Oh, the times they are a-changin.' Time was when labels would send out promo 12" to clubs, radio stations and press (usually in that order). Occasionally - but only very occasionally - tracks (often in a state of incompleteness) would find their way out of the studio prematurely and begin circulating on bootleg cassettes. The advent of the Internet made this a much more common - not to mention more immediate - phenomenon. Works in progress, or fully mastered versions, began to appear on line months ahead of release date. Cue major panic for the labels, who would be forced to bring forward the official release date in order to protect sales, before the whole world had an illicit MP3 version on their hard-drive.
As the industry collapses, labels have been frantically trying to beat the pirates at their own game and to harness the potential of the Internet as a means of disseminating music legitimately and thus shifting units, reclaiming lost territory. Thus came the 'leak' as a means of promoting a record (by which I mean i-Tunes only download album release).
All of which brings us to this: KRYSTATIC - a 19 year-old rapper from the West Midlands - is scheduled to drop his debut album, 'Stepping Out the Box' in the new year. Do we get a single release to promote this? Nope. Instead, his label elect to 'leak' the 'classic styled Hip-Hop banger entitled 'The Taste'' in order to generate a buzz.
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Thanks. You're too kind, but really, you shouldn't have. No, I mean it. This is gash.
The delivery sounds for all the world like GLC. The trouble is, this isn't supposed to be funny, and the lyrics would be laughable were they not intended to be serious: 'I'm always writin' performin' releasin' the hits and maybe in the future I'll be on the MOBOs / and makin promos, send it out to the fans / in the place, gotta recognise my face / I'm not a one-hit wonder, it pays to be successful / That's my fame and fortune / I will make it in my music.'
Leaks are a bad idea. Such dross should never leave the studio, the tapes / discs / hard drives erased and then encased in lead and dropped to the bottom of the ocean. So please, no more leaks. Thanks.
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