Jay-Z 4:44 album downloads released to Apple, Amazon, soon Best Buy
Today the Jay-Z album 4:44 was made available on platforms outside of Tidal. This album was originally released on June 30th, 2017 on Tidal exclusively. It was immediately streamed by iHeartRadio for a full day with talking breaks, and was given away in a promotion with Sprint. Promotions such as these make us recall his deal with Samsung to give his Magna Carta Holy Grail album away with a rare deal that resulted in the album being "sold" 1-million times before going on sale in the retail space.
The 4:44 album was released with very little promotion before the NBA Finals video on June 7. This video can be seen below with a slightly different ending. The original included text which pointed toward another video that would feature actors Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong'o, and Danny Glover. They do not appear in this first clip as such – save Mahershala Ali alone, boxing.
Next you'll see the Lupita Nyong'o segment, as shared by Tidal on Twitter. This video also appears to be part of a longer series of segments which we'll assume we'll see later. One big massive film-style video.
Then behold the third clip below. Again, this is probably part of a larger release – something like the film-like music videos of Beyonce's recent albums. More coming soon, undoubtedly.
On July 2nd, the free download of albums offered by Sprint VIA Tidal, were counted toward RIAA platinum certification. This album is, as you can guess, certified 1,000,000 unit sales strong, giving it an RIAA (USA) Platinum Certification. This is the 13th Platinum or higher certification of a Jay-Z album, the most collected by any rap artist.
Those pre-ordering a physical copy of 4:44 from Best Buy will get a 6-month free trial of Tidal HIFI. Amazon now has the album for sale for download, as does Apple through the iTunes music store.