Kanye West said told us he was done with downloads. TIDAL was the only place you’d find his new music, he declared. It would only be streamed and never for sale. Over the past few weeks, West went on to redefine what it means to release an album; tweaking it and sharing several new versions. Now, Kanye is doing what Kanye does, reversing course.
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My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get it on Tidal.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
Reversing course, as he often does, Kanye West’s latest album “The Life Of Pablo” is now available for download. The once “streaming only” release can be purchased from West’s own site for $20. For now, at least, its the only place to buy the album. Tidal and West had previously made the album available for download by mistake, but corrected the error in hours, leaving thousands of unhappy fans.
Late yesterday, West’s label Def Jam announced that “The Life Of Pablo” would be available on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming music sites today. Def Jam said “a newly updated, remixed and remastered version” of the album would be available for streaming on all major services by midnight on Friday. “In the months to come, Kanye will release new updates, new versions and new iterations of the album,” said the label, as part of his “continuous process.”
A quick Friday morning survey of the major streaming services found West’s new album was available. Interestingly, and perhaps in protest of the TIDAL exclusive, none of the services were featuring or promoting the release.
400 Million Stream So Far
“The Life Of Pablo” has been streamed on TIDAL 400 million times since it release, the music streamer told the New York Times, 250 million in its first 10 days. Thus far there are no signs of a physical release, But then again, Kanye likes to keep his fans and the industry guessing.