Coldplay’s latest album, A Head Full of Dreams, has joined the ranks of prominent titles that won’t initially be released on Spotify due to the platform’s free, ad-supported tier. Coldplay’s boycott of Spotify for the release stems from the service requiring availability of all of its music to both free and paid users, according to The Wall Street Journal. (Royalties from free, ad-supported streamers are significantly lower than those from paid subscribers.)
The new record will be available to stream on subscription services like Apple Music, Rhapsody, Google Play, and Tidal. The record will also make its way to Amazon Prime Music (which comes free as part of your Prime subscription).
Updated 12/7/2015: After initially holding back their latest album from Spotify, Coldplay’s artist page on the platform has been updated to say that the album will be arriving Friday, December 11 on the site.
A Head Full of Dreams, which drops tomorrow, may eventually be available on Spotify. This strategy would be similar to that of 2014’s Ghost Stories and 2011’s Mylo Xyloto, in which the Chris Martin-led group eventually released its recordings on the music streamer. Coldplay did release a single — Adventure of a Lifetime, which has racked up over 21 million streams — on Spotify for promotional purposes.
Taylor Swift decided not to release 1989 on Spotify last year and has become the most outspoken artist against the music streamer. Her primary argument, like many others who have opted not to release music on Spotify, relates to the Swedish music streamer’s alleged cannibalization of album sales.
“I think there should be an inherent value placed on art,” said Swift in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last year. “I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify. Everybody’s complaining about how music sales are shrinking, but nobody’s changing the way they’re doing things. They keep running towards streaming, which is, for the most part, what has been shrinking the numbers of paid album sales.”
While Swift did let Apple Music stream 1989, British megastar Adele didn’t allow any streamers (except for online radio service Pandora) to license her record. “[Streaming] probably is the future, but, eh,” she said to Rolling Stone. “There are kids I know who are, like, nine who don’t even know what a f—ing CD is! I’ve got my CDs out on display in my house just to prove a point. Maybe CDs will have a massive comeback like vinyl did. Actually I think cassettes, just to be a pain in the ass!”
As for Coldplay, the band will have a busy new year, giving a Super Bowl halftime performance on the biggest stage in the U.S. in February.
Updated 12/4/2015 by Ryan Waniata: This post has been updated to include the fact that Amazon Prime Music will host A Head Full of Dreams.
