Frank Ocean's third album - Blond - 2016*

And, even speaking as someone with a a high tolerance for Bon Iver, those songs titles for his new album made my eyes roll so hard they fell right out of my head.

 

SIEGRIED IS SO BEAUTIFUL

 

Okay, I will... That's where contemporary music is headed. Downloads and streaming is here now so we're just gonna have to adjust, honestly. If better fidelity is, at some point, in the cards, I'm okay with it. It enables free-thinking artists like Ocean to succeed without the need for a record label. If anything, that's the best thing to come out of this. Ocean stuck it to Universal. He used them for a bit and then dumped them when he didn't need them anymore. This is exactly what labels have been doing to artists for decades. Turns out, based on what I just read, the relationship between Def Jam and Ocean was never great. Nice to see someone have enough muscle to beautifully turn the tables.

Ed

 

Here's the article I just read about Ocean's album:

Did Frank Ocean Pull a Fast One on His Label by Going Indie? An Explainer »

Ed

 

Well except for the fact most of the money being made on these releases is from streaming which we all know pays peanuts I guess he turned the tables. Maybe if he wants to make some money on vinyl and cd sales he will need to re-turn the tables.

 

If anyone has any ideas on when the vinyl will come out, please share. Did Channel Orange ever get a vinyl release?

 

Yep.

 

Nobody knows when, or if, Blond(e) will get a physical release.

 

Kinda. It was a boot, and not a particularly good one.

 

According to Billboard, Ocean just hit #1.
Sales: 232,000
Streams: 65 million

 

You'd think that Ocean would be enthusiastic about a quality release. Oh, well ...

 

65 million streams at the average US price that Apple Music pays (0.006005) comes to under 400K. That's a lot of money to you and I but for a major artist that people have been waiting years for new product to not even make 500K?? Horrible business plan if he's trying to make money off his art.

 

But 232,000 sales at around 9 bucks a pop comes to $2 million. And I'm sure Apple ponied up a decent bit of cash to get the exclusive. Right now, Ocean is in a great position as far as regulating how his music is out there and the record industry is paying very close attention.
I just hope a physical release is forthcoming.

 

If I had my druthers, I'd like to see a deluxe physical release called Blond(e)Boys Don't Cry that includes the magazine and every version (including visual) of the album that's out there. Now that would be cool.

 

There will be a physical release for BLOND. Frank just operates on 'Frank time'.

His mother tweeted something like 'sit tight for a sec' about it.

 

I'll believe it when I see an official announcement. Right now, Ocean is holding all the cards.

 

If previous stories were right, Apple has a 2 week exclusive on BLOND that would end on September 3rd.

 

Actually his 4th now I guess since ENDLESS came out of nowhere.

I had a gort change the thread title once....not gonna bother them again about it.

 

That's correct. The real question is what Ocean will do next regarding this album. He's very smart, the seeming haphazardness of this release alone is stirring interest.
If I weren't so pissed that I can't get my hands on a copy I'd be cheering him on.

 

I bought it from iTunes .... Which is a massive fold for me because I should just wait for the physical copy I will probably buy anyway. I haven't caved this badly in years. I had to update my payment info, it had been so long.

 

As far as doing his best to stick it to the industry, Frank Ocean is very punk rock.

 

Many copies of the seven pound coffee table magazine with the CD inside available on Ebay for hundreds of dollars.

 

And there's no way he wasn't aware that would happen. It's all PR.

 

Ditto

 

I listened to it a few times on YouTube, but it keeps getting pulled down. No way will I pay for Apple/iTunes.