Remember that time Samsung made a big deal about having an exclusive early release of Jay-Z’s new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, for Galaxy phone owners? Well, it looks like it’s not so exclusive after all. From the looks of it, Eas Wood, co-founder of NervEight, was able to download the app that give access to the album on an HTC phone. And of course, as soon as he did it, he was sure to screenshot it and put it on Instagram for all to see. Naturally, he was met with some skepticism, so Wood followed up with a video to prove that he was, in fact, able to get the album.
The album was originally supposed to be made available to one million Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, and Note 2 users, for free, three days before its official July 7 release. It was the first time such a deal has been made between a cell phone manufacturer and an artist, and set back the South Korea-based company a cool $5 million. Too bad it’s not all that exclusive anymore.
That’s not the only buzz on the street related to Magna Carter. According to Mashable, the digital release of the album was a major factor in the RIAA changing its Gold & Platinum Awards Program. Historically, the digital sales weren’t counted until 30 days after the release; only physical album sales were tallied during this period. Under the new rules, they will be counted right off the bat. Liz Kennedy, RIAA’s director of communications, admitted the 30-day rule “no longer makes sense” with the rapidly changing digital music scene.
This change will also result in another first for Jay-Z: he’ll be the first artist with an album that qualifies for platinum status before it’s even released — provided one million Samsung Galaxy users do take advantage of the free download ahead of time.
