Giving Spotify the Cold Shoulder

Rumour Has It Adele won’t be releasing her new album to Spotify when it’s released in a week.

Instead, she’ll be taking her business and the obscene number of streams the album will produce to Apple Music, all in the name of keeping the album available only to paying customers.

Several websites are reporting Adele will not work with Spotify unless her new album, 25, is only available to those with paid subscriptions. Apple Insider notes that this would require Spotify to change its policy, which currently offers the same extensive library to both paid and free subscribers.

Spotify, of course, says the requirement for 25 to be available only to those who pay for the service are “categorically untrue,” and Apple Insider notes that it’s not a done deal whether any streaming service will get access to what’s undoubtedly the biggest album of the year until it is released, adding that the album can be preordered on iTunes already.

Pointing to another report, from Verge,  the website says that “Apple approached Adele with an exclusive deal to make 25 an exclusive, presumably in hopes of selling the record on iTunes, streaming it on Apple Music or both,” but Adele reportedly declined. Apple Insider also points out that “Adele most recently joined Apple in the news as reports claimed her talent agency, William Morris Endeavor, pitched Apple on a potential $30 million tour sponsorship.”

Tech Times notes that of Spotify’s 75 million active users, 50 million are free subscribers. That would explain any reluctance the streaming service might have in limiting access to only paid users.

“This isn’t the first time that Adele has had a run-in with Spotify, though,” Tech Times continues. “In 2011, the singer also kept her 21 album off Spotify for over a year when the music streaming service denied her the same deal she’s allegedly pushing through today.”

Start the countdown for a game of musical chicken to see which side will blink before the album is released on Nov. 20.

For more on Adele’s incredible success as of late, and her quirky personality, read here and here.

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