Did You Hear That: Album Leaks – All of them!

What do you do if your release date is 2 months away and someone in your camp has leaked your new album to the interweb? It happens alot. All the time. Your label has spent 6 months staging a marketing campaign and now everyone UMICH is downloading your creative genius faster than a greased leopard. Again what do you do? The obvious thing would be to push up the release date to minimize the circulation of unsanctioned copies floating through the ether. Sure, that works for the majors, Beck, Nine Inch Nails,Radiohead are all still going to probably sell 7 figures ( albeit low 7 figures). And they have their tour support and licensing opportunities ( which is really where todays artist are going to make there money).

But I’m talking about the 2nd tier artist (neh artist on the come up). Critic and blogger darlings much anticipated 4th album ( hypothetically). Imagining they sold 40k last time out and they are slated to sell upwards of 100K this time around which would bump them up from their indie to the major that distributes said indie. But wait, 2008 is here and the DIY marketing strategy you have so carefully plotted out is blown because everybody has already bitorrented your record 2 months before you are booked on Letterman.

What do you do?

I am going to hazard a guess that the majority of contemporary acts are making most of their take home money from touring , merchandising and licensing. I assume record sales profit goes back the to the label to recoup for production cost. Which brings be back to the fans pay upfront model. Then the band is only on the hook to deliver a record that their fans would like. Not one that will meet the labels projected numbers for the quarter.

Also there is the philosophy that certain albums are intentionally leaked. To create a buzz. There by lessening the creative importance and de-mystifying the relationship between artist and fan.

While I have never thought that music is free. And artist should be compensated for their genius howevre in todays climate I do not think that artist make the majority of their income from cd/download sales.

Which is why bands are on the road for 250 dates a year. Bands ask yourself do you have label representation at all of those dates? Do you have label representation at any of those dates in tertiary markets? Roanoke Virginia? Witchita Kansas? Yeah Band this is your time. You are out there making fans one at a time, 250 days of one night stands to put $$$ in your pocket to send it back home to keep the lights on.

I appreciated the “official releases” for their digital books, extra songs and much much better digital compression. I would pay for this. However your album leaking is gonna happen. It just is. Band,you are not paying that assistant who was “so cool” ( meaning he went on beer runs and roles really good blunts) during your tracking sessions enough, not to want to get 10,000 hits on his blog in one afternoon because he has posted the new XXX XXXX XXXXXX album.

Band, how do you get in front of the leak, maintain your artistic integrity, not alienate your fans AND manage to monetize your product?