Adele’s new album won’t be on Spotify, Apple Music, or any other streaming services
According to a report, she's skipping all streaming for 25 - even the premium kind
Tomorrow sees the release of Adele’s much-anticipated third album, 25, and all signs point to it being perhaps the biggest music release in years – but it sounds like streaming services won’t be able to share in that expected success.
According to the New York Times, Adele and her record labels – XL Recordings and Columbia Records – have informed services that they will not have 25 available to stream tomorrow. And we’re talking about not only Spotify, but also Apple Music, Google Play Music, Tidal, and any other streaming service running today.
The “Why?” isn’t entirely clear, although there’s precedent for this. Taylor Swift withheld her last album, 1989, from Spotify because she felt its free ad-supported streaming option devalued her work, and it remains unavailable on the service. However, she’s allowed it on Apple Music and other services that only have paid, premium subscription plans.
Based on what the Times is reporting, Adele won’t follow that same route: 25 won’t be streaming anywhere, which means the only legal option you’ll have is a proper purchase, either digitally or for a physical copy. And that could well improve its first-week chart performance, as anxious fans avoid the possibility of a long wait for streaming.
Record industry analysts believe the album could sell as many as 2.5 million copies in the first week in the United States alone, and that’s not counting potentially huge international tallies. Given that her last album, 21, is the single best-selling album of the last decade – and the fact that Amazon UK has reported that it’s already its most pre-ordered album of all time – 25 is sure to be gigantic. Sorry, streamers.
[Source: New York Times]
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Andrew Hayward
Freelance Writer 
