Album releases by their nature depend on good marketing, the right hype, and sometimes just word of mouth. There’s usually a formula to follow, especially for pop music releases. But the following four albums completely flipped the script, creating some of the most unhinged album rollouts in music history.
‘Beyoncé’ by Beyoncé
In 2013, Beyoncé surprise released her self-titled fifth album and shook the music industry to its core. There was no promotion, no single drops, and no advance warning. There was just a world where there was no Beyoncé, and then midnight hit on December 13, and Beyoncé appeared like a gift from the music gods. It was only available on iTunes and could only be purchased as a complete package, including extravagant visuals. For Beyoncé, this wasn’t just an album release; This was an art piece.
You could call this album rollout unhinged, sure. But in the way that it completely changed the game. Beyoncé went to No. 1 globally almost immediately, proving it was possible to circumvent the pop music industry machine. That definitely has a lot to do with Beyoncé’s pop cultural status, but it’s still an interesting look at a pop star who wanted to change how music is consumed. She wanted her album to come out as a complete project with no industry meddling, and boy, did she do it.
‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’ by Wu-Tang Clan
Record an album in secret for six years? Check. Only make one physical copy kept in a jewel-encrusted box and delete the master files? Check. Make your album commercially unexploitable for 88 years, then sell it at auction for $2 million? Check. You have now successfully become Wu-Tang Clan, making their 2013 album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. This is still one of the most unhinged album rollouts, mainly because of its secrecy and legal stipulations. It has since passed through several hands (former CEO Martin Shkreli, who lost it to the federal government, which sold it to an NFT company). But the countdown is still ticking, and the album is still shrouded in mystery.
Essentially, Wu-Tang made it this way to spark a conversation around the future of music. In response to a “music industry in crisis,” they took inspiration from Renaissance-era artistic patronage. Producers Cilvaringz and RZA looked back at the history of music as fine art, and created Wu-Tang’s seventh album with those principles in mind. They felt streaming had cheapened the listening experience. But instead of sticking to a physical release, they took it a step further by creating a one-of-a-kind album that legally cannot be played online or in public until 2103.
‘In Rainbows’ by Radiohead
Radiohead released In Rainbows in 2007 with no major label representation, so they took the album promotion into their own hands. This led to a digital release on the band’s website that included an online tip jar where fans could pay what they wanted. Some people paid exactly nothing for an entire Radiohead album. But the publicity and word-of-mouth marketing made In Rainbows one of their most popular releases. However, later studies showed that the “Radiohead Experiment” didn’t discourage piracy. Still, despite the popularity, the band has never done anything like this again. Thom Yorke even said he felt the decision hurt them.
In 2013, Yorke said that the “pay what you wish” model may have backfired. He believed it actually benefited tech companies like Apple and Google, which were merely looking for content. “They have to keep commodifying things to keep the share price up, but in doing so they have made all content, including music and newspapers, worthless, in order to make their billions,” he told The Guardian at the time.
‘Songs of Innocence’ by U2
If you were an iTunes user in 2014, you probably remember the Songs of Innocence fiasco. U2 partnered up with Apple to have the digital version of their thirteenth album released free to iTunes customers. Many people found that it had automatically downloaded onto their devices. They were left wondering when they bought the newest U2 album. But it was free, and it was kind of a nuisance if you weren’t a U2 fan.
500 million Apple users got access to Songs of Innocence, with 81 million listening to it and 26 million downloading the full album. Overall, this marketing tactic was considered a misstep that harmed the band’s reputation. The album is forever associated with randomly appearing in millions of iTunes libraries, so it’s safe to call this album rollout certifiably unhinged.
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