Reuters
The highly anticipated album - Adele's first album in over four years - comes out on Friday, but this new development means '25' won't be available on popular streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music.
Citing three people with "direct knowledge of the plans for release," The New York Times reports that Adele herself was involved in the talks over whether to keep the album off streaming services.
Earlier reports indicated that Adele was at least considering allowing her album to launch on Spotify, but only for paid subscribers, and was negotiating a potential rollout deal with Spotify. This appears to no longer be the case, though it's possible that Adele could later decide to make the album available for streaming after a period of time - her wildly popular album '21' was added to Spotify more than a year after the album's release in 2011, for example.
Adele's decision follows in the wake of Taylor Swift's controversial decision to remove her albums from Spotify - and for a time, Apple Music - due to music licensing disputes, which came to a head when she penned an open letter to Apple asking for them to reconsider their decision not to pay artists during the streaming service's 3-month trial period. In that particular instance, Apple reversed its decision after Taylor Swift's letter gained widespread attention throughout the media. After Apple promised to pay artists on Apple Music during the 3-month trial period, Taylor Swift decided to allow her music back onto the platform.
Adele's '25' is expected to be a huge hit among fans who have waited more than four years for the album, and Billboard Magazine reports that sales are expected to be in the range of 2.5 million in the first week alone, and that Columbia Records will be shipping out 3.6 million physical copies of the album.
Interestingly enough, you can still listen to 'Hello,' the first single from her upcoming album, on Spotify. For those looking to purchase a digital copy of the album, you can also pre-order '25' on iTunes.