Kanye West and Jay-Z Stop Leaking
I finally get to give some much needed props to Kanye West and Jay-Z. Their highly anticipated collaboration, highly anticipated by other people not me, never leaked online before it was available to the public. How did they pull off the feat? That is real easy to explain.
One thing that causes the leaks of albums early is the pressing of physical CDs. Someone swipes the disc and uploads it to the net. Also independent record stores generally get the CDs before big box retailers and someone there uploads the album. Another way the albums are leaked, email hacks where beats, verses, and samples are attached and sent. Final way albums are leaked studio helpers yoink the albums before they are completed and TA-DA! a full leaked album or a partially leaked album.
Solution: control freakiness. Kanye and Mr. Hova worked only in person sharing and collaborating in person (eliminating email hacks). They controlled who had access to the studio and the music (eliminating studio help leaking) and decided to send the AAC files to digital outlets before sending the CD to physical stores (eliminating the CD leak).
The album never leaked and was heard yesterday for the first time by millions of people without one thing being leaked. But some people are pissed off about this.
Indie music stores are pissed off because they typically get the albums a few days before the album comes out. A few individuals with nose piercings and big stretchers in their ear leak the album online and it irritates the artist and the record label. Jay-Z and Kanye proved leaking can be controlled when you minimize the amount of hands that touch the product. What you will see in the future is more direct to digital markets first mentalities further crushing the Indie record stores.
I don't support the theft of an album whether early, late, or what have you. I also don't like the death of the independent record store, but let's be honest, it isn't leaking that is bringing down the indie stores. That honor goes to the more prevalent big box stores (Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc). Those stores are more accessible than the independent record stores and are slowly catching up with what the independent store had over them...vinyl and an eccelectic collection of music. It is a rare occurrence to walk into Best Buy and find a Captain Beefheart Trout Mask Replica on vinyl, but I could at Bert's Music and Tape Factory in Wilmington. But now Best Buy is selling vinyl and you can find some great obscure bands like The Rolling Stones in Best Buy's music section.
I applaud Kanye and Jay-Z for controlling the leaking. Now all they have to do is control the torrenting and real progress will be made.
One thing that causes the leaks of albums early is the pressing of physical CDs. Someone swipes the disc and uploads it to the net. Also independent record stores generally get the CDs before big box retailers and someone there uploads the album. Another way the albums are leaked, email hacks where beats, verses, and samples are attached and sent. Final way albums are leaked studio helpers yoink the albums before they are completed and TA-DA! a full leaked album or a partially leaked album.
Solution: control freakiness. Kanye and Mr. Hova worked only in person sharing and collaborating in person (eliminating email hacks). They controlled who had access to the studio and the music (eliminating studio help leaking) and decided to send the AAC files to digital outlets before sending the CD to physical stores (eliminating the CD leak).
The album never leaked and was heard yesterday for the first time by millions of people without one thing being leaked. But some people are pissed off about this.
Indie music stores are pissed off because they typically get the albums a few days before the album comes out. A few individuals with nose piercings and big stretchers in their ear leak the album online and it irritates the artist and the record label. Jay-Z and Kanye proved leaking can be controlled when you minimize the amount of hands that touch the product. What you will see in the future is more direct to digital markets first mentalities further crushing the Indie record stores.
I don't support the theft of an album whether early, late, or what have you. I also don't like the death of the independent record store, but let's be honest, it isn't leaking that is bringing down the indie stores. That honor goes to the more prevalent big box stores (Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc). Those stores are more accessible than the independent record stores and are slowly catching up with what the independent store had over them...vinyl and an eccelectic collection of music. It is a rare occurrence to walk into Best Buy and find a Captain Beefheart Trout Mask Replica on vinyl, but I could at Bert's Music and Tape Factory in Wilmington. But now Best Buy is selling vinyl and you can find some great obscure bands like The Rolling Stones in Best Buy's music section.
I applaud Kanye and Jay-Z for controlling the leaking. Now all they have to do is control the torrenting and real progress will be made.
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