The pre-street-date release of music known as “the leak” haunted the music industry in the earliest days of the digital era. But thanks to streamlined distribution techniques — as well as the rise of streaming services like Spotify and Tidal — labels’ crisis programs for dealing with albums making their way to the public early are more agile.
In May, RCA responded to the week-early leak of Harlem rapper ASAP Rocky’s second album, “At.Long.Last.ASAP,” by putting it online in an official capacity, effectively short-circuiting interested listeners’ paths to gray-area download sites, while giving the label and artist some revenue that would have potentially been lost in previous years.
It also gave Rocky a plum chart position: “Long.Last” debuted at No. 1 on the June 13 edition of the Billboard 200, which tracks album consumption across retail and streaming outlets. During the week ending May 31, the album moved 146,000 units, with traditional album sales (both physical and on digital services like iTunes) making up 117,000 of that tally.
“Long.Last,” which features cameos from hip-hop titans Kanye West and Lil Wayne as well as drop-ins by Rod Stewart and the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, is Rocky’s second album, and his second chart-topper.
Maura Johnston can be reached at maura@maura.com.