Music leak

Leaks often originate from hackers who gain unauthorized access to the online storage of an artist, label, producer, or journalist.

Unreleased music is often acquired by hackers who gain unauthorized access to the e-mail or cloud storage accounts of artists, producers or record labels.

For example, the 2006 Joanna Newsom album Ys was leaked when a hacker gained access to an FTP server maintained by the music publication Pitchfork.

[2] In 2015, a server controlled by the music website Spin was hacked, resulting in the leaking of albums by Beach House, Mac DeMarco, and Destroyer.

[3] In 2000, the album Kid A, by the English rock band Radiohead, was leaked online and shared on the peer-to-peer service Napster.

Asked whether he believed Napster had damaged sales, the Capitol president Ray Lott likened the situation to unfounded concern about home taping in the 1980s.

[3] When Watch the Throne, a 2011 collaboration between rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, was released without being preceded by any leaks, this was noted as an unusual circumstance for a highly anticipated album in the Internet age.