With Justin Timberlake revealing that his new album The 20/20 Experience is to be out this year, after a six year absence from releasing new material, there’s plenty to say right now about the benefits of stars ‘disappearing’ for a period of time.

David Bowie and Destiny’s Child were two other who announced their return after a lengthy break last week, and much like Timberlake they received a huge response. Absence makes the heart grow stronger, and as Forbes points out, it also makes the return more impactful – possibly financially too. Not every musician can do this, at the bottom they have to scrap every day just to see any monetary return from their craft, but for the music industry – which needs its big stars to be bringing in the money to account for losses elsewhere – there’s a potential model here.

Forbes argues that Timberlake makes an interesting case study; the former N-Sync man’s last album, Future Sex/Love Sounds, came out in 2006; since then he’s concentrated on anything but music, he’s reviving Myspace, he has his own clothing line, he’s adapted to business and is taking advantage of that. Timberlake may not be releasing an album every other year, but there is the danger of diminishing returns by doing that, so Forbes say. Instead, he’s spent the bulk of his time monetizing elsewhere before coming back with an album when he feels artistically ready, one which he can then tour into the ground. This less-is-more approach thus causes more excitement and perhaps greater album and ticket sales. It’s a question you can’t answer, but if Timberlake had released an album every year since 2006 would there have been the same excitement as this one? Would he even be selling out his shows?;It's hard to say, but he can point to the collaborator of his comeback track 'Suit & Ties', Jay Z, as another example. Hova has released just three albums in a decade, yet still sells out whenever he plays...

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