Adele's new album "25" is not available on Spotify, Apple Music or other streaming services. The collection, which was just released with much hype, is only available for purchase now via digital download or on CD.
The decision was reportedly made by Adele herself, who, like a select few other music superstars like Beyonce and Taylor Swift, has the influence and power to make such decisions. Swift famously pulled her music from Spotify after publicly criticizing the company. She also lashed out at Apple Music for refusing to compensate artists for their material during the 3 month trial period it offered subscribers to its recently introduced streaming service, but after the company capitulated and agreed to pay, Swift inked an agreement to stream her hit album "1989" on the service. Beyonce also refused to allow her last album "Beyonce" to be streamed until almost a year after it was released in December 2013.
As would be expected, streaming services are not happy about Adele's latest move.
"This is a minor issue for Adele, but a major issue for the streaming services. For two years running they've not had the biggest album of the year," explained Mark Mulligan, digital media analyst for Midia Research.
Spotify released a statement expressing that it hopes Adele will come on board sooner rather than later. "We love and respect Adele, as do her 24 million fans on Spotify," says the company. "We hope that she will give those fans the opportunity to enjoy '25' on Spotify alongside '19' and '21' very soon."
The album is expected to achieve first week sales of about 2.5 million, a figure not reached since the days of NSYNC, who sold 2.4 million of their blockbuster "No Strings Attached" way back in 2000. Adele's first single from "25," "Hello," also broke records with 1.1 million downloads sold in its first week. The song itself was made widely available on streaming services, and the accompanying video featuring the singer using a flip phone to desperately try and reach out to her ex-lover, also broke records for YouTube views.
