Is Lorde reinventing future of CD’s with new album ‘Solar Power’?

Lorde’s highly anticipated third studio album ‘Solar Power’ is finally coming with the New Zealand singer-songwriter announcing its August 20 release date. But along with this announcement she’s also revealed that she isn’t releasing any physical CD’s this time around… yep, you read that right! Instead she’s focusing on different limited edition vinyls that you can collect, as well as a new alternative to the CD she’s calling the ‘Music Box’.

This discless item is a 100% biodegradable hard eco box that comes with a hi-res album download as well as access to exclusive content, a fold-out poster, 32 page booklet and a limited 4 card set. This is a game changing concept that erases the CD format completely from one of the years biggest music releases. The environmentally friendly alternative allows fans to still collect something special that is similar sizing to what the CD would have been, and support the music with a digital download which will count to the chart sales.

Could this be the future of music releases though? Honestly, quite possibly. With less physical units being sold globally of CD’s, there has been talks and experimentations with how to market CD releases. From Tool releasing their book edition of ‘Fear Inoculum’ to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift selling 6495939 different cover versions of their last albums, there has definitely been experimentation with how they can make CD’s or a product similar a must have collectibles for fans again. And Lorde has definitely captured that with this exclusive product that fans will make sure they collect along with the assortment of coloured vinyls available. 

Pre-order Lorde's "Solar Power" Here:

Thomas Bleach wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Thomas here