Are album rollouts a dying art?

By Ethan Goddard

On the morning of the release, an album teaser was posted to his YouTube, which was immediately followed up by the album being available to stream everywhere. That was it. No release date announcement, no cover reveal, no singles dropping, nothing. Just a one minute clip followed up with the album moments after. Now granted, Kendrick is a big artist. It’s a bit of a bold statement to question if the art of the album rollout is “dead,” especially when a big artist like Kendrick will sell and/or stream hundreds of thousands of units regardless of how an album is teased.

But “GNX” isn’t what intrigued me to write this, it was the discourse that followed. Before “GNX” was released, “The Wicked Soundtrack” was projected to top the charts that Friday. Not only did Wicked have Ariana Grande’s name alongside it, but the film had a $150 million dollar marketing budget, including toys, merchandise, months of vinyl variants, and more. The soundtrack itself had a rollout online! Teasers of Ariana Grande’s “Popular,” pre-orders/pre-saves– they practically had that number one spot secured! But then it was gone. Announcements were made that “GNX” was projected to block Wicked from that top spot. But why is that? How is it possible that an album with no marketing or lead up could possibly beat out a hollywood produced soundtrack with big names on it?

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen things like this happen. In more recent times, album rollouts have become a difficult tightrope. Artists like Tyler, The Creator have begun embracing shorter and more concise rollouts that typically last a month. These rollouts have consisted of a couple short snippets, followed up with a release date only a couple of weeks out. Billie Eilish this year also announced the release date of “Hit Me Hard And Soft,”  but decided to not put out singles beforehand. On the other hand, some artists famously tease an album for months, even years! One of the more notable ones is Kanye West; an artist who teases an album with stadium listening events and renewed release dates for albums just to leave fans disappointed when they wake up on release day to find nothing on his Spotify page. An example of this would be 2021’s “Donda;”a rollout that lasted from November 2019 to August 2021. These types of things can be exhausting for fans, especially when the album doesn’t ultimately meet expectations created by the artist’s hype. It isn’t necessarily the artist’s fault when these expectations aren’t met, and some of this may be blamed on the current state of culture. 

With music being more accessible than ever with streaming services, it’s become less painful for fans when an artist’s album doesn’t meet your expectations. Don’t like someone’s new album? That’s okay, there’s dozens of other people making similar music. Or just go on YouTube and listen to all of that artist’s leaked music and fan-made compilations, it’s all at your fingertips nowadays. Many of the internet-age artists are under the philosophy that music shouldn’t be promoted until it’s available to stream; especially in a climate where the average consumer craves things immediately. Rollouts have always been a luxury for most artists, as they require money, time, and promotional tools that’re typically only available to artists from their labels (yet another luxury that  most artists don’t have). What makes this particularly fascinating though is that in Kendrick’s case, he could’ve used the tools. Perhaps it’s a move to stay more grounded to the listener. 

In this day and age, throwing a pre-save link up on your Spotify page could arguably be enough when it comes to promotion. It’s efficient, financially doable for most, and you (the listener) will be immediately notified when that artist’s project comes out if you hit the pre-save button! It’s a cut and dry method of releasing things directly from artist to consumer. It arguably could also be seen as a reminder to fans that the art is still the priority when so little is done for a rollout. So while the art of album rollouts may not be actually dead as I write this, the culture surrounding it is definitely changing. It’s hard to say how much longer these long traditional rollouts will go for, or even how effective they are in this day and age.  Have we had some cool album rollouts this year? Of course! But as the label or the artist, is it worth the risk of building up a fan’s anticipation too much? Is there a chance the consumer may get sick of seeing all of the promotion and that turns them off of listening? Only time will tell how these industries adapt to this cultural shift.