Leaks Help Record Sales?

[iLOVENZB]

Do they?

Eminem-Relapse still sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide even with the numerous leak(s)

Other singles included "3 a.m." (leaked), "Old Time's Sake" (leaked), and "Beautiful" (leaked), which were all top 40 hits in the U.S. Relapse debuted #1 on the U.S. albums chart, selling over 608,000 domestic copies in its first week and over 1,000,000 worldwide.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relapse_(album)

"If you like it buy it", Marshal Mathers LP/Slim Shady LP are still bar far my favourite albums.

[Rart]

I'm curious if this is really "if you like it buy it", or if the sales are due to the publicity it got from being leaked.

[lisabritpop]

if you rly love the artist,i think you will also buy CDs

[mwe44]

I'd say they do. People preview it, they like it, so they buy it.

[Bad-Day]

if you rly love the artist,i think you will also buy CDs

Not a chance.

1º Too expensive
2º Need money to live until the end off the month
3º They were so greedy, for the last couple off years, that i don´t feel any sorry for them.
4º I prefer to spend the money to go, a concert, than to pay, 20euros for a cd. Its a rip off.

[darkstate01]

Thats the way of the world,Any advertising whether it be good or bad, bad being my record has been leaked, Is real money in the pockets of the artsts either films or music or games,programs and so on. Its like a form of viral marketing except they know who leaked it and they get the free advertising that would have cost 100s of thousands of their money in advertising revenue.Best advertising trick in the book.

[dadelor]

Yeah i agree darkstate. its good advertising because when they leak and you listen to it, you tell your friends about it and alot of times they will want the original album so they go out and buy it instead of downloading or asking for a copy.

[darkstate01]

Its the oldest tric in the book i thought, And its a lot more sexier getting the leaked version than having the advertising shoved down your throat.if you like it as you said you will support your hero, if you don't..well you know

[kooltilldend]

ofcourse leaks help sales...where do u think the leaks occur from? i'm sure atleast half the time, these are intentional just to raise the marketing of these mostly pathetic albums (relapse very much included...probably the worst Eminem album ever)

[iLOVENZB]

....where do u think the leaks occur from?...probably the worst Eminem album ever

The leaks occur from insiders such as Record companies, retail stores, reviewers and rival artists.

I believe Infinite (1996) was probably his worse, but he was just experimenting his style so it's not really fair to judge.

There are some good tracks on Relapse, but not as many as Marshall Mathers LP/Slim Shady LP.

He's now in the persona of Slim Shady so we'll probably see more tracks like Without Me, Real Slim Shady, "Just Lose It" etc.

These songs are what makes money now. Just look at the "Top Hits", there has never been any mention of "Kim", Rock Bottom, The Way I Am etc (apart from the Underground).

All you have to do it look at Lil Wayne and "Lollipop", thank god he's retiring (http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00013076.html)!!!

[kooltilldend]

Lil Wayne's a money freak...his old stuff is lightyears ahead of the random crap he pulls out nowadays...I hope Eminem doesn't go in that direction but if Relapse is anything to go by...then I guess I won't be listening to him much more

also you mentioned some good songs in the not-so-popular list...my favs though would be Lose Yourself, Mockingbird and Cleaning Out My Closet - the first one was a very big hit while the other two were alright hits (they are epic songs though imo)

[Something Else]

Leaks help the record companies to figure out how much they should market an album. If they are paying attention to download figures that is.
I wouldn't say it helps sales directly, but indirectly, most probably if they know what they're doing.