Beyoncé recently rocked the internet by releasing an album in the iTunes Store as a total surprise, but not everyone appears to be in love with Beyoncé’s record-breaking album. In exchange for exclusivity, Apple gave her the red carpet treatment in both iTunes and iTunes Radio. The move appears to be a smart one as Beyoncé’s latest album is the fastest selling album in iTunes history, moving 828,773 units within the first three days of availability. Target, which is one of the big music retailers that prides itself on exclusive deals with artists, isn’t too happy about Beyoncé’s decision to go with an iTunes route though.
It’s pretty common for a retailer to get exclusive selling rights for an album but usually only for a limited time. Although other retailers will be getting the Beyoncé album on December 20th, Target won’t be selling the album at all. A Target spokesperson told Billboard the following regarding the matter:
At Target we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, and when a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections. While there are many aspects that contribute to our approach and we have appreciated partnering with Beyonce in the past, we are primarily focused on offering CDs that will be available in a physical format at the same time as all other formats. At this time, Target will not be carrying Beyonce’s new self-titled album ‘Beyonce.’
It should be noted that Beyoncé isn’t the only big name artist who has decided to partner with Apple for album launches though. Other big name artists such as Justin Timberlake have been doing the same and it seems to be rubbing traditional retailers the wrong way. That being said, it is great news for Apple!
Source: Billboard via Cult of Mac
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