Will Album Leaks Ever End? Doesn’t Seem So!

As much as the music industry would love to see an end to music piracy and album leaks, I think we can confidently say that it’s never going to happen, at least not until extreme measures are taken (which I doubt is going to ever happen). Take the last week’s worth of news for example, which is in all regards hilarious, and ironic. Not one, but two albums were leaked early, and guess what? Neither were due to reviewers who were sent early copies, or any end-user who happened to score one.

Last Wednesday, TorrentFreak posted about U2’s latest album (pictured below), “No Line on the Horizon“, which was leaked onto P2P networks and quickly racked up 100,000 downloads (I’m sure the number is much, much higher by now). What’s ironic about this story is that their record label tried hard to make sure no leaks occurred. They even went to such extreme lengths as to not send out a single reviewer copy, and rather flew the press in to take part in private listening parties.

That kind of dedication didn’t accomplish much, however, as it appears that Universal Music Australia accidentally made the digital album available on their site. It was quickly fixed, but not before a few eagle-eyed fans noticed it. Although that’s the more notable of the two stories, just this past weekend, iTunes Norway goofed up as well, by making Kelly Clarkson’s latest album, “All I Ever Wanted“, available for purchase. Again, a few fans noticed, bought it up, and then it was taken down.

I can’t help but laugh… because the measures that these companies go through seems to be, and well, it is for naught. Despite their dedication, someone will screw up (although, it’s also very possible that someone screwed up on purpose), and as a result, many will download. I’m still fully confident in the fact that many people who download early leaks are comprised of fans and people who will download anything. The music industry wouldn’t have seen a dime from the latter regardless of whether the album was leaked early or not. The fans will always go out and purchase it, even if they managed to score an early leaked copy.