watch the throne
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s announcement that Watch The Throne would be to be distributed digitally first then physical copies sold exclusively by Best Buy was met by an overwhelmingly negative response, and for good reason. The mom-and-pop record stores are struggling as it is and missing out on a rare guaranteed-to-sell album such as this one will definitely leave a dent in the cash register.
And when asked to justify this decision, last week Jay’s manager John Meneilly claimed that it was to prevent the album from sprouting a premature leak and other assorted forms of piracy, another statement that was immediately laughed at and deemed impossible. But nothing’s impossible, right?
A record leaking two to three weeks before its scheduled release has become the norm in 2011. Even the biggest ones. Eminem’s Recovery leaked two weeks before schedule and 50 Cent’s Before I Self-Destruct appeared a whopping month early. In many cases, by the time the official date rolls around, the record is old news already and fans are on to the next one.
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s announcement that Watch The Throne would be to be distributed digitally first then physical copies sold exclusively by Best Buy was met by an overwhelmingly negative response, and for good reason. The mom-and-pop record stores are struggling as it is and missing out on a rare guaranteed-to-sell album such as this one will definitely leave a dent in the cash register.
And when asked to justify this decision, last week Jay’s manager John Meneilly claimed that it was to prevent the album from sprouting a premature leak and other assorted forms of piracy, another statement that was immediately laughed at and deemed impossible. But nothing’s impossible, right?
A record leaking two to three weeks before its scheduled release has become the norm in 2011. Even the biggest ones. Eminem’s Recovery leaked two weeks before schedule and 50 Cent’s Before I Self-Destruct appeared a whopping month early. In many cases, by the time the official date rolls around, the record is old news already and fans are on to the next one.
