If you’ve been anywhere near the internet in the last few days, chances are you’ve heard about the brand new self-titled album from Beyoncé.
Released without warning and available exclusively on iTunes, the 14-track, 17-video “visual album” has taken the music media world by storm. A blitzkrieg made all the more pointed by the fact that it was an album that almost nobody except Beyoncé and her closest inner circles knew even existed prior to its lightning release online on Thursday 12th December.
“I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it,” Beyoncé said in a press release for the album. “I am bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There’s so much that gets between the music, the artist and the fans. I felt like I didn’t want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it’s ready and from me to my fans.”
While the pop star isn’t the first to baffle fans and media alike by unveiling a finished product that was completed secret (this year alone, we’ve seen both David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, and Kanye West already pull that trick), Beyoncé’s variation on the stealth release model has already distinguished itself by the huge successes it’s achieved in just three-ish days.
Just as Radiohead weren’t the first to hit upon the ‘pay what you want’ scheme for the 2007 release of In Rainbows, but ended up being credited with a revolutionary new form of digital distribution that bucked conventional trends, history may too prove Beyoncé, and the unique release of her eponymous fifth album, as changing the way big-name musicians with an established audience release their records.
But how exactly is that success measured? Well, it’s do with more than just sales (though there has been an awful lot) and just as the modern pop music landscape is about much more than just the music, so too is the impact and intent of Beyonce’s fifth, eponymous record; here’s the top things we’ve learned from the release of the Beyoncé “visual album”
Beyoncé Sold 80,000 Copies In 3 Hours
Take that figure in for a moment. In the time it takes to watch Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring, 80,000 people had logged onto their iTunes account and spent the US$15.99 on Beyoncé’s latest with zero official marketing, little to no warning, and without being able to preview much of the material on conventional sources, let alone the fact the album is still not available on popular streaming services where the majority of consumers do their ‘try before you buy’ listening.
According to Billboard, the 80,000 figure puts the singer right on track for a #1 debut on the Billboard Top 200. You might be thinking, ‘ok, well the lion’s share of people snapped up the album in the hype – it’ll mellow’, but rather than peaking early, it looks like the record is just picking up steam.
Beyoncé Is On Track For 600,000 Sales In One Week
So from dropping on iTunes at 9pm PT to 12am midnight on Thursday, Beyoncé busted 80,000 units, by the end of Friday it sold another 350,000, putting it past a tally of 430,000 total according to Hollywod Reporter. At that rate, the album is set to move over 600,000 by the time the American sales figures appear mid-week.
By comparison, that’s double what Beyonce’s last album, 2011’s 4, sold in its opening week – in just half the time, and without the benefit of a multi-million dollar marketing push from Sony and comfortably ousting the 541,000 opening sales of 2006 album B’day. With those numbers, Beyoncé will give its namesake the best debut week, and sales week period, of her entire career.
Beyoncé Sparked 1.2 Million Tweets In 12 Hours
Just as the “visual album” generated big numbers in the paid download stakes, it also created staggering word of mouth on social media. Facebook posts referencing ‘Beyoncé’ saw a spike of 1,300% in the hours after the album dropped.
At its peak, more than 5,300 tweets per minute referred to Beyoncé’s new self-titled release, as Mashable reports, beating out the previous records set by schlock horror flick, Sharknado (at 5,000 tweets per minute) and NBC’s Sound of Music Live! (449,500 tweets during the one-hour special).
Most of the digital chatter referred to the tracks on the album, with the closing number, ‘Blue’ – named after and featuring a sample of the singer’s and Jay Z’s daughter, Blue Ivy, being the most tweeted about song. It was followed (in order) by the Drake-featuring ‘Mine’, ‘Drunk In Love’ (featuring Mr. Beyoncé Knowles), ‘Flawless’ and ‘Partition’. Among the online chatter was a number of shout-outs from fellow musicians, including Beyoncé’s singing sister Solange, Katy Perry, and Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, who perhaps put the über-trending hype best.
I think beyonce just broke the Internet
— Pete Wentz (@petewentz) December 13, 2013
The Surprise Release Was Designed To Combat Piracy
It might seem like stating the obvious, but it’s a point worth reminding, musicians don’t want to have their work leaked ahead of schedule. It’s as much to do with a point of artistic pride as it is losing out income from illegal downloads, but according to a press release, the entire strategy was aimed at a ‘direct to fan’ model that circumvented piracy.
“For an artist who has been the target of leaks, this is a fully designed preventative plan,” adds the press release. While ripped versions of the album have already sprung up on torrent and music piracy sites, the other key half of the record – the accompanying videos – have made it a little harder for illegal downloaders to get ‘the full experience’ as intended. Speaking of which…
The Visuals Are As Important As The Audio
The whole point and strategic push of Beyoncé is that it is a “visual album,” iTunes users can’t buy the record ‘a la carte’ yet, only available to purchase the individual songs and videos from 20th December, with the focus until then being the digital package as a whole, with no indication yet if it will be available as a physical release.
This whole emphasis is probably precisely why it hasn’t been made available on streaming services yet, as – like the piracy point – it’s only half the experience; “designed to be consumed as a comprehensive audio/visual piece from top to bottom,” according to the press release.
“I see music,” Beyoncé explains in a promo video for the record, “it’s more than just what I hear. When I’m connected to something, I immediately see a visual or a series of images that are tied to a feeling or an emotion, a memory from my childhood, thoughts about life, my dreams or my fantasies. And they’re all connected to the music.”
While not strictly a ‘concept album’, Beyoncé is described as “the antithesis of making singles, the visual album is a non-linear journey through the thoughts and visions of Beyoncé.” Which is a bold statement in the realm of pop music where singles are king.
Beyoncé Skips The Critics, Goes Direct To Fans
There’s another element of the unique stealth release of Beyoncé, it pitches closer towards a music democracy where everyone – from fans to critics – is hearing and experiencing the album for the first time, together. “Stripped of gimmicks, teasers and marketing campaigns, this project is truly about art before hype.”
Or, as the press release for the record put it: “In the age of social media and an insatiable appetite for direct communication, this is the answer to the question asked over and over again, when is Beyoncé’s next album coming?… Stripped of gimmicks, teasers and marketing campaigns, this project is truly about art before hype.”
It continues to add how the sudden release of Beyoncé “allows music fans to be the first to listen, view, engage and form their own opinions void of any middleman.”
That ‘middleman’ being an obvious euphemism for the music media that often gets to new music ahead of the fans, then filters and colours that content through to the general music-buying (or otherwise) public.
Much in the same way it did for Radiohead’s In Rainbows and the similar model of release used for King Of Limbs, the sudden release of Beyoncé manages to avoid some of the heaving expectations typically placed on new releases from high profile artists that typically fail to live up to the ridiculously lofty expectations placed upon them.
It’s probably no accident either that the record was released during (and in many cases) just after the storm of ‘Best of 2013’ albums list; managing to skip both the praise – but also potential damnation – of the music press.
It’s Not Who You Know, It’s The Company You Keep
Beyoncé, like most major pop stars, is no stranger to the superstar collaboration, and the list of credits on Beyoncé follows in the vein of many of this year’s blockbuster releases with it’s who’s who of guest stars (think of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Like Clockwork…, or Janelle Monae’s The Electric Lady).
The long list of marquee spots on the album includes Jay Z (obviously), Pharrell Williams, Drake, and Frank Ocean, as well as contributions from Justin Timberlake, Miguel, Timbaland, Chairlfit frontwoman Caroline Polachek, and even Australia’s own Sia Furler. All of which may be Beyoncé’s biggest overlap of genres and styles she’s had yet, increasing her reach to those outside of her traditional fanbase and once again proving that the boundaries between different music audiences becomes ever more blurred – to the benefit of those that blur them.
