J. said:
downloadings source is promos. at least for the newer stuff. How do you explain people who aren't zine reviewers hearing the latest Moonsorrow? or Drudkh? Nokturnal Mortum?
Unless the band has the entire album for download on their website, some reviewer leaked those albums.
Which goes back to my empathy towards labels.
With Drudkh, I imagine people bought the album in Europe and leaked it. Not even sure if releases like that get promos...?
Re: Moonsorrow and Nokturnal Mortum, yeah I suppose it could be leaked promos. With that said, many reviewers sell their promos or trade them away once they've reviewed it, so it may not be them directly leaking it. Still, they are responsible for the promo so they're still to blame in a way.
You can also buy promos on eBay, so it's possible that Joe Schmo gets his hands on a promo before the street date release and leaks it.
As for us, we don't do anything with our promos before the release date - that includes actually reviewing them half the time
. We don't leak, don't trade, don't sell, etc. After the release date, it's up to the reviewer's discretion what to do with the promo, but the first rule is to offer it to another RC writer first.
The preference is for our writers to trade their promos for other promos with other writers. That way, the promo is circulated throughout the 'zine world and gets reviewed multiple times. Hell, Nate has sent me promos just because he didn't want to review them, but I did. We're still supporting the same artist, just across 'zines, which I think is actually cool.
Lastly, I would imagine that even if you love a promo, you're still going to buy the original. I just bought Mabool from Willowtip the other day and will probably buy the LP too. I've had that promo for a while now.
Side Thoughts:
Papa Josh has had a few ideas to give our promos away in competitions AFTER the official release date.
Promos go out in two batches -- (a) firstly to the big guns (Terrorizer, Unrestrained etc) and then (b) to the low-lifes like us.
I know this to be true because by the time we've got promos in our hands, the press release is already quoting the reviews from (a) !!!!
Interestingly enough, the promos for the new Slough Feg have not even been printed yet....BUT go to the label website and there is an excerpt of a review for the album from Unrestrained. Just bizarre.
I have to imagine that some bands give out the CD-Rs of the new album to big publishing houses before the label even gets their grubby mitts on it. I know for a FACT that Jim Raggi (LotFP) had a CD-R of "The August Engine" a whole year before a label picked it up and decided to release it.
I tell you, there is a whole network out there, and it's not just writers with access to early releases.
