“ There’s a conspiracy between Apple Music and the industry to change the game, to get everybody to pay for a subscription by putting hit content behind a paywall,” he wrote, before calling for an antitrust investigation of the company.įor the upstarts, exclusivity is one way to challenge the incumbent, Spotify. In a Sunday blog post addressing Frank Ocean’s decision to tie himself to Apple, he wrote that the practice does not help artists’ careers and that the best situation is where all listeners have access to music, regardless of the streaming service. Many have been critical of exclusive deals, including Lefsetz.

Drake's partnership with the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant is a multi-year, eight-figure deal for the rapper, who banked $38.5 million before taxes in the 12 months prior to June, according to FORBES' calculations. The album was only made available to other streaming services and for purchase six weeks later.Īpple, meanwhile, countered with a Drake deal that had his music appear exclusively on its services first: His fourth studio album, Views, was exclusive to Apple Music for a week following its April 29 release. 13 via Tidal and briefly as a paid download on West’s own website before being taken down. West’s The Life of Pablo was released on Feb. 28 through Tidal it went up online for purchase the next day. Rihanna’s Anti was released for free digital download on Jan. The exclusivity battle ratcheted up in 2016 as Tidal exclusively premiered long-awaited albums by Rihanna and West. Hours later, it was available for purchase on iTunes. Dre's latest album, Compton: A Soundtrack, in July, on Dre’s The Pharmacy show. A month after Apple Music launched in June 2015, it kicked off its exclusivity plan by premiering Dr. 'We’re not really in the business of paying for exclusives, because we think they’re bad for artists and they’re bad for fans,' Jonathan Prince, Spotify's head of communications, told The Verge in February.īlonde was not the first high-profile exclusive for Apple. Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming service, has previously said that it is not interested in exclusive streaming rights. This year, Tidal and Apple Music have attempted to win paying subscribers with proprietary content.

The practice of offering up exclusives to streaming companies is a relatively new one, whereby labels or artists allow a service early access to a release in return for an agreed upon sum.

Frank ocean albums and songs