Why can I download music before its released?

[JoyMonkey]

What's the story with all the leaked albums these days? I just listened to the new Gorillaz album (it's excellent by the way) which isn't supposed to be released until the end of May. It didn't sound like a rough copy either- it's the final copy.

I'll still be buying the CD/DVD as soon it's released (I'm a huge fan of Jamie Hewlett's work), but why can't I buy this finished album right now? Does it really take two months for a CD to go from the studio to store shelves? Even if it does, shouldn't material like this be made available on iTunes straight away? How many thousand people do you think will download this over the next two months before it's possible to buy the real copy?

[Santoro]

From what I understand copies are distributed to magazines and other media, as well as VIPs, stars, etc in order to generate 'buzz' prior to the release. 

[JoyMonkey]

From what I understand copies are distributed to magazines and other media, as well as VIPs, stars, etc in order to generate 'buzz' prior to the release. 

That makes some sense, but I don't think it's such a wise marketing move anymore. Maybe 10 years ago a strategy like that would pay off, but in these days of filesharing and whatnot, you'd think that releasing a promo copy this early could cut sales in half.

[jbox]

The biggest mistake lots of people make is the idea that the people who don't buy the CD would have bought it. Hence you clearly do not affect the numbers. College kids swapping megs of tunes throughout a dorm doesn't somehow imply those kids would have spent a hundred billion dollars if the internet hadn't been invented. 

Make no mistake, despite their politician-like "the sky is falling" mantra, CD/DVD profits are going UP, not down. Yes, their distribution channel is going to change eventually, but this isn't going to happen while they are the ones who control the legal alternatives (look at iTunes). Only when big-ticket artists start doing direct-download services will the old techniques *actually* die. 

B5 got both of its spin-offs cancelled because the networks didn't think they'd work well on TV. The DVD sales of B5 have now made over $500,000,000 for them, which means they are now considering making new seasons just so that they can release them on DVD. Physical media is still well and truly alive and kicking for a reasonable while yet... 

[Zero_Hour]

One of Eminem's recent albums was on p2p networks weeks before the actual release. It still sold 8 million + copies. I can't believe that p2p networks lost him a signifigant number of sales. Of course, I can't believe it sold 8 million copies either  .