Rihanna has signed an unprecedented $25 million deal with Samsung to sponsor her upcoming album and tour.
The deal follows seven months of talks and is the biggest music-marketing tie-up in recent memory. The NY Post reports hammering out the details took longer than expected in part because Rihanna made some last-minute tweaks to the album.
The news comes just a day after published reports revealed that representatives of Adele are pushing Apple for a $30 million commitment to back her upcoming album and an as-yet announced world tour.
Both Rih’s manager Jay Brown and Jay Z were reportedly integral to the deal. Jay Z was pictured on Twitter earlier this month leaving Samsung offices, prompting speculation about whether he was there to sell Tidal, his streaming music service, but sources suggest he was instead trying to nail down details of the Rihanna partnership.
Samsung wants to use Rihanna to help promote its Galaxy line of products and wants exclusive use of Rihanna-related video content to release via its Milk Music radio service, sources said. An open question is whether Jay Z’s Tidal streaming music service will gain any exclusivity given that Rihanna is a backer.
Samsung, which has also cut deals with NBA player LeBron James, will be integrally involved in any Rihanna tour, sources said.
Samsung is no stranger to the Roc Nation family. They cut a $5 million marketing deal with Jay Z back in 2013 toward the release of his Magna Carta Holy Grail album. In exchange for a $5 million check, Hov provided Samsung 1 million copies of the album to be downloaded on the company’s new Galaxy SIII and other devices.
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