For decades, artists strenuously avoided releasing big albums or singles on the same day.
Artists and labels were aware that most fans were only going to spend a certain amount of money per week on music, and forcing them to choose between two new albums on the same day did not make business sense. And a lot more was at stake than would be in a similar battle today.īack in the day, before streaming services became the standard format for music, most fans actually had to pay for individual albums, via CDs, downloads or vinyl. In fact, the 2007 standoff with 50 - which saw both artists’ third albums, West’s “Graduation” and 50’s “Curtis,” dropping on the same day, 9/11 no less - was actually the most elaborate Kanye West release event. In fact, now that he’s ascended to heaven, it’s just about the only way he could build even more anticipation around “Donda,” which he’s already premiered and changed twice.
So what’s with the delay? As with most things Kanye, it’s either his perfectionism or simply yet another way to keep fans engaged, interested, frustrated and outraged - envelopes he has been pushing since the beginning of his career nearly 20 years ago.īut industry sources, fans and others have been floating a different theory: That he’s waiting for Drake to announce a release date for his long-delayed new album, “Certified Lover Boy” - which the Canadian rapper has said will be out by the end of the summer - so he can square off against him in a release-date clash of the titans, like he did with 50 Cent almost 14 years ago.