What Is Jay Z Releasing A Video Through Facebook All About?

Yesterday Jay Z's super glam visuals for "Holy Grail" with Justin Timberlake became the first major music video to premiere via Facebook…in fact it was the first social media release via any platform of this calibre. But, y'know, it's pretty much standard "new rules" Jay Z fare; really REALLY expensively filmed, some slow-mo fire shots, some slow-mo cigar smoke shots, Justin Timberlake's hair looking great, etc. In short, it looks glossy as fuck and I'm sure the budget could've got Jay a small private militia instead, but it is pretty boring.

What isn't boring is his choice to bypass a music affiliated outlet to drop the visuals in favour of a 24 hour Facebook exclusive. Jay even met personally with Zuckerberg to arrange the deal. I can't decide whether that went down with an awkward flurry of missed handshakes and tumbleweed silences, or it was just a standard dead-in-the-eyes meeting of moguls.

Of the premiere, Facebook's Nick Grudin stated that it was a landmark moment for the company:

“What we’re doing with Jay Z today is really exciting and we think symbolic of the evolution for music. It’s an innovative way for musicians to reach out and connect with their fans who constantly support them. He says by using this method it gives him the key to a direct yet massive audience.”

Fair enough. I mean he has got a cool 17 million fans on there but the constant tactics and "innovating" feels like Jay Z is treating Magna Carta Holy Grail as part of his ever evolving brand rather than as a body of music he really loves.

So, is Jay's ruthless business acumen overshadowing his music or should we let Jay Z mould himself into a living luxury brand?