For example, Pitchfork told Karen O that Kanye West had posted one of her songs on his own blog, an incredible exposure for anyone no matter how famous (West, of course, raged when one of his own tracks leaked last year, cancelling a weekly music series in light of the intrusion).Īs simply sitting around and rage at the internet doesn’t help anyone, artists and labels then have to move quickly, finding a way to make the best out of a bad situation. Sometimes it isn’t even remotely the artist’s fault, though (Karen O attributed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ leak to a “production-related thing”), and sometimes the frustration of having an album leak can develop complexities of its own when other artists get in on the leak to the betterment of the release.
I never got the chance to record them.Ĭox eventually relented, apologized for the raging, and took full responsibility for the error. i would describe it to you but that would be stupid. It’s not finished and now it never will be. While sympathy for millionaire rappers like Drake-whose forthcoming album Take Care leaked last night-might be in short supply, put yourself in their platinum-selling shoes: How can that not be a frustrating experience? All the work put into it by the artist, the producers, all the coordination of press and marketing and carefully curated buildup goes out the window and is tested by an unplanned early fire sprung by who or what knows.įuck this shit. Finally, after months of hot-and-heavy press anticipation, the album is unleashed onto the public…via a leaked copy on the internet, over a week ahead of time. Fans eagerly await the new album as singles trickle out and release dates get pushed back. So: a music artist–say, the most famous half-Jewish, half-black, all-Canadian former DeGrassi star (who also happens to be really, really good friends with Lil’ Wayne) in the universe-spends all kinds of time working on the follow-up to his major label debut, which was widely perceived to be an ambitious-yet-rushed effort to capitalize on his quickly rising fame.