BY: Robert Kinney
The
leaking of a recording artist’s music is an element that has heavily changed
the music industry within these last 10 years.
Born by the act that is mp3 sharing, the leaking of one’s song, single,
or album is something that almost every artist cannot avoid within their
career. Music leakage has been something
that has angered artist, producers, and their record labels; while it has
enabled listeners to get access to an artist work before it is officially released
and/or for free.
Music
leaking mainly had a negative effect on the music industry. It can really upset
an artist when a song of theirs is leak off of an album that isn’t ready to be
released, or even the song it’s self
isn’t complete. In 2011, Pop singer Madonna’s comeback single “Give It
To Me” was leak in rough demo form without the featured artist, Nicki Minaj and
M.I.A., included on it. It got a lot of backlashed from some music listeners
and overall got some mixed to negative reviews due to its sound and quality.
Madonna and producer of the song had to release disclaimers saying the song
wasn’t released properly and sonically the way it was meant to. The song ended
up performing not as highly as projected due to it’s leakage.
The sales in the music
industry have also taken a fall within the last 10 years and a reason this has
happened is due to music leakage and pirating. In the year of 2012, approximately 1.65
billion albums were sold in the U.S. Compared
to 2.13 billion in the year of 2002. The leaking of music has had effects even on
some of music’s biggest artist sales. In 2011, R&B singer Beyoncé album 4 was leaked 3 weeks before its release
date by a man that hacked into Sony’s (her record labels) servers. When the
album was release, granted that it debuted at #1 on the billboard charts and
her most critical acclaimed album, it was least successful sales wise. Many of
music analysts blame the leaking of the album for it’s so-so sales (especially
since usually albums leak only a few days before it is released into
stores/online). Recently though, record labels have started to find ways to
track the music leakers. A year after Beyoncé’s album was released, Sony Music
Record label found the man that leaked her album and sued him for $233,000 for
the leaking and piracy of her album.
Granted
that the leaking of music has negative effects on the music industry, it
ironically has also has had it ways that it has helped. A study has showed by North Carolina State
University that pre-mature album leaks buy big artist actually helps their sales,
due to the buzz around their album. Some artist takes advantage of the fact
that they have songs that leaked. In 2008, Rapper Lil’ Wayne had songs that
leak that were originally due to be on his album, Tha Carter III. His record label took those songs, mastered them,
and sold them as an EP and saw this as a way to build hype for his album (which
ended up going platinum in its first week). Artist even at times leak their own
music as a way to build hype around an upcoming project.
In
conclusion, the music industry is one ever evolving business; One that has to
learn how to deal and accommodate with the new ways of society. Some may argue
that it has negatively affected the music industry, while some may opposed that
notion. One thing for sure is that it has definitely added the element of
changed to it.
This showed me some new things about the music game.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I can agree with the study that said it helps record sales
ReplyDeleteIn my own opinion I do feel sorry for artist today because they do not have the same chance to break sales records because their albums can be illegally downloaded easier today. In the last 10 years only 3 albums broke diamond sales (10M sales) compared to the 1990s where nearly 30 albums broke diamonds sales.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a really good article. Being that mostly all of us have music in our libraries on our computers we could all relate. I agree that the leaking of music has a negative affect on sales for the artists. I do think there is a benefit. Many artists make a lot of money based on their tours. With leaked music, those frugal fans would download music and go support in concert.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great article robert. I feel like this problem can't be fixed due to the music industry using the internet pretty much every step of the way. There probably are ways where record labels can build some type of software where its blocks hackers. It sucks but we as the people dont really care because nobody really dont wanna pay for music especially knowing you can get it off the internet within minutes. Lets be honest.
ReplyDeleteThis is true, because as I was reading this article, I was searching Macklemore's recent albums on iTunes. One of his numerous albums costs about $10. I would like to support him, because I appreciate his compelling style and deep messages, but as a non-working student, I utilized my channels to get it for free. Within 5 minutes, I was able to upload 4 of his albums as a .zip file for no cost. If I had the extra cash, I would support; but I see these albums as demos. If I like them, I will support him later when I am working for my own money. So music leaks are also ways for people to sample products, before they buy. Jay Z partnered up with Samsung and gave Samsung users a copy of his album days before it was officially released. From this, I am now a Jay Z fan. Drake leaked his own album, a week before the release date and still made top charts. So it has many sides to it. (Sometimes a leak isn't even needed; you can download anything off of YouTube and convert it into an audio file.)
ReplyDeleteGood article Robert! This reminds me of when Lil Wayne's Carter 3 album was widely leaked. Although as an avid music lover I prefer not to pay for music. But record companies should have some sort of avenue to protect leakage in favor of the artist.
ReplyDeleteGood blog post. It should actually be known that because of the increase in services like Spotify, Rdio and soon to be Beats Music, piracy has gone down. Listeners are streaming their music instead of illegally downloading it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great blog post. I have never had the opportunity to read exactly how music is technically distributed. I believe that today the music industry is thriving but also there are still some dilemmas regarding leaked albums as well as proper music streaming.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very relevant post. I always wondered how music got from being recorded by the artist in the studio, onto various websites in finished form. I always thought that the wrist had to have something to do with it but i was not sure. At least it is effecting them in both a positive and a negative way.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting in many different ways. Firstly, when considering sales for the artist. Leaking music will have a negative effect on how much the artist will sale which could possibly prevent their album from going platinum or gold. Secondly, I believe that the record label should in some way prevent the leakage of their artist music.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought about how music leakages affected an artist. After reading this it has helped a little with my understanding of it. I still feel that leaking an entire album is really working against the artist. One or two songs are good to rile interest but not the whole album, I have never bought a CD. Too much free music is available.
ReplyDeleteI always believe that music leakage affected the artist and the talents he/she possessed. I read this passage and I now have a clearer understanding of why music leakage occurs. I believe that a few songs is helpful to getting the artist buzz, but I still don't agree with an artist whole CD. Overall, I enjoyed reading this excerpt.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post. Music is big in today's society and every day it is changing. Never under estimate music stay connected.
ReplyDeleteAs technology progresses, this will become a continuing problem. It is definitely robbing artist of potential money.
ReplyDeleteI think that artist today already compensate for lost revenue due to leaks. We are all aware that due to the magic of the internet we can get any information at an instant. I do feel that it is unfortunate to the artist but it could also help them in a way. They can still live their lavish lifestyle regardless because most money is made on tour anyway
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that leakage of an artist's album can sometimes help sales.
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting to study this subject. I think that with the increase in technology and music leakage, artists will eventually have to settle for their music being free. They will have to heavily rely on merchandise and live performances more than they already do for a source of income. It will be interesting to see how this turns out and how long it takes.
ReplyDelete