All-everything mogul Jay-Z announced his upcoming album Magna Carta Holy Grail last night during game 4 of the NBA Finals somewhere between the Heat’s win and Chris Bosh’s ridiculously over-the-top flop. But the big news with the album has to do with the Jay-Z/Samsung marketing collaboration which promises the first million people to download Magna Carta Holy Grail Android app will get the album for free. That’s right. Jay-Z is giving away 1 million copies of his album for free. The app will be available for download on June 24.
Even better is that those million lucky fans will get the album three days before its July 4th release, though they won’t be able to share it until its been made available to the general public. According to CNet, the app will give users an “unprecedented inside look into the album personal stories and inspiration.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung bought all million copies to give away and paid $5 apiece. It’s not clear yet, though, whether those figures will be incorporated into the Nielsen SoundScan whose sales numbers are the basis behind the Billboard music charts.
Samsung, which doesn’t have a music streaming service to compete with the likes of Spotify, iTunes Radio, and Google Play Music All Access could be using its new partnership with Jay-Z to leverage its lacking position in the burgeoning music streaming market. The deal puts $5 million back in Jay-Z’s pocket before the album, or even the app, has been made available.
In a time too where album leaks are running rampant throughout the internet, just ask Kanye West and Daft Punk most notably, the marketing campaign could put a stop to unauthorized downloading before the album drops, as most people will have their attention focused on downloading the app instead. After all, why risk getting busted for pirating the album when its free?
The Samsung commercial, which aired near the end of the second quarter of game 4, gave a behind the scenes look at Jay-Z and producers Rick Rubin and Pharrell Williams working on the album and vocalized much of their audible brainstorming sessions.
