meandthestereo

A large leak...kind of...

It has been a big couple of weeks for leaks.  Radiohead and Weezer both experienced song leaks last weeks with varied results.  Radiohead’s song, “These Are My Twisted Words”, was a very good song reminiscent of Kid A, which is my favorite Radiohead album by far.  Weezer’s leak a few weeks ago was less successful musically.  “The Girl Got Hot” was just more run of the mill Weezer from the Green Album rather than brilliant Weezer from Pinkerton (will we ever see that Weezer again?).

More telling than the quality of the songs, though, was the reaction to the leaks or the almost non-reaction.  Leaks have become almost commonplace these days.  Its the price of doing business in these modern times.  And both bands seem to have come to terms with that.

It would be understandable for a band to want to control the material that is released by them.  A release of a track that hasn’t been polished or is unrepresentative of the album they are about to release could damage them.  And if their best work is released before the entire album is complete, it could take some of the shine away from the album when it comes time for it to be reviewed.

Don't blame the fans! Blame Bono!

But you can’t blame the fans of a particular band for wanting to hear everything that is released.  A few years ago, my brother and I were debating this very issue.  One of his then favorite bands’ message board moderators had begun kicking people out who shared leaks of the band’s upcoming album.  My brother was one of those kicked out, but he was taking it in stride.  I was arguing with him that the fans, such as those who frequent a message board devoted to a band, should be the last people you punish for trading leaks with other fans.  The word fan comes from fanatic, which means that you are going to show such devotion to the band’s music that you don’t really care about the rules.  It may be only Rock ‘N Roll, but we like it, damnit.

The better way to approach the problem is to do like Weezer and Radiohead just did.  Both bands have always been more enlightened when it comes to their material so their reaction to a leak is not surprising. Weezer has always had extra material floating around that is sometimes better than the albums themselves.  Radiohead has found great success by giving their songs away and letting their fans pay what they want for them.  When their songs leaked,Weezer just accepted it and moved on.  They released a different and better song (thankfully) as the first single for their new album, Raditude.  Radiohead has embraced and started to offer the leaked song as a high quality, free download on their site.  They have embraced it so much that most believe that they are the ones behind the leak.

If that’s true, then Radiohead has finally discovered how a properly motivated fanbase, and a well placed leak can do for your work.  Even if its just a publicity stunt, its one that worked:  It got people talking about Radiohead during a summer with no new Radiohead release.

Here’s the source for the first photo done by Matthew Bowden! And here’s the source for the second photo!