Adele, the biggest-selling recording artist of the past decade, will breathe new life into the ailing album format later this month with 25, her new release, which is on course to top the charts for the year.
But as consumers embrace streaming services from Spotify and Apple, she has left music executives in the dark over her digital distribution plans for the album, the hotly anticipated follow up to 21, which was the biggest-selling title of 2011 and 2012.
The singer is leaning towards “windowing” the album — making it available on CD or as a paid download for a period of time, before putting it on streaming services, according to people familiar with the situation.