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We've got used to promo for a bestseller being slow: a blockbuster movie releases a still from the teaser trailer, then the teaser trailer for the main trailer, then a standard trailer, then the extended trailer, then the super extended trailer before the movie hits.

If you're one of the biggest stars in the world, your every move is recorded - or is perceived to be. Everyone knows what you're up to from social media, paparazzi follow you everywhere. If you're recording a new album, people are going to know about it.

Or are they?

Last week Radiohead released their ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool. One of the biggest-selling British bands of all time, they've remained fairly experimental not only with their music but in the way they publish it.

In 2007 they released 'In Rainbows,' their seventh album, as a pay-what-you-want download and in 2011 they self-released 'King of Limbs'.

For 'A Moon Shaped Pool' they returned to a record label but kept the release on-trend by 'doing a Beyonce' and dropping first single 'Burn The Witch' with no warning, only 24 hours before the album came out.

So why do artists do it?

Beyonce's snuck out two full albums (this year's 'Lemonade' and her self-titled 2013 LP) along with videos for each song on them, with nothing so much as an Instagram tease.

Both are massive hits - 'Lemonade' went straight to No.1 in the Official Chart and nearly every song on the album charted as a single in its own right. With no speculation, review copies or advanced rumours of who she was working with, the launch was totally without media interpretation in advance.

For Beyonce, whose fame goes beyond her music, staging a secret release has to be difficult - especially filming the visuals. But launching it with no warning means she retains total control over the way it's first seen, with no pre-conceptions of what the album is like or what it's about.

Of course, if you or I dropped an album for download tomorrow, not many people would notice. So it is the privilege of mega-stars.

But it's for the fans, too - with new artists, being there at the point of discovering their first single is super exciting. A community can build around it.

For an artist as established as Beyonce or Drake, to create that sense of urgent discovery is more of a feat. To create excitement about being the first to listen, the first to tweet about it - to create a moment when everyone talks about it together - is the beauty of a stealth release.

When a new episode of a TV show comes out, it's an opportunity to come together and talk about it online. With an album, everyone can listen to it at their own pace - giving it a specific moment makes it much bigger than letting reactions trickle through.

And listening to it together makes it way more fun - discussing and getting deep about a record you're blown away by is an amazing part of the experience, it can even change your mind about an artist.