Jay-Z, superstar rapper, released his new album Magna Carta Holy Grail to one million Samsung users yesterday. But, now the album has leaked online and anyone can listen to the rapper’s work for free.
It appears that Samsung paid a pretty hefty price tag to release Jay-Z’s newest album five days before the general public could purchase the CD. Industry analysts ballpark the figure somewhere around $20 million dollars.
In theory, this looked like an excellent deal for both Jay and Samsung. Samsung would purchase so many albums that the artist’s latest venture hit platinum before it was even released. In turn, Samsung would be able to co-brand themselves with Jay-z, a proven (and hip) sales juggernaut.
In reality, it may not have been such a great deal for either entity. Jay-Z’s album has been leaked online, five days before the public even has a chance to purchase the album. This poses a significant risk to album sales, as the only way to obtain the album (if you’re not a Samsung user) is to illegally download it.
Samsung, while faring much better on their end, hasn’t received the boost they were expecting, either. Additionally, many Samsung users have been complaining for the past 24 hours that there are problems with downloading the album to their device.
Samsung denies those allegations.
The leak caught many by surprise, considering how secrative Jay-Z was about the upcoming project. Fans weren’t even aware that he was working on a new album until the now-famous Samsung commercial.
The commercial aired during Game 5 of the NBA Finals, effectively stealing the buzz from both the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs.
The video, which is featured on YouTube (along with his entire new album), raised a few eyebrows--especially seeing the new, thin Rick Rubin, lounge on a couch. I swear to God, if he was in a park, you would mistake him for a homeless person.
In the (super confusing) ad, Z and Rubin are joined by Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, who jump in from time to time, but mainly just have stupid looks on their faces. They're probably wondering what they're doing there, too.
The video opens with Jay-z sitting at a desk, nodding back and forth to piano music. His old sweatshirt says "Go Home" on it.
His first words, which seems fitting considering the nature of the video, is "What is that--What the hell is that?"
Jay-Z went on to describe his new album:
"This album is about this duality. How do you navigate yourself through this whole thing...through success, through failures, through all this and still remain yourself. We don't have any rules, everybody is trying to figure it out," he says. "That's why the Internet is like the Wild West. The Wild Wild West. We need to write the new rules."
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