About a month or so ago, I did a post about rapper/entrepreneur, Shawn “Jay Z” Carter, where he ventured out to different entities in the entertainment industry. Since then, Mr. Jay Z himself has continued on with his legacy in the hip-hop game with his new album, “Magna Carta Holy Grail.” Jay Z and RocNation signed a $20 million contract with Samsung, where they allowed their consumers to download an app with the entire album for free. This resulted in an estimated 1.2 million people downloading the app. I was one of those people as well. It took me a while to even download the album because I guess so many people were downloading it. It was well worth the wait though, because it is one of my favorite albums for 2013.
It has been a week since Jay Z’s album has been out, and it has charted at No. 1, with 527,000 copies. This is Jay Z’s 13th album that has been recorded on the top Billboard’s Chart. Jay Z is one of few artists who have achieved this level of success. The Beatles is in line with Jay Z, as they hold 19 No. 1 hits. Not only did he hit No. 1 in the US Billboard Charts, but also “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” was the No. 1 album in the United Kingdom. This was the first time that his album had been No. 1 in the UK.
Just recently, the app went under investigation due to privacy issues. While creating the app, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Samsung did not mention that it would be gathering personal information from the users, such as their age, call history, location, Facebook, and Twitter log in information. Samsung combated that the users only had to provide the information if they wanted to receive additional marketing advertisement.
Mr. Shawn “Jay Z” Carter continues to change the entertainment industry. He has opened up many doors for many artists and record labels. Who would have thought of such thing? Not to say, that it is not the first time that free albums or music has been given away. Artists such as Prince, Radiohead, Bjork, and Gwilynm Gold have done something similar in the past. Jay Z and Samsung just approached it slightly different. I am interested as to see how different artists and records labels are going to try and compete with this idea and create something even bigger and better for the future. Jay Z is currently on tour with Justin Timberlake, so be sure to check them two out at a city near you.
