I had the impression she gave it away for free because she didn't think the album was that good? Well people certainly seem to be enjoying it :P or it's getting early success due to the fanbase waiting ages for nu RiRi and both Work and ANTI fall quickly.

 

It's because the whichever company gave it away for free (I forget which) bought 1 million digital copies of it as part of some deal... so she still made money in the end.

If Rihanna wanted a #1 in Q1, she could easily have done it with a traditional release. All she'd need to do is have an album pre-order, have 'Work' lead into the album for a few weeks before the album and release the physical and digital at the same time. But I really think she's past that, she doesn't care.

 

Exactly, when the #1 streamed female artist last year doesn't bother to put her new album on Spotify you know she really doesn't care where it charts or what it sells.

 

In fact she has done everything in her power to make sure this album doesn't sell, leaving off a platinum and silver cert singles, giving it away free, not putting it on Spotify, not releasing the physical release week and dropping the single for it the day before its release. I guess the album is called 'anti' for a reason.

Sorry Aly but this is a ludicrous statement. Career suicide because she's no longer releasing chart-ready smashes? It's clear she's changed direction and is releasing music different to what made her popular but that's just the sign of an artist evolving and experimenting. Whatever we think about her sale numbers or whatever her career is not "dead" because an artist's career =/= a couple of places on the UK album chart.

 

Goodness reading this thread would make it seem like literally no one is listening* to ANTI, no one is going to see her on tour, everyone has abandoned any previous albums they had from her and have reliquinshed any association to every other project she is involved in. :drama:

 

*LISTENING not necessarily buying especially when said album is much harder to buy than others on the chart because it's not available in physical format.

 

I was talking more in terms of the constant delays, the messy strategies, the poorly received singles from last year and the panning she got for the last two in particular, right through to how she's gone about getting this out there. It wasn't necessarily about the content of ANTI, it's more her approach and general attitude to her career now. I acknowledge the album as a whole has been received quite well.

Doubt it. And anyway 45S was the only big success out of those three. The other two flopped (Especially Flopsygen)

 

Excuse me? It's called American Flopsygen!

 

I think they gave it away for free and are releasing it like this to lower its impakt. That way fewer people listen to it and it does less harm, like Lana with ha last two abominal albums.

Rihanna is probably being more clever than she's being given credit for. She doesn't need a huge smash because at this point she'll never be dropped from her record label. She's focusing on herself as an artist and on her fans. She knows a fall from grace is inevitable and she's lived life as the no.1 pop star. She probably doesn't care how successful it is. It sort of reminds me of how Dido didn't give a shit about her career after 2004. If it sells, it sells but it's probably not going to bother Rihanna one bit. Is it an underperformance? Yes, but anything less than 2010-12 would be and from this point on, she probably won't be pressuring herself to top it.

 

And this is from someone who thinks Rihanna is shit.

One thing you are all forgetting is that Rihanna has several strings to her bow and has never solely relied upon her 'own' singles and albums to get success.

 

She's gone in a more experimental direction on this release, ANTI, to see if people are interested in buying this, which she presumably wanted to make.

 

It's not her only stream though. If interest in her is flagging or her record company decide she needs a boost, you can bet your bottom dollar a smash collaboration with a rapper or a dance artist will come out to bring a new interest to her.

 

She's got a strong back catalogue as a solo artist. But her market relevance, fanbase appeal, and street cred (probably) has definitely been upped by Love the Way You Lie, Take Care, All Of The Lights, Who's That Chick, Run This Town and etc.

 

And it was those features and others like them that contributed to her seeming like a constant chart and media presence in the 2010-2012 period that you identify as her pinnacle of relevance and influence.

It will be interesting to see if Rihanna sells many physical copies of Anti when it comes out on Friday, on the single front she really should put Work on spotify, if she put the album on there she might have a few top 40 hits

Fun fact: streaming comprises 20% of Work's total so far this week, so it seems other streaming services aren't doing *too* badly for it!

I'm hoping Bowie slows down again otherwise Sia's going to end up at #3. :( Blackstar is on track for almost 34k, his GH is on track for just above 29k and Sia just below 29k - but I can't see Blackstar selling the same amount as last week given how fast it has dropped since its debut.

 

In regards to Anti, I agree that it's too early to start labelling it. I also think Rihanna's shift from popstar to more urban R&B music that is true to what she wants to be as an artist will be extremely beneficial for her longevity. If she continued churning out chart friendly pop moments and albums of filler, she would just descend into irrelevancy because we'll have heard it all before and there will be new artists appearing doing similar but better.

Fun fact: streaming comprises 20% of Work's total so far this week, so it seems other streaming services aren't doing *too* badly for it!

 

 

Yes, Work is streaming on apple music and napster and tidal of-course not sure if google has it. The same streaming sites also have Anti, Anti is number one on apple music's album charts at the moment so shall see how well Anti benefits from streams

Fun fact: streaming comprises 20% of Work's total so far this week, so it seems other streaming services aren't doing *too* badly for it!

 

That only emphasises the fact that she isn't bothered about chart success now. She is easily one of the major artists who benefits the most from streaming so to not have it on Spotify is almost sabotage of her own chart placing.

That only emphasises the fact that she isn't bothered about chart success now. She is easily one of the major artists who benefits the most from streaming so to not have it on Spotify is almost sabotage of her own chart placing.

 

I'm sorry if this sounds snotty, Its not ment to but I keep seeing you saying "She doesn't care about chart success", That is rubbish, Every artist is bothered about chart success, If you have made an album and put all your time into it you want that album to do well. I don't think any artist brings out an album and thinks oh yes I don't care if this sells or not, Course she does and course her label will. I'm sorry again if this does come across rude it wasn't ment in that way.

I'm sorry if this sounds snotty, Its not ment to but I keep seeing you saying "She doesn't care about chart success", That is rubbish, Every artist is bothered about chart success, If you have made an album and put all your time into it you want that album to do well. I don't think any artist brings out an album and thinks oh yes I don't care if this sells or not, Course she does and course her label will. I'm sorry again if this does come across rude it wasn't ment in that way.

What he/she means is that what matters to Rihanna is not the actual sales and chart placing, it is being HEARD and appreciated. The literal numbers, however, don't reflect that with her campaign.

And the #1 chart placement across the world is clearly not a big deal, because this move was chart suicide, both for 'Work' and 'Anti'.

Remember that this album campaign was essentially an attack on spotify's market share.

Rihanna is a heavy stakeholder in Tidal, and this exclusive has really put their brand back on the map, after everybody kind of forgot about it mid last year.

 

With enough major exclusives, Tidal can and potentially will work its way into the market in a big way.

People who listen to Rihanna and Kanye West and Beyonce albums are the kind of young adults who are very clued in with technology and will decide the future of the digital music industry in the next 10 or so years, which is obviously a huge deal. This is about more than a 100k opening week or whatever. There is way bigger money at stake.

 

I don't like this album campaign, let's be honest it's been a horrible mess. We would all rather see a clean release to reflect how in demand an artist is, but the truth is I think we will start to see more ANTI-type releases which have an alterior motive.

But it's not exclusive as ANTI is available on Apple Music as well.

But it's not exclusive as ANTI is available on Apple Music as well.

Okay that's true now, but those 15 hours were enough.

 

Tidal celebrated 1 million subscribers in October 2015 following an entire year of release (from October 2014).

Then Rihanna gained 1 million more subscribers in less than a day with ANTI. Seems like a success to me.

^ basically everything Fruity has said. Her chart position is insignificant with this release because she is RAKING in the money regardless and making much more than she would have with a conventional release. So no she doesn't really care about what position she enters on the UK chart and no her career isn't dead yet, in fact far, far from it.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/a...italism/435411/

I'm sorry if this sounds snotty, Its not ment to but I keep seeing you saying "She doesn't care about chart success", That is rubbish, Every artist is bothered about chart success, If you have made an album and put all your time into it you want that album to do well. I don't think any artist brings out an album and thinks oh yes I don't care if this sells or not, Course she does and course her label will. I'm sorry again if this does come across rude it wasn't ment in that way.

 

What other people have said basically. Rihanna will sell enough to be a big artist whatever happens, but this release has been about selling Tidal and tour tickets.

 

It is a shame for us chart geeks that Rihanna one of the biggest artist ever (especially in the UK) has decided to forgo chart success and sales for a different purpose but it is evidently her choice.

 

You have to be incredibly secure in being such a big artist to do that, it isn't something I could ever imagine Beyonce or Madonna doing as they seem to need those sales to justify everything.

What other people have said basically. Rihanna will sell enough to be a big artist whatever happens, but this release has been about selling Tidal and tour tickets.

 

It is a shame for us chart geeks that Rihanna one of the biggest artist ever (especially in the UK) has decided to forgo chart success and sales for a different purpose but it is evidently her choice.

 

You have to be incredibly secure in being such a big artist to do that, it isn't something I could ever imagine Beyonce or Madonna doing as they seem to need those sales to justify everything.

 

In the mid-90s Madge and Kylie went through a phase were they released more left of centre material because they had established themselves so much. This is no different for Rihanna now.

Well to my ears 'Work' is really pop sounding and very commercial. And I really like it, it's easily her best in a while.