Amazon joins Target, refuses to stock physical copies of Beyonce’s new album

It’s starting to look like Beyonce Knowles’ daring move to secretly launch her new album on iTunes last week has come with consequences. Target has already said that it will not stock physical copies in its stores and now Amazon is following suit.

Although Beyonce is listed on Amazon, it is not available through the retail giant itself. You can only get the album through third-party sellers, many of whom are charging over $20 for a new copy.

While the explanation could be that Amazon just hasn’t received any stock yet, label sources for Billboard said that the site doesn’t plan on carrying it immediately. Amazon also isn’t doing any promotion to make sure its users know that you can still order an MP3 copy of the album for $15.99 through the site.

Billboard’s sources say that Amazon was not happy when Sony Music told it that it could not sell pre-orders of the album before it launched on iTunes last week.

iTunes also had the album exclusively for a week before physical copies were released to stores Friday. Beyonce sold over 600,000 copies on iTunes last week.

Target was also not happy that the album was released online first, even though the store has worked with Beyonce in the past, most notably with an exclusive version of 4. A Target spokesman explained to Billboard, “At Target, we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, and when a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections.”

Sony and Amazon haven’t commented on the status of Beyonce on the site.

image: Amazon screenshot

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