Two tracks from Beyoncé's new self-titled album are now streaming on Spotify, following its surprise release last week
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Two tracks from Beyoncé's self-titled new album are now available on Spotify: Drunk In Love with husband Jay Z, and XO.
The album was announced without any preamble last week, appearing for download on iTunes with videos accompanying each track, and now is being broadened out to the streaming service.
Beyoncé's move surprised many, but was another instance of artists suddenly announcing albums rather than trailing them for weeks beforehand, with David Bowie and My Bloody Valentine using similar strategies recently. However, Beyoncé's was perhaps the most high-profile and successful, generating massive sales: nearly 900,000 sold in three days.
It further suggests that physical copies of music are increasingly unnecessary for many consumers, and that bonus content – here, the beautifully styled videos from the likes of Jonas Akerlund and Terry Richardson – is increasingly valuable. The fact that single tracks from the album are currently still unavailable will also have driven the uptake of the whole LP.
It could also be said that her strategy shows it's worth staying away from streaming services, at least initially. Albums from stars like Adele didn't see a dip in sales because they didn't feature on streaming sites – and arguably may have actually sold more as a result. However, Spotify countered those claims last year, saying that there wasn't "a molecule of evidence that there is any cannibalistic effect" on iTunes sales from their service.
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