Frank Ocean‘s new album Blonde is now available for streaming on Spotify. Apple Music held it as an exclusive since its release on August 20, but it has now been shared around for users of other streaming services to enjoy.
Although the period of exclusivity is over, interestingly enough it is not on Tidal yet. This is really interesting, and may have something to do with Ocean’s beef with Def Jam. Tidal owner Jay Z was Def Jam’s president in the early 2000s, before leaving to found Roc Nation, also under the Universal Music umbrella. Although Jay’s wife Beyonce features on the record, it looks like Tidal subscribers will have to stick to Spotify or Apple for a bit longer.
Blonde has also caused a remarkable stir in terms of the relationship between record labels, artists and streaming services. It was reported (but still not entirely confirmed or denied) that Ocean left his label Def Jam in the one day between the release of visual album Endless, and Blonde. It has also since been reported that Universal Music Group are no longer offering exclusive streaming rights to any services, with Blonde’s Apple exclusivity being their very last. Which is fair enough from the user’s perspective.
The album immediately went platinum, debuting at no. 1 on the Billboard charts, with 12 tracks charting on the Billboard debuting on the Hot R&B Songs chart, and five on the Hot 100.
Stream this tremendous album below: