It's both

The main problem is that no one really knows how this will work for most artists tbh.

It worked for Beyonce because she's a huge name, sells albums, and included 16 videos with it. Album sales, as a whole, are still mostly dominated by physical sales.

The iTunes thing sounds like a good idea but there's normally no interest in most albums after their first week. And having it exclusive to iTunes for a week could hurt it's potential sales.

It's something that still needs a lot more testing before it becomes the norm. I now the industry wants to save album sales but there's really not much to do to save them at this point. You can use tactics like this but it'll eventually tire out with people. People just aren't interested in buying full albums anymore and it's thanks to iTunes for why that is.

I've never understood why more artists don't utilize that feature. It makes sense for the first week.

But you're right, the strategy has to vary from artist to artist; "pulling a Beyoncé" is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Limiting physical copies and/or streaming will only be a good idea for some of them.


A lot of artists have been doing the whole "stream on iTunes a week before release" deal though, and that seems to be a decent solution for getting a jump on leaks.

I disagree, artists do store exclusives all the time. Beyonce pulled a Jay-Z/Kanye and a Frank Ocean.

I have a feeling Taylor's label might try a digital-only first week if it weren't for the fact that (1) She's a big physical seller and (2) it would piss off Target, and She does Target exclusives of Her albums.

Putting the album on iTunes as Album Only for the first week could boost digital sales a bit for Her, but not enough to make up for not having the album on shelves the same week.

I think releasing an album physically and digitally the same week, but making it album only could be advantageous for Taylor. Maybe.

Her album is literally changing the game.

Someone like Taylor (and also Adele) have fan-bases that just aren't limited to one certain demographic.

Even in Taylor's case, a lot of her fans are younger and rely on their parents to buy music for them and that age group still mostly buys physically.

It would hurt her first week sales to be exclusive to iTunes. Same for Adele, especially since Adele has the chance to make history with hers and they better not **** that up with this kind of release.

Wow Apple is already getting worried because of streaming taking over. Labels would be foolish to try this again with a high profile artist. The success of BEYONCÉ was because of the surprise factor and the story going viral. An iTunes exclusive alone would result in pitiful sales. You need the other elements too, and unfortunately for them it's something that can't ever be repeated.

this!

Her impact is so unreal!!!

As bias as he may sound, the idea isn't all that far-fetched. Although streaming is picking up speed, you have to wonder when the business will catch up to the business model. They say it will "take time" but in my opinion, time isn't something we have. Given the current state of the industry we need to utilize all possible outlets and ideas.

This pretty much!!

IMPACT

Frank Ocean debut album was an iTunes exclusive and that turned out great for him, 100K I think
Watch The Throne's album was an iTunes exclusive and they sold like 400K
And this week Kid Cudi is doing very very well.

So far, there hasn't been any arguments against this (besides atrl suspicions)
If the album is good, people will buy it.

But queen Sky Ferreira did it first! Her debut album, "Night Time, My Time" was available as iTunes exclusive, and only after ****ing couple of months it was sold in shops (because her label is a mess, but whatever, the future queen of pop did it first anyway)