The Internet had helped many young people realise that they could get a lot of music without paying, and it showed piracy to be the post-release version of leaks-anyone with a CD could simply rip and upload to a website for thousands and millions more to download. This, however, wasn’t enough preparation for the rampant format of digital piracy that would follow, with the ever-evolving Internet as the enabler to this issue.įor the whole of the noughties and half of the 2010s, illegal music downloads were the major bane for artists and record labels. At the turn of the millennium, music piracy was the major epidemic for the global music industry, and prior to that, CD bootlegs were the main issue when. While the success of ‘Flower Boy’, despite leaking, can be regarded as an anomaly, it’s also indicative of the continued shift in listening habits, especially with the rise of streaming as the primary means of music consumption, over the last few years.

In the post-digital era where digital bootlegging has advanced beyond buggy LimeWire links and severely limited internet bandwidth, Tyler’s achievement was quite remarkable, and he would go on brag about it on the freestyle cut, “ZIPLOC”. Due to the stakes, a leak should have meant reduced sales, but instead, the album managed to still gross Tyler’s highest opening week sales and Billboard Chart position at that point in his career. Usually, when a leak occurs, artists and their teams become reactive in order to retain some control, however, Tyler and his team didn’t react, and later on when the music dropped, it proved to be a positive decision.įollowing on the heels of his lukewarmly received third LP, ‘Cherry Bomb’, anticipation for ‘Flower Boy’ was quite high amongst his dedicated fan base and within hip-hop listener circles. Instead of going into panic mode and bringing up the release date, the American artist barely even acknowledged the leak, continuing with his rollout as though every step of his plan had remained intact. Ten days before release, Tyler, the Creator’s fourth studio album, ‘Flower Boy’, was leaked to the Internet in its entirety.

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