Beyonce's "Lemonade" comes to iTunes after 24-hour exclusivity window on Tidal
Fans worried enjoying Beyonce's "Lemonade" would require a Tidal subscription can rest easy, as the groundbreaking album has come to iTunes.
When the songs from the visual album hit Tidal Saturday night following its premiere on HBO, it appeared the work would only be available on the subscription streaming service co-owned by Beyonce's husband, Jay Z, but the exclusive window for Tidal proved to be much shorter than previous releases by Rihanna and Kanye West.
By Monday morning, iTunes customers were able to purchase the 12-track album along with the hourlong video special, and Amazon was taking pre-orders for a CD/DVD to be released May 6.
Given the veil of secrecy that usually surrounds releases by both Beyonce and Tidal, it is unclear if this was always the plan or if it was a move to mollify fans who complained online about the exclusivity. The hashtag #BuyLemonadeoniTunes quickly took over Twitter Monday morning.
Tidal still has some hold over the hot-topic release, though, as the subscription service remains the only place to stream "Lemonade" -- a status that apparently won't be changing. So if listeners aren't interested in actually purchasing the album, they'll have to sign up for Tidal, as Spotify and Apple Music streams aren't in the cards, apparently.