Of all aspects of the music blog world, nothing is more obsessive and dedicated than the leak-o-sphere. Usually I’m all for music obsessiveness, but this is probably the logical conclusion of so much lusting after the hippest thing. What happens as a result of this lifestyle is you know about every release before anyone. You gain a few perks as a result of this, for one you become elevated into a position of ultra-coolness. Suddenly people can feel your aurora of musical relevance. Friends begin asking you what you’ve been listening to, but there are downsides as well.
A result of following this entire buzz is you become excommunicated from people with normal, healthy (mainstream) tastes in music. Lady Gaga, who the fuck is that person? I don’t have time for her; I just got the leak of Black Dice’s next album. Even bigger is the amount of time you spend hounding various bit torrent sites, in an attempt to remain more relevant than other people on the internet you’re probably never going to meet. Think of it as a pissing contest but without the wholesome ingredient of piss and you’re halfway there.
I speak from experience. For a while, I ended up constantly chasing the dragon. Yes, the obsession with music gets really bad for this particular approach to music. Usually there needs to be some form of detox for those who fall into this lifestyle. All the coolness of bestowing the gift of new, unreleased music on the unsuspecting internet people becomes addictive.
You don’t know where to stop, people on the internet tend to be bad at giving others constructive criticism. Usually you’re just told to continue doing it. Unaware of this obsession, you forget shaving; try to do music research wherever you can, during a party using someone else’s computer, on your phone as you commute to work on the train, wherever. Pitchfork is lame; it becomes time to dive into seriously bleeding edge music forums; the kind of music forums where the members have a room dedicated to music in real life. But it doesn’t stop there. Finally you reach the end of your addiction, where you’re manually splicing together little samples of the actual album from Amazon.com. And an even worse end is what follows: disguising yourself as a lowly janitor, you pretend to be just cleaning out the recording studio at a pivotal time. With a recording device hidden in your thick-framed glasses, you have your recordings saved, cut-up and edited on your computer.
These scenarios are scary. But you can back away from this before you start hiding underneath desks waiting for the next big thing to drop. You can prioritize. Understand you’re not the only one waiting for this album; there are countless numbers of other people who can do your dirty work. Keep in mind you don’t need to be on the vanguard, being on the edge can become unnecessarily stressful. Care about those artist you think deserve your care. As tempting as it may be to discover a band before they release an album, remember how much time and energy you’re expending for this task. Might it perhaps be more important to interact in real life rather than constantly trying to find new leaks?
So, as someone who has been there, done that, sent leaks via Gmail, via AIM to various friends and comrades, I wish you’d step away from that edge my friend. Think of what are the most important artists to you. Wind down from there. You don’t need to be the guy who gets everything before anyone. There’s no reason why record store guy can’t just up his game onto the internet.
Relax. Breathe. It is going to be ok. Artists will continue releasing stuff. You don’t need to be the first one. Enjoy life. Don’t let the leak-o-sphere suck you in. I mean, hell, do you really want to end up like Julian Assange? You probably don’t. Simply remember Animal Collective’s universal appeal to reason:
I don't mean to seem like I
Care about material things,
Like a social status,
I just want
Four walls and adobe slabs
For my girls