After Beyoncé’s latest album release, Apple is encouraging record labels to follow in her footsteps and release music without any promotion on iTunes.
According to iMore, super-company Apple is pushing for similar releases of music like Beyoncé. She did nothing to promote the album, and then released it on iTunes in December of 2013.
Beyoncé sold over one million copies in its first week of release. The album was released exclusively on iTunes for a week before getting pushed to other digital retailers and chain stores. This obviously increased Apple’s revenue, so they are now pursing other music labels to engage in exclusive release deals as well.
iTunes even suggested that albums don’t have to be exclusive to Apple, according to Billboard. Regardless of what company an exclusive release is for, it would drive digital sales up significantly all while promoting the company that released it.
Seeing as 2013 saw a decline in digital music sales, these exclusive releases could significantly raise those numbers if done correctly. Factors that could affect sales are artist recognition and timing.
This comes in the wake of a current struggle for digital music sales: streaming. Apps like Spotify and Beats Music are giving fans the music without having to buy it, all while gaining profit for themselves.
Image: Wikimedia Commons