Singer Adele recently released a teaser for her upcoming album, four years after her breakthrough collection 21. Speculation is that the album will not be available on Spotify upon release, because Adele insists only premium subscribers should be provided listening access.
It's been a long four years since we've heard any new music from Adele, but the drought appears to be ending soon as a cryptic teaser was played during a recent break on the UK edition of Simon Cowell's X Factor talent competition. In the 30-second spot, the singer's familiar voice can be heard singing the following lyrics over a simple piano background: "Hello, it's me / I was wondering if after all these years / you'd like to meet to go over everything / they say that time's supposed to heal ya / but I ain't done much healing."
Adele's name is not announced in the clip, and the screen remains black, but those in the know say the singer is ramping up for a Nov. 20 release of her new album. The LP is slated to feature a who's who of top producers, including mega hit-maker Max Martin, Blur's Damon Albarn, Ryan Tedder and Danger Mouse.
Access to the new material may not be so easy to come by, however, for over 75 million Spotify subscribers. Rumors indicate that Adele will follow the same protocol she applied to her last release, 21, and prohibit the streaming service from featuring her latest tunes. Adele held 21 for 18 months before finally releasing it to Spotify subscribers. The artist refused the streamer because she wanted only the roughly 20 million subscribers on the paid tier of the service to be allowed access, therefore, locking out the majority of Spotify listeners who remain on the free tier.
Spotify has repeatedly insisted that it will not discriminate between tiers by allowing "gated" access to only paying subscribers, and that it intends to adhere to that business model, regardless of pressure from artists and music labels. Adele's previous Spotify snub certainly didn't hurt the sales of 21, which sold 11 million albums in the U.S. alone and topped the charts in over 30 countries.
