Its been three long years since Rihanna released her last album and fans thought this year would be the year but did Adele's long awaiting comeback scare Rihanna off….?
From Hits Daily Double
According to members of her team, one of the major stumbling blocks to Samsung’s planned giveaway of Rihanna’s forthcoming album, ANTI—as part of the highly publicized $25m deal with the tech giant—is how to make it count on the charts. Assuming, of course, that she puts it out in Q4.
The bible brain trust that decides these things has come up with a new ruling, which turns out to be rather problematic: They’ll count the free offer from Samsung if the coupon can be redeemed for any album—and, although the offer will be wrapped in Rihanna marketing, the coupon must feature type big enough to make it clear that consumers have a choice of album. The back-and-forth between Roc Nation (which is both her label and her management) and the bible over how to execute the promotion has reportedly been fierce, to say the least.
Adding further drama has been a series of date changes for the release, which had been scheduled originally for 11/20, then moved to 11/6 and now looks headed to 12/4 or 12/11. Once Adele was added to the schedule, the scramble to find a new date began—and the plan to set up a huge sponsored giveaway became the only viable alternative to a brutal chart spanking from the British Queen of Pop.
