Looks like Frank Ocean’s strategic album release of Endless resulted in a huge win for his pockets.
Weeks ago, Frank pulled a fast one on Def Jam and Universal by fulfilling his contract with the visual album Endless — essentially a 45-minute music video that’s not for sale — before dropping his proper album, Blonde, via his own Boys Don’t Cry imprint just two days later. It was a risky move that could see him slapped with a lawsuit from Universal, but for now, Frank’s hustle is paying off big time.
According to Forbes‘ calculations, Frank Ocean has already made $1 million profit (not gross, but take-home) in the week since releasing Blonde independently. By leaving Def Jam and Universal, Frank’s earnings per project jumped from approximately $1.50 to $2.00 per album to between $5 and $7.50 (Apple pockets a quarter of the $9.99 sale price).
Blonde sold 276,000 units in its first week, according to Nielsen Music, meaning Frank would have banked around $1.5 million from the album’s digital sales and streams.
As far as costs are concerned, Forbes estimates that it probably ran Frank $500,000 to produce the album.
Had Frank stayed with Def Jam, its fair to wonder if he would have even made $500,000.
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