Is Miley Cyrus' New Album Making Her Money?

In case you’ve been lying under a rock since Sunday night — or, like, just have a life that revolves around things other than entertainment — you may have missed the fact that, at the end of her VMA hosting gig, Miley Cyrus released a surprise album that is now available to stream on Soundcloud. For free. You know, her new album. The one that nobody knew she was even close to finishing. At the end of her outrageous performance, she announced the free tracks with a web address blinking across the very colorful screen. And, of course, I went to it. Like, immediately. And then listened to the entire thing for the rest of the night. But the thing that I kept wondering as I listened to this very un-Cyrus album about her dead pets, was whether or not it would be available to download. And, if it never becomes available to download, will Cyrus actually make any money from her album?

Because, let’s be real, there’s no money for Cyrus if the album isn’t eventually sold and distributed widely. I mean, I guess she could go on a Dead Petz tour and make money from the songs that way, but, unless she actually sells the thing, there isn’t going to be much money for her. Right now, the songs are on a website with no advertisements and with no way for fans to pay for the actual music. You can listen to it from the website, and that’s about it.

But word on the street is that the free album is all we will get for at least a week or two. Hopefully, then Cyrus' album will be released on iTunes. I mean, it has to be eventually, right? How else am I going to rock out to it in my car or at the gym or while I’m walking to work? I have to give Cyrus credit though, because it sounds like the limited release is really for her fans’ benefit.

An anonymous Billboard “source” said that that album is not a typical Cyrus record. "It’s amazing, it’s incredible, it just needs to be understood that it’s not a typical, straightforward Miley record — we don’t want there to be confusion in the marketplace." Maybe what she is trying to do is let people listen to the album on their own first before eventually offering it for purchase? Let’s hope that’s what the star is thinking, because I honestly don’t know how she’d make money off of it otherwise.