Watching The Throne

Following on from Kanye West's 2010 album release: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", Kanye West Paired up with musical superstar Jay-Z for an online release of their new 2011 album: "Watch the Throne".

Watch the Throne was revolutionary in its nature, as it was only accessible online before it finally hit shelves.  

Here is a brief view of the album's timeline:

1. January 11: "HAM" is released digitally (A song featuring on the soon to be album)
2. July 7: Jay-Z hosted a private listening session at the Mercer Hotel in New York City, previewing the album's songs from his MacBook Pro for a select group of reporters and music journalists.
3. July 20: "Otis" is released digitally
4. August 1: Jay-Z and West held a listening session for the album at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City's American Museum of Natural History.

*From my experience, i was able to download the entire album late July. 

August 8: Watch The Throne is officially available to purchase digitally.

August 12: Watch The Throne is available to purchase physically. 

Now, we are all aware of the internet's capacities. Was this a brilliant plan of Kanye and Jay-Z's? or was it a genuine fluke? Were the singles on their album leaked? or were they strategically released to promote hype about their album? Either way hype was created. Undoubtably facilitated through social media. 

Fuelled by social media, a hot topic can spread like wild fire. Musical forums, blogs, youtube, even facebook, all allow word of mouth to grow, ultimately increase desire for when the album eventually releases. 

If this was planned by Kanye and Jay-Z, it was ingenious. According to "HipHopDX.com", Watch the Throne broke the iTunes record for first week sales, highlighting the success of the digitally released album. 

Was this a massive step in the musical industry? Is this the way forward for artists from now on? Or was this just a one off experiment which was rendered far too unprofitable to continue with?

Either way, time will tell us what the answer is.