Quote:
|
Originally Posted by h8kurdt
And it's shit like that why I'm gonna pirate it.
After the debacle of Frank Ocean's Blond (or was it Chance's last one?)
album the CEO has said he'll never do exclusives for albums. The idea is dumb and doesn't help anyone in any way.
|
Chance's last album wasn't an album in the industry sense. But of course, it was an album, just an independent one that's only available to stream and was partially bankrolled by Apple Music for a 2-week exclusive. (Actually, maybe it *is* an album now, since it was allowed to chart and win a Grammy? ... But whatever, Chance says it's not, and other people say it's not, so I guess it's... not.)
I think you're thinking of Frank's album, Blond(e). But it was actually the Endless release that he put out right before Blonde that was "released" by his record company (Universal?) and got him out of his contract so he could go ahead and make Blonde a self-released exclusive thing. I don't know why he did it like that... no physical edition and whatnot... but that's what he wanted.
So I think it was Universal (or whatever company) that said, "Wow, thanks to streaming exclusives we just missed out on releasing one of the biggest albums of the year, so fuck that shit we're not doing it anymore.)
Thing is, I think there are only a few artists that could even get away with releasing exclusives, and most of them are artists, like Frank and Kanye and Chance Jay and Beyoncé -- "of-the-moment" artists with solid, super loyal fans who are going to definitely do whatever they have to do to hear a new album. I don't think just anyone could get away with that kind of thing. Can you imagine James Blake actually being successful with an exclusive? Or, like, Aphex Twin? I kinda can't. I think a lot of people would just not listen. Those artists still have solid fan bases, but they're not at all large enough to make this a big draw.
Anyway, whatever... I'm really opposed to the whole thing. It's the market taking the reins and forcing the cnsumer's hand, and then saying "Look at how much people love this! Even though, y'know, we have them no choice!!"
Streaming is super useful, I have to admit, but it's not the same as having a copy -- even a digital copy -- of an album. Something you can put where you want, and hear whenever you want, and once you buy it it's yours, and fuck the world.