Think before you leak.
In my short but varied career, I’ve had the pleasure of working on both sides of the artist fence. For three years, during my tenure editing a music website I had the excitement of incredible new bands arriving and hearing them produce their first released fruits; watching as everyone slowly caught on and expressed their equal, undying love for them.
Now, as a manager, I get to source new bands (and some established) and be the first person in the world that gets to hear those aforementioned fruits - holding them close to my chest, so carefully, the fear of ‘The L Word’ hanging over my head. Leak.
This isn’t an essay designed to tell you just to stop downloading albums illegally. It’s not even a vain attempt to make those who feel its okay to upload unreleased copyrighted material to the internet to win brownie points on members-only torrent sites or on some rapidshare link message board. All I want to point out is why you might want to just search yourself and have a think before doing either in the future.
I have to take the most recent example that’s close to me, the leaking of Los Campesinos!’s next album, the excellent ‘Romance is Boring’, due on Wichita in February.
Having been on the editorial side of things when Los Campesinos! were ‘discovered’ a few years back, I’ve excitedly watch them grow and mature into the band they are today. With it, I’ve had the pleasure of a passing friendship with the band and most pertinently their emotional beating heart and frontman, Gareth.
What I think a lot of people need to understand when they upload the album they’ve been sent, in good faith for review purposes, and it ends up in the hands of the fans before professionally (and creatively) intended is the emotional impact that it can have on the artist.
Imagine you’ve spent two years of your life creating something. When you finally got to show those whose opinions you value more than anyone else’s (in this case, your fanbase) you want to be able to do it in a fashion that’s most fitting your work. You want to be able to show the lyrics you’ve poured you heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into. You want to show off the beautiful artwork you’ve commissioned to frame your songs; artwork that yet another person in the creative process has poured THEMselves into.
The bottom line and the sole thing no one can argue with is this: these albums are not your work. ‘Romance is Boring’ isn’t your album to do with as you see fit. It’s not your decision to have people hear any album before the artist and their representatives intended. It’s not your right to download an album before it comes out, listen to it once through and write some half-arsed opinion on some message board somewhere. When you’ve not paid for something that was crafted by the hand of another man, you entirely lose your right to critique it.
This is, once again, NOT a rant against illegal downloading, nor is it me saying that I can’t understand those who download an album before it’s released; I can totally understand it. You’re fucking excited to hear an album by your favourite band - everyone gets that.
All I’m asking, all anyone is asking, is before doing any of this, please try and remember what I’ve said. You’re not just taking money out of the bands pockets, or the label’s coffers. You’re taking something away from the artist emotionally. You’re taking away their right to present themselves, to you, in whichever way they see fit.
