Member Since: 6/7/2011
Posts: 10,608
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Beyonce Was Supposed To Be Released Nov. 18
Quote:
Once the release framework was in place, all that was left was to finish the album -- work which continued through October, 2013 -- and its inextricable video companions. All 17 videos were produced in a 12-week period in the fall, the final wrapping in mid-November, a few short weeks before the album's release, which scuppered the album's originally intended release date of Nov. 18. So Friday, Dec. 13 it would be.
“Why not let a 16-year-old fan in Bulgaria have the same capability to judge as someone who runs the biggest radio station in the world," Rob Stringer rhetorically pondered to Elberse and Smith. "Beyonce has built that audience. And I can imagine the normal release process gets a bit monotonous for someone like her.”
“Normally albums come out on that day, so they can be tracked by Billboard for a full week,” Stringer recalled to Elberse and Smith, ”but then the boss asked ‘Why does the record need to come out on a Tuesday? We’re not putting it in stores, so do we care?’” Retailers did -- Target refused to carry the record due to Apple's exclusive, as did Amazon. (It was also pirated nearly a quarter-million times during its first week.)
As the midnight release loomed, Parkwood employees waited in their war room, refreshing the iTunes Store continuously and biting their nails. Beyonce was in St. Louis that night, and by the time the record had been introduced to the world at large, she was on her way to a show in Chicago. On to the next.
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So - it was supposed to be released the Tuesday of Black Friday week. The sales! 
But I think Friday, December 13th, was less predictable & helped added to the surprise factor more.
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I want it now
The fact that it took me a few seconds to realize who you're talking about tho.. 
@ us never being able to see the webisodes or the superbowl commercial