Jay Z Announces A New Album With Samsung Galaxy, Who Paid Jay $5 Million To Give Away The New Album?? This is essentially the business model that technology companies have adopted for digital music.
Take Samsung’s deal with Jay-Z, announced during Sunday’s NBA Finals game. Jay-Z’s new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, will be available through an app to 1 million Galaxy phone users on July 4, three days before the general public will be able to buy it. Samsung paid $5 million for the rights to give away digital versions of the album, according to the Wall Street Journal.
People primarily buy smartphones about once every two years on regimented schedules, so Samsung isn’t going to drive many sales from this specific promotion. Instead, it’s hoping that the next time someone’s contract is up, she’ll remember that Jay-Z exclusives are the kind of thing she can expect to hold over her iPhone-toting friends if she buys a Galaxy phone.
This isn’t the first time Samsung has attempted to lure people toward its phones with the promise of music. But at this point there are few artists more iconic than Jay-Z. (He wouldn’t have been Steve Jobs’s first choice, though.) Also, as we’ve pointed out in the past, Jay-Z and Samsung just seem like a good fit.
