Leaked files of Taylor Swift's new album was shared via Telegram / Image by David Pasia
Waiting purgatory
Fans of music know, only all too well, the agonising pain of the long waiting game, praying for your favourite artist to release new material. In the most extreme of cases, fans are in purgatory for a number of years before sweet reprieve, awakened by news of a pending project being teased. Then again, ‘pending’ only means more waiting.
In the wake of this, some fans have taken matters into their own hands. Surprisingly, digital leaks of music artists’ material predate the existence of ‘any peer-to-peer software’, reports Pitchfork. In fact, the earliest known incident of this phenomenon, more so then than now, was when Depeche Mode’s Songs of Faith and Devotion CD started circulating in online chat rooms back in 1993.
Getting past the floodgates
John Kwatakye-Atiko, President at Popular Demand Entertainment, who has 20 years of experience in the music industry, having worked for giants like Island Def Jam Records and Universal Music Group, breaks down how leaks come about and the negative impacts that ensue.
He says leaks often occur when an artist records music outside of label-owned facilities and those involved in the leaking can involve, but not limited to, entourage members, studio staff and even rivals.
“Record labels usually control the Master Recordings to protect them from leaks... Sometimes, even those with authorised access to the masters can be responsible, like through losing a phone or hard drive," he adds.
The string of negative consequences includes the damaging of working relationships, as well as the undermining of “carefully planned and expensive marketing campaigns,” he says.
Kwatakye-Atiko says, "It has a devastating impact on streaming profits, and back in the early days, it also hurt both digital and physical sales. Creating a song involves many people – writers, producers, managers, labels, publishers – they all have a stake in the music. A leak can lead to termination of those relationships and seriously damage future collaborations."
And for those fans or hackers who take the liberty of leaking protected material, legal
repercussions could possibly be on the horizon. Country artist Kelsea Ballerini is suing the alleged hacker, who is also a former member of her fan club, over leaking unreleased demos and masters of her songs, reports Bang Showbiz.
Leak alert!
Recently, pop star Taylor Swift’s album, The Tortured Poets Department, was leaked and spread like wildfire on various social media platforms days ahead of its official release. Naturally, fans and non-fans took to social media. Some indulged in listening to the leaked material, while others expressed their discontent with the sharing of the leak.
“Fans mean well, but they don’t see how it hurts an artist by preventing that person from earning income from streaming and sales when it comes out. People might download bootleg copies and listen to them a lot via ripping them off the YouTube video into mp3 files or listening to videos of the leaked audio every day. By the time the work gets on streaming, the fans who’ve done that are burned out and bored,” says film score composer and actress, Nicole Russin-McFarland.
Louis Ferrer, a marketing student from Baguio and fan of Swift thinks otherwise: “She’s not some underground artist, or some, you know, underrated artist who that needs that stream, that needs that coin.”
Fans have mixed reactions to the leak of TTPD on X / Images by David Pasia
Would you listen to your favourite artist's leaked songs?
Yes
No
Comments