Following today’s earlier J.T. Ramsay shout-out, I’m once again linking his site, this time regarding his most recent post on release dates and press coverage, in which he argues for coverage more centered around an album’s leak date. More specifically, I’m responding to this section:
Even Pitchfork holds fast to release dates, which just seems absurd. We have to change the rules that print media set for us!
I don’t agree with this. While I won’t argue that, at this point, leaks can begin the dialogue about an album (see also: yesterday’s interview), I can also see why Pitchfork (or Dusted, or Tiny Mix Tapes) would choose to run a review close to a release date. People are still buying music — despite leaks, one gets the impression that (for instance) Merriweather Post Pavilion has done pretty well, sales-wise. Admittedly, this doesn’t take into account the growing trend of separating out digital and physical release dates, something that’s happened both with artists releasing music on their own: Radiohead, Eno/Byrne, Girl Talk; and via indie labels: Bound Stems’ The Family Afloat, Deerhunter’s Microcastle.
But if reviews begin to be run solely around a leak date, you end up in a situation where that dialogue has arguably started and ended before anyone can actually buy a copy of the album in question. Which, to understate things a bit, doesn’t seem like an ideal situation for the artists or labels involved — unless, essentially, every label above a decent size retrofits itself to be able to sell an album digitally (among other things) as soon as someone leaks a disc, which seems logistically nightmarish.
And given that release dates still have an effect — their relationship to touring comes to mind — I don’t know that there’s an easy way to make this work. Also worrisome is the fact that it essentially hands over control of the process to participants in what could at best be called an ethically grey activity, which, while arguably pragmatic, doesn’t necessarily seem like something to be encouraged. (Though that suggests an entirely separate “ethics of leaking” discussion…)
[Hat tip: I had a lengthy conversation on digital vs. physical release dates with Maria Tessa Sciarrino over the weekend, so this topic has been on my mind for much of the week.]
I think everything needs to be more fluid. If an album leaks, it’s fair to say that an ever larger number of potential consumers will find the album online and simply bypass a sale. This is something the music industry has struggled with for a long time.
I cut out a whole portion that took me down the surprise release rabbithole, something I think few bands can accomplish with any degree of success, Radiohead being chief among them.
I think leaks hurt indie (and indie-esque) bands disproportionately because those consuming that music tend to be younger and thus more computer savvy. If those bands can get a handle on what do to when their album leaks, it might give them a fighting chance at recouping sales.
(I feel like this is oddly similar to the “our instruments were stolen” trend that got bands more publicity than their album releases did. For most bands, release dates are just a formality. How many people even know U2 has an album coming out next Tuesday?)
I should add that I think that for smaller bands, the Chuck Eddy Village Voice approach can work, i.e. waiting until after release date, because so many bands fly under the radar forever, despite being perceived as relatively mainstream by people in the know.
But indie-centric publications should definitely be more responsive to what’s happening in the moment instead of the ethics of leaks. We haven’t even gotten into boutique releases and subsequent reissues (Titus Andronicus and Bon Iver, just to name two) that are invariably shared peer to peer because they’re not available easily in the interim. Pitchfork drives that sort of behavior.
I think indie pubs need to step up to new realities if they want to maintain their relevance to music consumers. I’m going to continue writing more about this sort of thing at the new blog. I hope you’ll join me!
Definitely looking forward to reading more about this on your blog in the coming weeks and months. I will say that I was thinking more in the indie/alt-rock department than bands on the scale of U2.
More tangentially… I don’t know what to make of the Bon Iver reissue, as I haven’t heard the version of “For Emma…” that was originally released;I’m not entirely sure how much the additional recording work alters the version that appeared on Jagjaguwar. In a similar vein, I’m guessing you got the same email I did from Chairlift’s publicist on the upcoming reissue of their debut on Columbia; not entirely sure what to make of that, either…
Chairlift are a fine example of how far the industry’s fallen. A band ties its hopes to a commercial because it’s worked for other, similar bands, but then it doesn’t, yet their publicist expects people to care. Truth is, they don’t.
I can tell you from experience that Tuesday’s just aren’t an event in the way that Fridays (or Wednesdays) are for Hollywood.
A general note about leaks, though. What would be extra special awesome is if members of the indie press wouldn’t leak the records to begin with. It’s really difficult to get vast teams of people on the same page to get a record set up, make sure it gets to long-lead press, make sure consumer and retail advertising is in place…and it’s just such a slap in the face when the record leaks a whole three days after the press servicing. Leaks are inevitable, but it’s like, throw us all a bone here. Reminds me of watching the Oscars this year, and thinking the actors welcoming the other actors into their coven by handing out the awards as a group was a clear ploy to humanize the actors making the films that college kids so love to download. I found myself wishing that the Grammys featured anyone talking about why music is emotionally important or valuable. Am I making any sense? Is this real life?
Re: Chairlift, There are precious few things in the world of recorded music that just about 100% guarantee serious sales, and one of those things is placement in an iTunes commercial. I don’t know, however, if the band’s best interest is being served by rereleasing the record on Columbia based on that ad.
Makes sense. Though I also think back to the “don’t illegally download films, or you’ll put this stunt driver out of work” ads that I used to see before movies and wonder whether there is a way to convince people that, no, seriously, there is a value to whatever’s being downloaded.
This also comes to mind. (Via the NY Times and MobyLives).
Alternately, free copies of Lewis Hyde’s “The Gift” for everyone…
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And: what you said re: Chairlift. Though if the FLOSSTRADAMUS FEATURING [the vocalist, I assume] FROM CHAIRLIFT posters on the construction site near my apartment are any indication, someone has a vested interest in making them an eminently recognizable pop band…
The Grammys have made those pleas in the past. They aren’t working.