About 72 hours before the official release of Jay-Z's newest album, the artist's latest masterpiece was leaked. However, reports say Jay-Z isn't a victim in what could be an illegal sharing of file online. In fact, he was the one who initiated by the leak.
According to Forbes, the Grammy-award winning artist convinced Samsung to leak his own album to a million of the electronics manufacturer's customers. The deal involved Samsung purchasing 1 million copies of "Magna Carta Holy Grail" to give out ahead of the new album's release; in turn the company paid Jay-Z over $5 million. As of 12 a.m. on the Fourth of July, Samsung phone owners who downloaded a special app can also to the album for free.
With this move, "Magna Carta Holy Grail" was ensured of a million copies sold in its opening week, no matter the sales results may be in record stores. This gives Jay-Z the best opening-week sale he has had in his entire career.
Forbes notes that based on Nielsen SoundScan reports, the best first week album sales that the artist has had was in 2006, when Beyonce's hubby released "Kingdom Come." The album sold 680,000 copies, yet it was still over 40 percent less than what "Magna Carta" had already posted with the Samsung deal.
With this new development in the music industry, Forbes reports that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had recently changed its policies on platinum certification to accommodate the artist's new achievement. Instead of waiting for 30 days to include returns on physical albums in the certification process, through the reform they can now instantly recognize the platinum achievements of albums regardless of the time period.
"The reality is that how fans consume music is changing, the music business is changing as labels and artists partner with a breathtaking array of new technology services, and the industry's premier award recognizing artists' commercial achievement should similarly keep pace," explained Liz Kennedy from the RIAA in an official statement. "In short, we're continuing to move the 55-year-old program forward and it's a good day when music sales diversification and innovative strategies meet the RIAA's time-tested, gold standard requisites for certification."
As for Jay-Z, aside from his multimillion dollar deal with Samsung, he was also able to stir buzz for the new album and his upcoming tour with Justin Timberlake this summer.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
