There’s Another Spotify Holdout: RUSH…

Call them old school, call them whatever you want. But RUSH is now the latest band to withhold their music from Spotify, specifically their latest album, Clockwork Angels.   Representatives for the band (at Atlantic and Roadrunner) have yet to respond to a weekend inquiry, though sources have pointed Digital Music News to a deliberate windowing move.

RUSH’s management group was contacted early Monday morning; Spotify agreed to look into the matter while pointing to a similar situation at other streaming services.

Which means physical retailers, iTunes, and other sales-oriented outlets have the album, and Spotify will have to wait.  Taking it a step further, iTunes has gotten ‘red carpet treatment’ on this one: Clockwork Angels has been Mastered for iTunes, and there may have been an exclusive (or semi-exclusive) release window of several days.  The album was officially released on June 12th; iTunes had it June 8th.

The question is whether or not this is an effective sales strategy.  The net result for RUSH is first-week sales north of 103,000 units in the US alone, according to Nielsen Soundscan.  That’s not bad, especially in this climate, and RUSH scored the second-best album sales ranking behind Usher’s Looking 4 Myself.

Perhaps Coldplay is the standard bearer in this windowing game.  In December of last year, the band finally released Mylo Xyloto to Spotify after a three-month delay.  Album sales easily topped 1 million units in the US, with nearly 60 percent coming from paid downloads.  That may have offered validation for windowing and withholding, and informed RUSH’s strategy.

Of course, this discussion assumes that RUSH will ultimately release this album on Spotify.  Other bands, most notably the Black Keys, seem to have folded their arms indefinitely.

More as it develops.

Source: Digital Music News