I see a lot of album leaks on the internet. Some I think are leaked on purpose, but a couple of weeks ago I saw this story http://www.singersroom.com/news/4312/Authorities-Investigate-Leona-Lewis-Timberlake-Leak . It must be a terrible time for the record labels when they want to stop people from listening to music. Artists probably don't want a pre-production track released before it's done, but to spend extra effort to find and prosecute a leak is a useless game of cat and mouse. A label can still have promotions and ad campaigns despite the leak. The only scenario where a leak can take the sail out someone winds is if an artists completely changes genres and didn't want to tell anyone.

The new era of unofficial releases should be seen as a good thing for music promoters. It helps create hype because the only people who care are your true fans. The everyday person isn't going to stalk the web looking for rumored and unreleased tracks. The people who are downloading and listening to your music are influencers. They are the ones who tell all their friends about it and make sure they bring a crowd to your show to buy your merch.

The untold story here is who the album leak really hurts; the music critics and magazine reviewers. The leaks are allowing us to make our own judgments. I don't have to subscribe to Rolling Stone to know what the newest track is like.