Taylor Swift's Album '1989' Leaks Early
At the last moment before Taylor Swift releases her highly-anticipated album "1989," it was leaked to several websites online. Swift and her label, Big Machine Records, began collecting information Friday as tracks were shared across many music-sharing sites.
The pop album is set to debut Monday, and Friday's misstep was a scramble, with Big Machine working diligently to pull any leaked music from websites.
The first song to be seen on YouTube was "Black Space," which Swift's record label had taken down within hours of its upload.
The leak is believed to have stemmed from a connection with Target, as hackers gained access to the 13 tracks along with six additional songs included in an exclusive deluxe edition with the retail giant, according to New York Magazine. However, their online venture Vulture believes the digital break-in was done by a French-speaking person.
"If you downloaded the original leak, you'll see that song titles are missing and in their place there are a slew of numbered 'pistes,' [or tracks]," Lindsey Weber wrote. Additionally, the album appears as "album inconnu," or "unknown album" in iTunes.
Unfortunately, Taylor Swift albums have been stolen and shared in the past. Her last full-length project, "Red" from 2012, was leaked in full. Despite this early release, the album still went on to sell 1.23 million copies in its first week.
According to USA Today, music experts don't think this leak will have much effect on sales either.
"Taylor Swift's fans are uncommonly loyal," Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis said. "I doubt that anyone who wanted to buy the album would be dissuaded by the leak."
"1989" is one of the last hopeful contenders to sell one million records before the end of the year. 2014 has not had a single platinum-selling record, the first year in modern history to do so.
"The whole Taylor Swift album release is going to be a litmus test for the whole industry," DeCurtis added. "No album has gone platinum this year -- even the mighty Beyonce's -- because no one is buying albums anymore. It's all streaming."
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