Beyonce’s latest effort, Lemonade, has arrived. Lemonade is the megastar’s sixth studio album, following the self-titled set she released without warning in December 2013. It dropped on Saturday night alongside the singer’s HBO special of the same name. (THR)
Proving herself once again a master of marketing, Beyonce’s new set became available for streaming via Tidal, the subscription service run by her music-mogul husband Jay Z, just as the HBO special ended at 10 p.m. ET. The first song from the set, “Formation,” was released in February on the same day Beyonce appeared at this year’s Super Bowl half-time show with Coldplay and Bruno Mars. And Beyonce is launching her latest world tour on Wednesday in Miami. (Variety)
The album, including the accompanying videos that debuted on Saturday, were set to go on sale via Apple’s download store at midnight ET Sunday night, according to a person familiar with the release plans. The staggered release means that Tidal’s exclusive on one of the most high-profile albums of 2016 is a mere 24 hours. (Re/code)
Late Sunday afternoon, Tidal announced that in addition to its streaming version of Lemonade, it would be selling a version for download at $17.99. A Tidal spokesman said that the service would have the exclusive streaming version “in perpetuity.” Amazon also confirmed that it would soon begin selling both digital and physical versions of the album. (NYT)