John Legend Releasing Evolver

In a bit of creative marketing, John Legend is slowly releasing his third studio album Evolver through iTunes’ Complete My Album feature.

In a bit of creative marketing, John Legend is slowly releasing his third studio album Evolver through iTunes’ Complete My Album feature. Beginning July 29, with the release of “Green Light”, Legend has been releasing tracks from the album, including an August release of “If You’re Out There” and a September 16 release of a remix of “Green Light”. He will release additional tracks on September 30 and October 14, before the full album drops on October 28.

Designed to allow users to expand their listening tastes without losing money, Complete My Album lets iTunes users first purchase individual tracks at the regular price of 99 cents, then, if customers so desire, buy the entire album at the regular price minus the cost of the individual tracks already purchased. For example, users who purchase all five of Legend’s early release tracks will be able to purchase Evolver on October 28 for $5.04 instead of the regular price of $9.99.

While this approach of releasing an album through the Complete My Album feature has been successfully tried before, most recently with the release of Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III, Legend is taking his promotion to new heights. He is releasing Evolver in this manner in twenty territories worldwide, making it, according to Apple, the largest global implementation of the feature to date.