-teens, it finished fourth out of five shows at that hour. Bieber got a very lackluster 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo and scored just 3.3 million viewers– about half the number of top rated “So You Think You Can Dance” on Fox. It was also beaten by “Dogs in the City.”

“On the charts, Bieber released a new album this week called “Believe.” On iTunes, it’s number 1, hands down. But on amazon.com, “Believe” is struggling both digitally and in physical sales. Amazon has it doing best at number 9 of all its different versions. But in reality “Believe” is no knock out hit. Hitsdailydouble.com is claiming that “Believe” will end up around 410,000 copies for the week. That seems high given that the impact is low and the reviews–if they mean anything–are not great.

Indeed, Justin Bieber is starting to hit the Britney Spears trend. His original deluded fans are growing out of their age range, and new fans are hard to come by. I have never understood how or why he was popular. At best, he’s a YouTube creation using a heavy dab of Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake. He has the sex appeal of celery. He also really doesn’t have any songs anyone knows. I defy the average person on the street to name one of his hits.

This was the Jonas Brothers’ problem, too. And look what happened to them. Teen fame is fleeting.It won’t be long before Bieber is playing the Artful Dodger in “Oliver!” on Broadway.

Bieber Has Believers: Even with mixed reviews Justin Biebers new album ‘Believe’ is set to sell 400 to 500k in the first week of its release. “If “Believe” does sell in the 400,000 to 500,000 range, that would easily secure Bieber his largest sales frame yet. His highest week thus far came when “My World 2.0” sold 291,000 in its second week on the chart in April, 2010. “Believe” could also land the largest debut this year for an album. It would surpass the start of Madonna’s “MDNA,” which launched with 359,000 (which became this years biggest flop) according to Nielsen SoundScan. (The best sales frame overall in 2012 was registered by Adele’s “21” in the wake of her multiple Grammy Awards wins in February. It sold 730,000 in the week after the Grammy show.)

The Modern Drumer: Cobus Potgieter, a drummer who posted videos of performing covers on YouTube has received over a hundred million views. He is funding My YouTube Band Project (MYBP) via Kickstarter which reached its goal of $35,000 and is getting close to $45,000 as of Monday morning June 18th. He is taken the YouTube star status to the next level by selling recordings, drum lesson videos and drum-related merch. Cobus was recently noted for a Top 10 South African-associated Facebook page. Currently he’s auditioning musicians for My YouTube Band Project which will bring musicians together in Los Angeles to record an album.