The Bootleggers Ain't The Problem

Yesterday's release of two major rap albums, Jay-Z's The Black Album and G-Unit's Beg for Mercy, illustrates the irrationality of the music industry. At a time when the industry is desperate for hit records, it makes no sense for Def Jam and Interscope (which are both owned by Universal Music Group) to put out both albums on the same day. Given that these are the two biggest rap releases of the fall and target the same audience, why divide your potential first-week market? Granted, if you were a fan of both acts you would buy each record, but there's no arguing that sales would have been better had they been released in separate weeks.

Then there's the fact that both of these albums had their releases pushed up because they had been leaked to bootleggers and file-sharers. This has become a standard practice now in rap, as every artist now grandly announces then hastily shifts up their street dates so as to avoid being victimized by music pirates. But by making these switches so abruptly and releasing records on unorthodox days (as opposed to the standard Tuesday) you just end up confusing retailers, the press and your audience- not to mention the fact that you waste all the marketing dollars you spent trumpeting what is now an inaccurate launch date. Why not just save everyone the trouble and just plan for the inevitable leak ahead of time? This lack of common sense is what's submarining the music industry while other entertainment mediums (movies, video games, cable TV) withstand the country's economic downturn.