Jay-Z’s Tidal service obviously thinks that streaming music is the future, but that doesn’t mean that they are done with the past just yet. Prince just launched his latest album on Tidal as a streaming exclusive and now Prince is selling a CD version of that same album (as well as downloads) through the company’s store. Seems strange no? That’s Prince for you.
That’s right, you can now get a CD copy of HITNRUN if you prefer to play your music the old school way. I wonder how many they will sell. I guess this makes sense since Tidal already lets musicians sell posters, shirts and other merch through the site.
However this is the first time that CDs have found their way to the online shop. They must think that they will sell enough to make it worthwhile.
We don’t know whether other artists are free to sell CDs as well, or if this is just Prince getting special treatment. Even if others do sell CDs I’m sure this won’t become a trend anytime soon. We doubt many artists will want to sell CDs through a service that’s helping to kill them. It’s an interesting development anyway. Leave it to Prince to do the unexpected.
Source Engadget