Beyoncé didn’t even consider giving her surprise album away for free when it dropped last December, despite having a U2-esque agreement with Apple to help distribute her new music via iTunes.
That’s according to Beyoncé’s marketing manager Jim Sabey, anyway, who in an interview with Financial Times revealed that pricing was still an important consideration for the megastar.
“I never like to see anything free,” Sabey said, embodying capitalism with one short sentence more than he could ever know. “We never played the pricing game.
“There's a misconception that recorded music sales are not an important piece of the mix of any artist business. They're still really important."
Jimbo also recounted the nerves Beyoncé and her team felt in the lead-up to the album’s secret release. “We were all sleepless, anxiety-ridden,” he said. “We didn't have a back-up plan. We really didn't.”
He added the team chose to team up with Apple due to their experience keeping new iPhones and iPads and that all under wraps. “Their corporate culture is shrouded in secrecy.” Who else is planning a secret album, Apple? PLEASE SAY LEON JACKSON.