Last month, fans downloaded Usher’s illegally leaked album Here I Stand over half a million times in the week prior to the album’s official release date. A four-part mix tape of songs from Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III was also recently leaked, although the extent of damage cannot be fully evaluated until the album is officially released on Tuesday.
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Last month, fans downloaded Usher’s illegally leaked album Here I Stand over half a million times in the week prior to the album’s official release date. A four-part mix tape of songs from Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III was also recently leaked, although the extent of damage cannot be fully evaluated until the album is officially released on Tuesday. Now Coldplay’s fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, has become the third major musical release in less than a month leaked to the public through illegitimate sources. As early as last Wednesday, complete versions of the Coldplay album have been surfacing on popular BitTorrent trackers like Pirate Bay and Mininova, well in advance of the album’s US release date of June 17.
With the release of Coldplay’s newest project still two weeks away, speculators have questioned whether EMI music would attempt a rush-release in order to curb the amount of illegal downloads. In response, Coldplay offered fans the opportunity to stream Viva la Vida, in its entirety, from IHeartMusic on Friday. EMI, while failing to comment publicly on the matter, has yet to alter the album’s original release date.
Despite the leak of musical material, Viva la Vida is currently poised to become the best-selling pre-sold album. The album is also in position to break the current first week sales record for Apple’s iTunes music store.
