I am not really a fan but it seems like the world stopped because Beyonce
released a new album unannounced, with no promotion, crashing Itunes in the process.

itunes.apple.com/au/album/beyonce/id780330041

I haven't even had a chance to listen to it but every song has a video attached to it.
I could even say it is a musical. Is it a game changer?

With social media the biggest stars can spread news around the world in no time. Why mess around with a 3 month marketing plan, working your socks off when instead of going round the world appearing on every TV & radio show you can type a short sentence on Twitter from the comfort of your own home? We've already seen the standard method didn't work for Makka & Elton, imagine how much they spent on their campaign?

Frankly stuffy press and radio need to change their ways, they won't accept any press release without a 3 month lead time. Ridiculous in this day and age when you can have your music in the store the day after you've mastered it. If people want it they won't be prepared to wait 3 months, they'll either lose interest or steal it.

The only thing I'm not keen on is the video per song. Video's take a lot more work, hence why you only get 1 or 2 to promote a body of work. If albums are dying then it may be the only way, a horrible prospect for small labels and artists as the cost of creating a single increases as the profits dwindle.

K you are spot on with your analysis on social media but it is not just big stars who are
using social media to full effect. Models, porn stars and footballers are using social media to
its fullest and more effectively than musicians. It is not surprising as mostly they are not trying
to sell you something. The sum total of most musicians tweets and Facebook messages = "buy my music".
It sounds very needy. There needs to be a rethink a de-emphasis on selling and more on access. The
Beyonce album is as a result of the level of trust in her quality that she has built up over time.
We could gamble on Beyonce because it was never going to be rubbish. So in that respect albums are not
going anywhere anytime soon but they need to be reinvented and the video per song thing works. It was
like watching a movie as each one wove into the other like a series. It was very effective as was One
Direction's webathon.

I totally agree with you regarding radio but I think it's down to the labels to change the culture of
the release lead time.
From the perspective of the indie artist or smaller label there is a lot you can learn from Beyonce.
For example start building up trust with a few Youtube videos delivered for free with subtle physical
sales/downloads etc off the back of it. Then using the same concept of the video which by the way does not
have to cost the earth. An album's worth of videos if done mostly as performance videos with BTS shots
and clever use of the artist's strengths can be cheaper than an album but I do take your point.

For those who are not album oriented then I guess a premium single package could bring home some real
money as indeed with a super smash single.