When U2’s new album was “accidentally” released on an Australian website of Universal music a week before its official release I had some immediate suspicions. This is not the first time a U2 album has hit the download sites before its official release. In fact the previous album, ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” got out early after Bono played his stereo too loud and a passing fan recorded a few tracks.
The outcome of the previous incident was U2 getting the biggest first week sales they ever had with 840,000 copies sold in the US alone and triple platinum within a month, a feat their previous album had taken over a year to do. One thing that had been clear to a lot of people that paid attention to what was really happening, was that for a some types of music, P2P really helps sales.
In the case of U2, the press that accompanied the leaking of the 4 tracks helped to create a buzz that definitely contributed to some booming sales. I would not have been surprised to learn that the pre-releasing of the new album was part of a marketing campaign by Universal. Then my suspicions really got aroused when Sony decided to get in on this trick with iTunes Norway posting a Kelly Clarkson album a couple of weeks before release. This puts it on the verge of moving from a co-incidence to a trend.
I expect to see more of this. It may become the modern equivalent of when bands used to slot a new song into their live set to excite the fans, or the bootleg albums that used to make the rounds. While the press these issues engender will fade as it becomes more common, this tactic will go right to the fan base and rev them up for a great opening for a new release.