Part of the anticipated sales may come from the fact 25 will not be available on Spotify’s streaming platform when it is released Friday.
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It was announced in August that Adele would be releasing her third album and she released its first single “Hello” on October 22, which broke the Vevo record for most views in a day on YouTube with 27.7 million in its first 24 hours. The sheer optimism shown by Spotify was witnessed in North America’s chief executive, Tyler Goldman’s statement for whom Adele’s decision does not seem to be surprising as her preceding album “21” was primarily not accessible to Spotify either.
“She’s benefitting from paid subscriptions, but she’s using this as an opportunity to try and sell more CDs or downloads”, he said. Fans can now stream Adele’s chart-topping new single “Hello” on Spotify, but the rest of the new album is unavailable. Beyonc withheld her last album, Beyonc, from streaming for almost a year after releasing it in late 2013.
Whether Adele’s camp feels that abstaining from participation on streaming sites will result in more actual purchases or that chasing the digital payouts aren’t worth it, this move deserves watching.
Swift later made a deal to add her newest album, 1989, to Apple Music.
In the past decade, the music industry has seen a seismic shift away from CD sales which declined by 80 percent toward music streaming that now makes up 32 percent of annual revenue.
Before now, it had been announced that an enhanced version of Adele’s new work with extra tracks would be available through retailer Target, but no plans for streaming had been announced.
Adele’s last album, “21”, has sold more than 11 million copies in the United States since its 2011 release. Her record label has made it clear that, at least for the time being, the album will not be available for streaming on Spotify, Pandora or any of the other similar services.
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“This is a minor issue for Adele, but a major issue for the streaming services”. Which means if the album does sell 3.5 million in the first week, she stands to bring in a cool 38.5 million dollars. Her grand entrance reveals she’s been given a prosthetic nose and chin – “I’ve got bum chins”, she quips – and she gives her infamous accent an overhaul.
