Album Leaks and Online Downloads

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Eminem’s album just got leaked. SURPRISE!
Okay, without circling around this, I just wanted to say that leaking albums is a bullshit, but very effective, strategy to sell.
First of all, why do albums get leaked? Second of all, you, self-righteous fans, tend to download leaked albums, download leaked songs, or even singles, for FREE, and then show support to an artist by complaining about it. Well guess what? You’ve stolen valuable things from the artist you claim to be a fan of. If every fan acted the way you did, then the artist wouldn’t make music anymore.

This artist you’re a fan of, however, knows very well that most of his “fans” download his tracks instead of actually paying for them, so what’s a perfect strategy for him to use this for his promotion matters? CIRCULATION. Yes, he has his team leak an album two weeks before the official release, gets the hype up, then drops the album and the ones who ALREADY were going to pay to get his CD will pay either way, and if the album was good, some of the free downloaders might actually go and buy the album as well.

The artist knows very well that his tracks will be downloaded for free either way, so he uses that for marketing purposes. You play it to your friends at school, your friend has it on his iPod, iPhone, iTouch, iPad (damn, Apple DOES rule the world!), you talk about them in person, and you just give them circulation.

Leaking an album is not an easy process if not done by the artist’s authority, and it’s very easy to detect the one who leaks an album if investigated. Not many people get to the final product. Some make a beat, some help record and master. At the end, not many people will have the final track with them, ONE track, now think about having an entire album, with the front and back covers, and official track list all ready to be downloaded in a zip file for you an hour after eminem.com releases the cover for you. Don’t download it if you’re a true fan. Don’t listen to it. If you do download it and listen to it and not buy the CD, not only is it illegal, it also takes your right of criticizing away. Your 5 minutes spent on the track does not qualify you to criticize the guts out of the artist. You have not paid a cent, so don’t complain.

This particularly gets to me because I understand what an artist goes through to get you that 5 minute long track, all the time he puts in, all the money, and you end up just mis-using it.
No, this is not advertising for Eminem, this is an advertisement for every artist. Support them by helping them make more, not by stealing their work and thinking you’re giving them “credit”. The awards they get don’t put food on their tables, your dollars do.

Much love,

Apo Avedissian