Universal to Ban Streaming Exclusives

The move follows the release of Frank Ocean's Blonde album last week. His other album, Endless, is available free to stream via Apple Music, but Blonde is being sold as a regular commercial album. It was also the subject of Ocean’s much-hyped pop-up shops at the weekend, where it was available as a physical CD as part of the singer’s Boys Don’t Cry magazine.

Ocean was signed to Universal subsidiary Def Jam, but released Blonde on his own independent label. This was because Ocean’s visual album Endless was released the day before Blonde on Def Jam, as an exclusive for Apple Music.

Forbes has reported that Universal CEO Lucian Grainge has demanded that the label cease any exclusive streaming deals with Apple Music and similar streaming services such as Spotify and Tidal.

Universal, which boasted seven of 2015’s 10 best-selling albums and 38.5% of the year’s recorded-music sales, will be the first major label to ban the practice, which many feel has begun to diminish rather than enhance the way music is distributed and consumed.

Apple Music has previously had albums stream exclusively on the site from Drake, The Avalanches and Chance The Rapper, while Tidal has done exclusive streaming deals with Beyonce, Rihanna and Usher. Spotify has said it doesn’t want to get involved with streaming exclusives.

Forbes say Grainge’s decision is “at least in part” due to the confusion over its Apple Music deal with Ocean. But it’s believed it’s also down to a backlash against streaming exclusives from music fans who don’t want to have to subscribe to multiple streaming services just to be able to hear favourite new albums.