Drake's latest album made its global streaming debut on Apple Music last night and is now available to buy on iTunes. Priced at $13.99, Views (previously titled Views From The Six) features 20 new tracks, including the slow jam hit "Hotline Bling".
The Canadian rapper's album will be exclusive to Apple Music for one week, after which it will become available on other music streaming services like Spotify.
Views is just the latest tactically timed release in an ongoing battle among music streaming services for exclusivity, with Drake forming rank alongside Taylor Swift and Adele in Apple's corner, as the company faces off against competing streaming service Tidal's frontline co-owners Jay Z, Kanye West, Beyonce, and Rihanna.
Last week, Beyoncé's newest album Lemonade launched on Tidal approximately 24 hours before it became available for users to purchase on the likes of iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play, and remains the only service able to stream the album.
Drake and Apple have been in a partnership since the launch of Apple Music last summer, with the artist contributing his own Beats 1 radio show to the streaming service. Drake recently confirmed his partnership with Apple will continue into live music as Apple Music will sponsor his "Summer Sixteen" tour.
Drake's fourth studio album comes one year after If You're Reading This It's Too Late, which also had its debut on iTunes. In August, Quartz reported that Drake was the second most played artist on Apple Music.
Top Rated Comments
I love when people take time out of their day to voice their displeasure on the internet about music they're not going to listen to. Makes perfect sense.
I'm enjoying it so far. Maybe it will grow on you after 12 1/2 hours.
Popular Music today confuses the hell out of me. It's not like when I was younger and the "old people" would complain about my hip-hop and alt-rock. Music today has little-to-no substance. The sounds are fine. The words flow fine. But when you think about the meaning of the song. It's not there. Or it's hidden between gaps of worthless words that are only there for word-play.
I'd like to see Apple invest in promoting independent artists. Beyonce doesn't need an exclusive album or for her name to be promoted to sell records (at least not yet), but there are plenty of good independent artists who deserve a shot. Not saying exclusivity is very good for independents (it's not really good for anyone). Just that Apple never really shows support for independents even though they have a popular platform that can reach millions of potential fans in an instant.