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Kanye Flip-Flops and Launches Album On Apple Music, Spotify

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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April 1, 2016, 1:39 PM ET
Saturday Night Live - Season 41
Photograph by NBC NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Kanye West, the self-proclaimed greatest at, well, seemingly everything, has done the unthinkable.

West’s latest album, The Life of Pablo, is now available on Apple (AAPL) Music. The music mogul also offered it to Spotify users and launched a $20 digital download from his website. The album, which launched in February, is still available on its original (and at that time, exclusive) home Tidal, another streaming service he owns with friend and fellow musical artist Jay-Z, among others.

Although an album launching on Apple Music and Spotify are rarely surprises, this one falls into that category. West has been one of the more vocal Apple critics over the last several months, and he said in February that his album would never come to the iPhone maker’s streaming service.

“My album will never never never be on Apple,” West tweeted in February. “And it will never be for sale. You can only get it on Tidal.”

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It appears now that West has gone back on his word on all counts. Not only can Apple Music customers now stream his entire album, but West’s personal homepage redirects visitors to an image of the album art and the option to buy a digital download.

So, what made the artist also known as Yeezus change his mind? Like anything else with the self-proclaimed “greatest artist of all time,” it’s all a conundrum. This is, after all, the same person who asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Twitter to invest $1 billion in his ideas. It’s also the same person who talked about his financial woes and has gone on countless, meandering commentaries about nothing in particular.

If nothing else, Kanye West is fascinating. Judging by the popularity of Tidal after TLOP‘s initial release when it rocketed to the top of Apple’s App Store downloads, he shockingly might also be on to something.

For more about Kanye West, watch:

Beyond the simple fact that West is unpredictable, speculation abounds over why he launched his album on Apple Music—despite saying he never would. For one, West previously brought a couple of the album’s tracks to Apple Music, suggesting he was warming to Apple.

In addition, Peter Kafka at Re/Code has suggested that perhaps his move is about finances. By offering The Life of Pablo solely on Tidal, West and his label, Universal Music Group, weren’t making any money on the launch. By now offering the album elsewhere, he has an opportunity to generate some cash flow on his creation.

Read more: One of Kanye West’s New Tracks Is Now on Spotify

Regardless, The Life of Pablo and all of its songs are finally on Apple Music and elsewhere. So if you’re interested in getting “a luminescent, gospel-informed glimpse of Kanye’s constantly evolving worldview,” you can do it now by streaming or downloading your way to Kanye greatness.

But hurry up—you never know when West might change his mind.

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By Don Reisinger
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