Recording artists and record labels are starting to rip apart healthy album anticipation and throw it in the same pile where you can find 8-track jokes and 45 rpm adapters (look it up if you must). Perhaps to combat leaks and help boost album sales, album streaming is now one of the biggest trends among highly anticipated albums, outside of surprise LPs.

Before, maybe, last year, we’ve witnessed the age-old formula for album promotion: strategically leaking project details during interviews, releasing singles to build a buzz and building anticipation as much as you can until that predetermined release date. But artists and labels are waking up and noticing the same thing: this isn’t 1994. 

In January of 2013, Justin Timberlake’s musical talent came out of hiding, surprising the world with Jay Z-assisted hit single, “Suit and Tie.” Two months later, The 20/20 Experience was out for public consumption with one key difference than your everyday album release. Timberlake took a gamble and made his entire album available for live stream days before the album even hit store shelves – for free.

Sure, that was lovely for fans who’d been anticipating a new JT album since he took a 6-year sabbatical from music, but allowing fans to enjoy a preview before the official release date can go in either direction. An early stream attaches a convenience to an artist’s music that draws in new fans and satisfies the patient, Day One stains. If listeners like what they hear, their fanbase will grow instantly. On the other hand, if fans, new and old alike, listen to what someone’s been working on for the last year and don’t enjoy it, there’s a good chance the artist will come out on the losing end. The jig is up before they could even make a buck from album sales.

By taking a gamble of this sort, Timberlake took his projected 500,000 first week album sales and nearly doubled them with 968,000 copies sold. (Thankfully, JT rolled the dice!). It’s been a year since Timberlake’s experiment worked heavily in his favor and if last week’s streams (Ashanti’s Braveheart, Pharrell William’s G I R L and Rick Ross’ Mastermind) are any indication, it’s safe to say that this trend isn’t going anywhere soon.

Ross’ Mastermind was originally set to drop today (Mar. 4), however Rozay decided to release the album 24 hours early, the same day as Pharrell’s G I R L. Perhaps this is to maintain the friendly competition. Or maybe it’s to push the idea of illegal album leaks even further out of relevance.

Keith Reid-Cleveland (@kreid_c)