Does Windowing Help Album Sales?

A report released this week by economist Will Page provides evidence that windowing, the practice of withholding a release from streaming services in hopes that it will boost initial sales, does not help album sales – and may even have a negative effect on them. According to European sales statistics, Spotify holdouts like Rihanna and Taylor Swift sold 1 copy per BitTorrent download, and artists like Robbie Williams and One Direction, whose albums became available on the streaming service the day of release, sold 4 copies per BitTorrent download.