Just in case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last two weeks, Adele has a new album out. As Adele’s 25 continues to break records at every turn, the album is just about the only thing that anyone in the music industry is talking about — ourselves included.
Hold onto your butts, this week’s Monday Reading List is completely dominated by England’s all-powerful pop songstress.
Before 25 was even released, Adele decided to give a big ol’ middle finger to the streaming platforms by delaying the album’s release on said streaming platforms. The album is still not available via streaming subscription, which seems to be working for her.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/19/9695984/adele-25-not-streaming-new-album-spotify-apple-music
In Music Business Worldwide’s terrific MBW Review, they urge the industry to please stay calm in the face of the impending release of an album that will help us to gage just how willing music consumers are to actually buy music.
http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/everybody-stay-calm/
Moving right along, we come to the album’s actual release and subsequent record-breaking sales. These are the type of numbers that we didn’t really expect to ever see again. For Adele, it’s almost like the internet never happened.
Over at Forbes, Hugh McIntyre makes the argument that 25 is more than an album. He posits that this is one of those moments that “…grabs the entire populous, and which forces everybody to pay attention.”
He’s right.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2015/11/21/adeles-25-is-more-than-just-an-album/
Our last item in this week’s reading list is less about Adele’s sales numbers, release strategy, or potentially industry-shifting impact, and more about the album itself. In a hilarious piece for Esquire, David Holmes takes a track-by-track look at 25, listing out all the possible emotional side-effects that listener’s may suffer as a result of listening to the album alone, like this possible side effects of “Send My Love To Your New Lover”:
The song: Adele works with producers Max Martin & Shellback, makes her own “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” It’s sassy!
Possible Side Effects: Pursing your lips and wagging a finger in someone’s face like some jazzy mom in a yogurt commercial.
Long Live Adele.