Drake to Release FOMO Short Film on Sept. 15
Drake will release FOMO, his Fear of Missing Out "not so short film," at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
It will stream on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music at the same time, Billboard reported.
The shared start time gives fans one moment to check across video and audio apps. YouTube carries video, while Spotify and Apple Music are subscription streaming services where recorded music is normally heard. Putting a film across all three means viewers can choose how they watch or listen on the night.
Drake explained the idea himself in an Instagram post published hours before the release. He called FOMO "self funded surrealism" and "a story about making the absolute most of it all in one summer." The wording is his own, from his account, and it frames the film around a single summer rather than a longer life story.
In everyday industry terms, self-funded means the artist paid for the work rather than taking money from a film studio. That route leaves the maker with control of the master rights, the ownership of the finished recording, but also with the bill.
The build-up has been brief. Drake began teasing Fear of Missing Out earlier in September. On Sept. 12, he posted an early teaser on his @champagnepapi Instagram account ahead of the Sept. 15 date. That teaser described the project as "a not so short film directed and scored by the family," according to Instagram.
FOMO arrives four months after a packed May. That month Drake released three albums, ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR. Three separate albums in one month is unusual, as many performers release one album at a time and then tour it.
Those three releases then set a chart mark. Drake became the first artist to hold the top three positions on the Billboard 200 at the same time. The Billboard 200 is the weekly United States chart that ranks the most-consumed albums, counting sales alongside streaming equivalent album units, the measure that converts plays into album sales.
What makes this stand out is the delivery. A film opening on a music service as well as a video site blurs the line between a watch and a listen. For fans, this means one evening appointment. The film opens at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and the choice is simply which app to open.
