Beyond the cold, hard sales and revenue issues, this has revived, yet again, the debate about what it all means for investment in music and what the future of the album could be in an age of digital dislocation.

This is about one megabrand Jay-Z linking with another megabrand to create that most s of business terms - a "synergy". But the benefits for Samsung are potentially greater.

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Away from the boardroom cheers, it is not all wondrous news. For the fans, this is the diametric opposite of the Philips Red Book standard that, in the s, dictated all CDs had to play on all CD players.

Non-Samsung-owning fans are effectively being penalized for not having the right device and given the hard sell to upgrade, because this deal is really about atoning for the fact that Samsung's own Music Hub music service has failed to capture the public's imagination. This all says, arguably, more about Samsung trying to steal a march on the iPhone and iPad in the smartphone and tablet markets and using music to do that - just as Apple did with the iPod in and the iTunes store in Handing out brand new albums for free is nothing new.

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Prince did it with the Planet Earth album on the front of the Mail on Sunday in , and Radiohead did it with the tip jar release of In Rainbows later than same year fans could choose to pay nothing to download it. And brand partnerships long stopped being a novelty.

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The only thing that is really new here is the scale of the deal. It is all light years beyond Groove Armada being paid to be the "face" of Bacardi for a year. It is proof of the continued lurch in the power balance that sees the music industry continue to dance to the tech industry's tune, like chickens on fairground hotplates. The Jay Z app has already been cloned by hackers.

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Mobile Roadie, an app creator program that allows artists to cheaply create templated apps, is used by artists such as Taylor Swift, Adele and Linkin Park. Sometimes artists use the apps to talk directly to fans or offer them exclusive discounts.

Swift, whose app has been downloaded more than a million times, has generated more than half a million track sales through the program. The subscription details associated with this account need to be updated. Please update your billing details here to continue enjoying your subscription. Your subscription will end shortly.

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