If leaks persist, maybe the 'roof' needs to be fixed ?

Yet again, another new single leaks before it's release. Really though, is any one surprised anymore ? Eminem's most recent single "Crack a Bottle" from his upcoming album was leaked all over the web before it was even finished ! A rough low-quality mp3 version was made available on a mixtape put together by DJ Big Mike and DJ Neptune.

For more info, feel free to read this brief article from Digital Music News :
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/020409eminem

Obviously, Eminem was not too impressed to say the least, he was pissed. Who wouldn't be ? Artists are always working hard to perfect their tracks, while their fans are always trying to find new songs by their favorite artists online. "Leakers" (people who steal and release new songs before the songs are even done) will always try to supply this demand, as this becomes increasingly problematic for musicians/artists in every genre.

So how do we fix the metaphorical roof, and stop the leaks ? Unfortunately there are no simple solutions to this problem. Keeping new material under wraps until it is ready to be hyped and released has become more difficult with the ease of transferring mp3s. It's just something the music industry has to come to realize and adapt to quickly.

Major labels and other digital media companies are all scrambling to find the next innovative way of trying to turn music down-loaders into digital music consumers. It's just not happening ! For as long as I've been online free music has been one of the best perks of the Internet. Why are people going to start paying for something that they've been getting for free for years.

In my honest opinion, artist's and musicians need to turn this into an advantage. Stop bitching, it sucks that you aren't seeing royalties so turn this into something that can be converted into royalties. Rap artists have been giving away material on mixtapes and downloads for quite some time now.

This worked out great for some artists who used it to leverage more exposure and sales from having their songs leak. Take for instance LiL Wayne and his most recent album which was a huge success in it's first week, after being leaked all over the Internet days in advance.

Rappers, time to step up ya game !