Drake just premiered his and Future's new joint album, What a Time to Be Alive, on OVO Sound Radio on Beats 1. He played the massively anticipated release back to back, and after the show, at 8 PM, the album was listed on iTunes. It can also be streamed via Apple Music (lucky for us still enjoying that free trial), but remember, WATTBA is an album -- not a mixtape -- and it's likely gonna make a lot of money.
As the project was first hinted at just over a week ago, and officially confirmed just yesterday (Sept. 19), there wasn't much time to think about how WATTBA would actually be released -- you know, in a business sense. Considering that it came as a complete surprise, many thought it would be a free mixtape.
The release of WATTBA came in similar surprise fashion to that of If You're Reading This Its Too Late, which Drake himself referred to as a mixtape, though the project was officially released through Cash Money Records. It was certified platinum six months after its release.
Like IYRTITL, WATTBA is also a Cash Money release -- the proof is listed on the iTunes page, which also tells us that, along with Cash Money, the project has been issued through Epic Records. That makes sense, considering Drake is signed to Cash Money and Future to Epic. Drake's OVO imprint is a subsidiary of Warner Bros., while that of Future, Freebandz, is distributed via Epic. Thus, it's unclear as to how OVO will profit from the release.
Many viewed the surprise release of IYRTITL to be Drake's sly attempt to inch one release nearer to getting out of his contract with Cash Money. Looking back, it seems Cash Money has profited plenty off of the release, though -- credit to Drizzy -- he didn't have to obey Birdman's strict promotional rules. It seems he's done the same thing this time, as we expect that Cash Money had no knowledge of WATTBA until very recently.
In sum, expect Birdman to profit heavily off What a Time to Be Alive -- he could definitely use the extra cash; on the flip side, though, Drizzy could be another "non-consensual" album closer to escaping his contract.