Frank Ocean released his album Channel Orange exclusively to iTunes on Monday night, one week before its scheduled release. While fans were pleased, massive retailer Target has decided that because of the early release, they will not be stocking Channel Orange. In a statement to MTV, Target said:
At Target, we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, so our selection of new releases is dedicated to physical CDs rather than titles that are released digitally in advance of the street date.
In response to the news, Ocean's manager Christian Clancy wrote, in two since-deleted tweets, "Target has refused to carry Frank's album because of iTunes exclusive" with the follow-up, "interesting since they also donate to non-equal rights groups." (Later, Clancy added: "Note to self: take your own advice. emotional knee jerk reacting isn't the move.") Target has donated $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, which backs political candidates across the state, including state house member Tom Emmer, who is involved with the anti-gay and lesbian ministry of Bradlee Dean. However, Target does sell albums by openly gay artists, meaning that company's issue is with their profits, not their politics. Still, the store stocked Jay-Z and Kanye West's Frank Ocean-featuring album Watch the Throne, which was also released on iTunes in advance of its physical street date.
