From what I can gather, it appears that The Hold Steady’s forthcoming EP Stay Positive was predictably leaked into the greedy little hands of the internet sometime yesterday- nearly six weeks before the scheduled release date of July 15.
Message boards and scene reports are already abuzz with speculation of an earlier rescheduled release date due to the leak.
So that’s the story.
News of this wasn’t surprising. These days, it’s almost a requirement for any band whose main marketing arena is the internet and social media to “leak” a record.
But this leak most likely wasn’t a marketing ploy by the label.
No, this leak came from some writer, reviewer, music director or radio DJ working in the industry.
Judging by some of the responses on the band’s message forum, it sounds like most of the hardcore fans are even debating whether or not to dip their beaks into the torrent sites in search of a copy.
Sure, sure- this isn’t the first time a record was leaked. It happens to nearly every new release in this day and age.
Will it affect record sales? Maybe a little, but judging by the tone of the thread on The Hold Steady’s message board it sounds as if nearly all of the die-hards might download a copy (if they haven’t already) but will still purchase the digital, disc or vinyl version when it’s officially released in July.
And there are some arguments on the board that this leak is the equivalent of the Titanic hitting that iceberg for the band’s fourth record, Stay Positive.
What do I think? I’m glad you asked.
I think that having a tool such as the internet at our fingertips today comes with great responsibility.
Sure, it’s easy to get caught up in reckless abandon on the internet- what with all of the porn and politics- but when it comes to the music- it’s a completely different world these days.
What’s most bothersome to me about this situation is that someone working in the industry got an advance copy of the record. That person was most likely either a journalist of some sort, an FM DJ or an independent blogger.
The person who leaked this record was not a fan.
Trust me, I know PLENTY of Hold Steady fans- hardcore, borderline-religious fans- and if one of them were strolling down the street and came across a copy of the record, chances are they’d go send a Private Message to Koob on the message board asking where to send the disc back to.
Hold Steady fans (as far as I can tell) seem to be a wholesome, genuinely respectful bunch.
So how does one greedy blogger justify taking the proverbial Christmas Gifts in the basement closet nearly six weeks before the holiday and blast it out there for all the world to take?
Anonymously, of course.
Sure, the promo discs were encrypted somehow. But have you used the internet before? It’s not difficult to find programs to de-authorize everything. (I’d safely guess that Netflix has doubled the personal DVD collection of many-a-thousand person)
But it’s the anonymity that’s most dangerous with this scenario. Some blogger who was fortunate enough to be given an advance copy of this disc felt it was his or her right to take a hard working band’s labor-fruits and put them out there for the masses to take at their own free will.
Will the blogger or writer potentially ruin it for the rest of us?
Not likely.
But they sure have personified the fact that the music business is an ugly, dangerous and impossibly hard to trust beast.
Many people I’ve met seem to be in this biz strictly for personal gain; of course we all need to eat, but where’s the compassion? The RESPECT?
It seems to be missing in the lexicon of the industry.
Who leaked Stay Positive? We’ll most likely never know.
But here I am listening to Stay Positive for the third time since I downloaded it last night.
And dude, it’s a GREAT record.
But I have to admit that I do feel sort of guilty.
Sure, sure, I’m not the guy that uploaded it. Promoters don’t get advance copies of new releases. We get the headaches of the tour.
But the feeling I have right now is similar to when I was eight years old and found “Santa’s” offerings in the storage closet in the basement of the house I grew up in…in November.
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Update- 1:28PM 5/23/08: I just checked my stats – and here are the most recent keywords popping up from all over the word- looks like this may be one of the biggest press moments for The Hold Steady- I’ve NEVER seen buzz like this about a record’s leak-
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Update- 8:05PM- checked stats again- congratulations, Hold Steady- you’ve just broken the record for Highest Unique Visit day at jerseymike.org- it topped the Hillary Live Blog from the forum last month. Now if Obama could just figure out how to beat Hillary too-
