Frank Ocean, Apple Music, and theHeadache Of Streaming Exclusives

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By: Fast Company

This weekend, I had a brief, uniquely modern conversation with somebody as we both stared into our phones together.

"The new Frank Ocean is out."

"Oh damn, really? Let me pull it up."

"It’s only on Apple Music."

"No, look, here it is on YouTube."

*Pitch-shifted audio of Frank Ocean singing like a chipmunk*

"Oh. Weird. I guess I should sign up for Apple Music."

"Yeah, there's a free trial. Or you could just torrent it."

For those of us who follow technology news and the constantly evolving music industry, the exclusive arrival of Ocean’s Blonde on Apple Music on Saturday came as no surprise. After Rihanna’s Anti, Beyonce's Lemonade, Kanye West’s Life of Pablo, and Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book, we’ve come to expect big names to drop new albums with restrictions: This one’s only on Tidal. That one’s only on Apple Music. Want to buy the album in a record store? Fat chance. This is 2016. If you’re lucky, there might be a pop-up shop, though.

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