I INVENTED THAT. I'M LIKE MARK E SMITH.

Seems the 'leaked internet tracks' conspiracy theory bandwagon that I deludedly like to think that I started a few days ago is picking up quite some speed. Over at Think Tank/Leafhouse they were ripping me off a full two days before I thought to mention it myself.

They raise a good point that it becomes even more obvious once the tunes start to filter out with modern attention-span regularity that there might be the whiff of the marketing campaign about it all. Even if you disagree, you can still go there to download songs by The Strokes, Surfjan Stevens and The New Pornographers. Can't lose really, can you?

So, on the one-hand we've got the RIAA campaigning for the death penalty for illegal filesharers whilst the record labels may only be too happy to leak entire albums in advance of their commercial release? Is the theory that it's going to be stolen anyway so they might as well benefit from it somehow? Hmmm. For the first time in history there's a marketing meeting I'd actually like to attend.

If you wanted my advice, I'd suggest downloading these albums in their entirety and keeping them out of your P2P shared folders. Maybe go and buy the albums that you really like. Burn the others to CD. If you can be arsed.

Thanks, Napster : I remember you
when you were still naughty.