No Streaming for “25”

This is the day we’ve all been waiting for: the day we say “Hello” to Adele’s new album, 25.

But in order to hear all 11 tracks on the long awaited album, listeners will have to buy the album. Adele decided to forego making the songs available on any streaming service, to either free or paid subscriptions.

While neither Adele nor her label gave any reason for the decision, which is proving controversial, many major media outlets were reporting that 25 would not be made available for streaming a day before it was released.

“Most artists have no choice but to opt for streaming and accede to the terms set by the services,” the New York Times reported Thursday. “But Adele, along with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, are viewed as among the very few superstar acts with enough leverage to set the terms for how they want their music to be consumed.”

Some are saying that Adele is, in a way, trying to force her fans to go backwards with their music enjoyment practices, fighting against the current and possibly losing money along the way.

Ari Herstand, writing for Digital Music News, says he won’t be buying the album.

While Adele’s previous album contained music that “stopped you in your tracks,” he won’t be making the drive to a store to pick up 25.

“Why? Because I don’t buy CDs anymore,” he writes. “The process of importing a CD into a computer (which no longer has a CD drive) and then making sure the track listing is correct, then dragging the files to my ‘iPhone’ playlist to then transferring to my iPhone while it goes through the 17 steps of Synching, so I can just listen to the damn thing does not happen anymore. Will I download it on iTunes? Nope! Why not? Because I haven’t downloaded a song since Spotify launched in the US and I began paying $9.99 a month for it. And I don’t have anymore space on my 64 GB iPhone (seriously).”

He reminds readers that he is, himself, “an indie musician supporting myself on my music,” and that he’s got an extensive vinyl collection, but in what amounts to loyalty to Spotify, he’s not going to make the purchase because Adele won’t make her songs available there. The only reason Adele isn’t making her album available for streaming services is “greed. And I don’t like artists who are greedy,” he says.

For what it’s worth, some 3.6 million copies of 25 were shipped to the US before Friday’s release, an amount that, if stacked, would reach 22 miles high, according to Fusion. The album is expected to break numerous sales records and be among the top sellers of the year. Would the numbers be bigger if the album were available to stream? It’s too soon to sell—er, tell.

 

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