In a world where the internet has become the number one go-to source for all things pertaining to music and entertainment, it has become fairly easy for individuals to obtain access to exclusive content and material. Amongst that material lies albums from your favorite music artists, just waiting to be presented to the world, thus making it more common for them to eventually be leaked.
Although pretty much everything is digital these days and a vast majority of listeners are pro leaked albums, you still have a massive amount of listeners who stand firmly against this particular method of illegally releasing music. Many feel that it shows a lack of support and additionally is a slap in the face to artists who consistently put out free music year-round for our listening pleasure.
Not only do dedicated fans have qualms about leaked material, but some artists themselves frown upon it and have spoken out about it as well. Last year, Hip-Hop recording artist
Kendrick Lamar took to his Twitter to make clear his annoyance the day that his
good kid, m.A.A.d. city album cover leaked.
“
When u leak my album cover, Know that its not a price tag. Its my LIFE. & there’s a lot of serious ppl that care about lil Kendrick’s life,” he
tweeted.
A little over a month later, he once again turned to Twitter to release a
statement when his now almost-platinum album was leaked just a few days before the official release date, “
My real fans know the deal #GKMC Oct 22nd. (!!!)”
With the leak of
J. Cole’s
Born Sinner and
Kanye West’s
Yeezus, many music aficionados have taken part in downloading and listening to the albums in their entirety and also offering their unsought after opinions, while others have protested against supporting either of the leaks.
The question that has always piqued my interest is what factors play into people’s reasoning to either support or not support leaks. Most people support leaks simply because they would like to find out if what they will possibly be spending their money on is going to even be worth it.
