Jay-Z Album Leak Sheds Light on Changing Industry

By Ryan Brooks, 09/09/09
Edited by Mark Stephenson

When Jay-Z’s newest album, The Blueprint-3, was leaked a week before its release date last Monday, September 1st, the enigmatic rapper was not phased. “It’s a preview. I’m excited for people to hear the album. I’m proud of the work I’ve done, so enjoy it,” he said to MTV News that morning.
The Twitter account “diditleak,” an account with 8,943 followers, reported the leak at 5:15 PM the following day. Search Jay-Z on Twitter and you will find countless links inviting one to download the album.
Twitter is fast becoming a medium through which music piracy can flourish.
The old method of using a torrent file- a small file typically used to capture pirated files- to file share through others, which in turn is the successor of older file-sharing programs such as KaZaa, Limewire and Napster, is being replaced by a smaller, less organized system.
Whereas torrents involve a bit of technical expertise and internet know-how, the new system involves a simple double-click. Users simply post a link anywhere they wish that leads to a server that hosts the free file. Rapidshare, Media Fire and Stream Matrix are only a few of the sites that have been created in the past year or two for the purpose of sharing files in this way.
Anyone can use social media to spread files to those looking for them. A journalism major manages his own Twitter account for this purpose, ‘leaktweet,’ with a following of 427 accounts.
“It’s a natural progress to downloading music,” he said. “I started my Twitter account because I felt like I had an idea that hadn’t been exploited yet; the perfect model to disseminate information.
“More and more of these hosting companies pop up every month. And accounts like ‘diditleak’ are purely informational, telling you only when something is leaked. Using these sites directly is the next step,” said Benton.
On the other hand, Richard, a Psychology major who frequently uses torrent files to download music, says that older models like torrent files still have a place.
“The problem is that sites like Rapidshare have many “false files,” used to lure users into a site filled with ads. Large torrent sites like Pirate Bay have lists of trusted sources,” said Richard.
The Jay-Z model for turning around and posting the files to a large media site is, however, new one. When an album leaks before the release, there is little an artist can do.
“Generally the albums leak a week before release anyway as distributors receiver albums,” said the LeekTweet student.
Established artists such a Jay-Z have little to worry about leaks, and new models of distribution are being explored throughout the industry.
“Artists have distribution rights to their music, and can do what they want with it,” said Dr. Kent Middleton, Professor and Department Head of Grady College. “Some big artists may try to leak tracks for publicity.”
Radiohead’s “In Rainbows,” an album that received much press for its unusual distribution strategy, gave consumers a choice to pay “anything they like” for a download of the album. The band made more in total from its download service than the physical release of their previous album, “Hail to the Thief.” This was a method of distribution that many experts and critics said would cause the group to lose money.
On the other hand, Radiohead also put out hard versions of these same recordings on vinyl or CDs for fans who want a material copy of the music.
Ross, an employee of Athens, Ga. Schoolkids Records, feels frustrated with these new download models.
“Little stores like us are going to disappear, and little artists along with it,” he said. “Artists put incentives to buy vinyl and CDs, and there will always be those who appreciate not listening to a music file, but it’s so easy to just put everything online now.”
“Indie artists never use albums to make money anyway. Rock artists use them to advertise, basically. One of the last groups of artists to make money off of albums is the hip hop industry, but that is composed of large, super star artists and not smaller bands who make money off of music shows,” said the LeakTweet student.
As Twitter and faster, sleeker social media increases the flow of information worldwide, this chasm means that albums will become less important and the artists themselves will be sold to consumers.