Writing New Rules

Jay-Z has a new record hitting the world on July 4th and it’s already sold a million copies. How? As part of a partnership with Samsung, the album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, will be released for free to one million Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy Note II users through a special app 72 hours before its on-sale date. Samsung paid $5 a pop for each copy of the record, which means Hova has now already sold a million copies of an album few people knew existed before the commercial announcing it aired during last Sunday night’s NBA finals game between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. “We don’t have any rules, everyone is trying to figure it out. That’s why the internet is like the Wild West, the Wild Wild West. We need to write the new rules,” Jay-Z says in the announcement video. “The idea is to really finish the album and drop it. Giving it to the world at one time and then letting them share it, and it goes out.” Producer Rick Rubin—who is in the studio with Swizz Beatz, Pharrell, and Timbaland in the clip—thinks this idea is “beautiful” but more than that it’s proven confusing, and even frustrating, to more than a few people (and iPhone users). That’s just the way it is. So maybe the smart move is just to sell it to a device-maker early and then let the world—and the frustrated people of Twitter—do what they want with it, like, say, finding a way to rip the tracks and put them online. He’s already sold one million records even if he does inadvertently cause an album leak to avoid having one. Those one million records Samsung bought won’t go towards Jay-Z’s overall SoundScan sales figures for the album since they weren’t purchased by consumers, but the hype, exclusive content being offered with the app, and fan engagement around the Galaxy release should “be a great thing for sales” even if it does lead to leaks, according to Nielsen entertainment analyst David Bakula. “Jay-Z is just one of those artists – his fans are rabid, they are going to want the content immediately, any way that they can get it.”