Lana Del Rey and Sam Smith Battle Upped By Spotify Strike?

While Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” gets declared “song of the summer” left and right, two artists releasing albums that are basically the most un-club heavy discs on rotation are warring against each other for the slow burn jam of the season. One is British singer Sam Smith, the other is the sultry, controversial Lana Del Rey.

Both Sam and Lana’s records are part of the post-Amy Winehouse, post-Adele era where retro sounding ballads are back in style. Smith pulls in touches of gospel on In the Lonely Hour, while Del Rey drowns her album Ultraviolence in classic glamor. But Sam’s record company got wise to how the two similar albums would end up caught in comparisons and competition. Their strategy? Say no to Spotify, reported Music Times.

Spotify has become an integral part of the music industry’s last hope to keep artists above water. In an age where many young listeners don’t remember a time when music wasn’t readily available for free on the internet, capsule-in-time artists like Lana and Sam rely on the cutting-edge technology of stream services to pull revenue from fans who probably wouldn’t pay for their records.

Smith’s record company chose not release In the Lonely Hour to Spotify in order to do the opposite — get hesitant fans to buy the album at full price, says Music Times.

At least in the Del Rey vs. Smith battle, In the Lonely Hour has managed to come out on top. Lana’s Ultraviolence outsold Sam in the first week by around 16,000 copies. But in the long run, Smith now has 278,000 copies to Del Rey’s 262,000. The kicker? Sam’s album — although never hitting No. 1 — is currently No. 3 on Billboard’s Top 200. Lana has slid all the way to No. 10 in just three weeks, while Smith has outsold her singles by nearly sevenfold.

But was the no-Spotify strategy really what brought Sam Smith the victory? It’s hard to say as his album is now available on Spotify, though whether or not fans have caught on to the streaming release is unclear.

Either way, Del Rey is probably celebrating. An extremely embarrassing Saturday Night Live performance followed her rapid rise to fame, causing many to say the final nail had already sealed the Lana coffin. After all that, it’s probable that Del Rey might be breathing a sigh of relief just to be charting.

Marketing techniques aside, who do you think will be hearing more from in summer 2015? Lana Del Rey or Sam Smith?