Did Reprise want the song leaked?

[sorcerer999]

Originally Posted by Nathan

I'm actually thinking the next single, which
is evidently on february 3rd, will turn out
to be far superior to secret Love.

No. "Secret Love" is the single that will be released on February 3rd. We happened to get it early because of the pre-order special. Once Feb 3rd rolls around, it will see it's "official" release to radio stations, and maybe (if we're lucky) a CD single.

Here's the press release...

The new album is now available for fans to pre order at stevienicks.warnerreprise.com. Fans who pre-order the CD will receive an instant download of the record's first single, the Nicks’ penned "Secret Love”. The official release date of the single is February 3rd. Nicks is a multi-Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and member of Fleetwood Mac.

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Stevie is a 60 something artist who hasn't released any new material in a full decade... WB wants to flame the fire of excitement. It's pretty smart, actually... it basically costs them no money to leak the song, and now it's all over the internet. It's called building excitement. If WB wanted it off youtube, it'd be gone by now. They knew exactly what would happen with this song being released early. Everyone is playing into their hands precisely the way they wanted. And who knows... maybe this is one of the songs that won't even end up on the album? There are talks of a couple of songs getting chopped. In any event, I think WB is actually quite smart with this move.

louie - you always get in first with my own opinions, haha!

[Musicman408]

Originally Posted by sorcerer999

No. "Secret Love" is the single that will be released on February 3rd. We happened to get it early because of the pre-order special. Once Feb 3rd rolls around, it will see it's "official" release to radio stations, and maybe (if we're lucky) a CD single.

Here's the press release...

The new album is now available for fans to pre order at stevienicks.warnerreprise.com. Fans who pre-order the CD will receive an instant download of the record's first single, the Nicks’ penned "Secret Love”. The official release date of the single is February 3rd. Nicks is a multi-Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and member of Fleetwood Mac.

Just reading that got me excited for some reason. I'd love to hear this thing on the radio at some point.

I remember before my fandom started, I had heard Say You Will and Peacekeeper on the radio, so when my dad got the CD, and I started getting into it, it was cool that I had already heard those songs.

[UndoingTheLaces]

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

Music is completely different. People don't stop buying music because there is so much free music on the internet.

From the riaa's website:

One credible analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes. For copies of the report, please visit www.ipi.org.

Taken from - http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php

Having said that, my one Gemini self has been beating my other Gemini self over the head since posting my disillusioning earlier post, so here's my opinion from the other side of the mirror (so to speak).

After telling several friends about this issue it has been pointed out to me that music companies such as WB have pulled audio from YouTube videos almost immediately when they are considered in violation. The Secret Love post was not exactly stealth. It wasn't embedded over someone's home movies or given a cleverly cryptic title to fly under the radar. It's pretty blatant and would surely be seen by someone at the powers that be. And with so many hits, it does appear to be causing a buzz. Perhaps this is why the released song was an edit rather than the full version. So people will be more inclined to buy the full version when it is released.

Mmmm, this foot tastes delicious. May I have a second helping.

While I don't wish harm on the music industry and I hate the fact that people lose revenue and jobs because of piracy, I absolutely hate some of the marketing practices of the big companies. It has always burned my britches that an album can be released and then two and sometimes three singles for the same song will come out each with different B-sides. I once paid upwards of $80 for on CD and a bunch of singles by Cocteau Twins for what could have been one really good double album. Yes, they made more money from me, but I felt really cheated as a consumer. And now with various retail stores offering different versions of albums and iTunes offering album only tracks I often still feel cheated. But that is the nature of things.

I'm also pretty pissed to hear that the advanced download of Secret Love is an edit. Sure, it's a market practice that is often used and may have been done knowing the song would be leaked but for those who spent the money on the pre-release it's a pretty ****ty thing to do. It's sad when the people who do the right thing are the ones who get screwed.

As a side note, I always had a great respect for Stevie in that manner for TimeSpace. She knew full well that giving fans three new songs and several remixed versions of existing songs that the new fans would not be affect by the changes and existing fans would not feel cheated for having to shell out money for songs they already owned. I think it was a perfect "greatest hits" CD.

Oh and Nikolaj, I appreciate your response. I, myself, due to some bad decisions and medial expenses in the past have bad credit, I have no credit cards and I live paycheck to paycheck. I blame nobody but myself and I make no excuses. But if I want to spend $500 for a really good concert ticket I have to start planning months ahead, perhaps give up a summer vacation or another large purchase. Sure, it can be done but not quite as easy as simply putting it on a piece of plastic. But I'll keep your advice for when I'm lucky enough to be in a better financial standing such as yourself.

[UndoingTheLaces]

By the way. I know a few of my posts here on The Ledge have ruffled a few feathers and I never mean to do that. I'm a very friendly guy and enjoy this board very much. I'm just very passionate about some things and when I get my gander up I go all soap box on things. Also, I think I've been taking out my frustrations here because when these subjects arise at work I can't really go off on my customers. So now that I've made my tirade about piracy I'll shut up now and keep my posts about pleasant Stevie things and save my rants for drunken nights with my friends.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

From the riaa's website:

One credible analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes. For copies of the report, please visit www.ipi.org.

Taken from - http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php

Having said that, my one Gemini self has been beating my other Gemini self over the head since posting my disillusioning earlier post, so here's my opinion from the other side of the mirror (so to speak).

After telling several friends about this issue it has been pointed out to me that music companies such as WB have pulled audio from YouTube videos almost immediately when they are considered in violation. The Secret Love post was not exactly stealth. It wasn't embedded over someone's home movies or given a cleverly cryptic title to fly under the radar. It's pretty blatant and would surely be seen by someone at the powers that be. And with so many hits, it does appear to be causing a buzz. Perhaps this is why the released song was an edit rather than the full version. So people will be more inclined to buy the full version when it is released.

Mmmm, this foot tastes delicious. May I have a second helping.

While I don't wish harm on the music industry and I hate the fact that people lose revenue and jobs because of piracy, I absolutely hate some of the marketing practices of the big companies. It has always burned my britches that an album can be released and then two and sometimes three singles for the same song will come out each with different B-sides. I once paid upwards of $80 for on CD and a bunch of singles by Cocteau Twins for what could have been one really good double album. Yes, they made more money from me, but I felt really cheated as a consumer. And now with various retail stores offering different versions of albums and iTunes offering album only tracks I often still feel cheated. But that is the nature of things.

I'm also pretty pissed to hear that the advanced download of Secret Love is an edit. Sure, it's a market practice that is often used and may have been done knowing the song would be leaked but for those who spent the money on the pre-release it's a pretty ****ty thing to do. It's sad when the people who do the right thing are the ones who get screwed.

As a side note, I always had a great respect for Stevie in that manner for TimeSpace. She knew full well that giving fans three new songs and several remixed versions of existing songs that the new fans would not be affect by the changes and existing fans would not feel cheated for having to shell out money for songs they already owned. I think it was a perfect "greatest hits" CD.

Oh and Nikolaj, I appreciate your response. I, myself, due to some bad decisions and medial expenses in the past have bad credit, I have no credit cards and I live paycheck to paycheck. I blame nobody but myself and I make no excuses. But if I want to spend $500 for a really good concert ticket I have to start planning months ahead, perhaps give up a summer vacation or another large purchase. Sure, it can be done but not quite as easy as simply putting it on a piece of plastic. But I'll keep your advice for when I'm lucky enough to be in a better financial standing such as yourself.

I think they want this song out there too. Nothing has been taken down on any of the sites.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by sorcerer999

Here's the press release...

The new album is now available for fans to pre order at stevienicks.warnerreprise.com. Fans who pre-order the CD will receive an instant download of the record's first single, the Nicks’ penned "Secret Love”. The official release date of the single is February 3rd. Nicks is a multi-Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and member of Fleetwood Mac.

For just the sake of argument, (and I am not representing Warner Brothers), do those who believe WB demonstrates that it wished to have the album "spread about" (you can use other terms, but let's keep this friendly) by not having made special technical advances to prevent it's spread? To argue by analogy, if I don't put any anti-theft devices on my car, are you then free to "borrow it" or "take it" without my permission?

Again, I personally do not know WB intention, but some of you seem express that you do know. You might be right.

[sodascouts]

If they wanted it "out there" why didn't they just put it on YouTube themselves, or offer it as a free download to everyone?

[StreetAngel86]

Originally Posted by Tango

Forgive me; I posted too quickly. They could have given it away whether one bought the cd or not. It was a package deal. You got it FREE when you bought the cd. Now it's being given away without buying the cd exactly as Stevie predicted the fans would do.

forgive me if this has already been mentioned
i'm only on the 1st page here
but my inital thought when i heard about the "free" song
was that they WANTED it leaked
and for those of you complaining about how average it is
perhaps that was on purpose
like maybe Secret Love isn't actually ON the CD
but they recorded an extra song or 2 specifically TO leak
that way they could see what kind of "fan" reaction there was

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Tango

For just the sake of argument, (and I am not representing Warner Brothers), do those who believe WB demonstrates that it wished to have the album "spread about" (you can use other terms, but let's keep this friendly) by not having made special technical advances to prevent it's spread? To argue by analogy, if I don't put any anti-theft devices on my car, are you then free to "borrow it" or "take it" without my permission?

Again, I personally do not know WB intention, but some of you seem express that you do know. You might be right.

If WB or even Stevie herself didn't want people to hear the song, they would not have done a pre-release download. They know the tremendous pent up demand amongst Stevie fans, but at the same time, Stevie's long inactivity works against her in regards to roping in new music buyers. WB is counting on the hardcore fans passing this song around and playing it for other people. And there is a tremendous difference between wanting to spread the song around, and spreading the album by the way. I'd never advocate spreading free copies of the album around. However, in the 21st Century, spreading this single around on youtube and facebook is pretty akin to hearing it on the radio in this day and age. After all, in a matter of weeks, the song will be released officially for radio consumption. Then possibly millions of people will be hearing the song for free... and possibly recording it for themselves for free. WB is simply priming the pump to build demand for radio play.

WB is no spring chicken... they know exactly what they're doing here. Stevie has been inactive in the records and recording industry for a full decade... WB has to convince people to listen to and buy Stevie music again. I'm guessing they feel that letting one song out of the bag and it possibly being passed around by folks is the best way to build grass roots momentum to promote Stevie's upcoming album. It's a small relative loss that they hope will equate gains down the road. I don't think WB or Stevie are getting taken advantage of at all... I think this whole deal is playing right into their hands. And like others have mentioned, we know 2 tracks are being cut from the album anyway... who's to say this is not one of them?

[StreetAngel86]

Originally Posted by DallasDude

I think Warner Bros see this song as having a wider appeal than Stevie's fan base. In fact, we can assume that the CD itself might be something of great quality. The roadblock to success is of course her age, and the fact that radio now plays a far less role in creating hits..

excuse me, but what exactly does stevie's age have to do with any of this?
if you're listening to one of her new songs on the radio
and you've never heard of her b4
you aren't going to assume she's a 60+ year old awesome bitch

certainly radio stations have a tendency to play more "modern" crap
but if Stevie's stuff is really good (and not just by OUR standards or Dave Stewarts)
her age should be irrelevant

[Meowi]

Do you think WB still has any interest in Stevie fans?

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by StreetAngel86

excuse me, but what exactly does stevie's age have to do with any of this?
if you're listening to one of her new songs on the radio
and you've never heard of her b4
you aren't going to assume she's a 60+ year old awesome bitch

certainly radio stations have a tendency to play more "modern" crap
but if Stevie's stuff is really good (and not just by OUR standards or Dave Stewarts)
her age should be irrelevant

But that's the whole problem... there's ageism in the radio/recording industry. They know that the people who request radio songs and buy albums are generally a very youthful lot: 10-30. These people don't care what someone the age of their Grandma is releasing (in general). They're looking for the next big sensation... or how to run the latest sensation into the ground. Stevie is fantastic... so are countless artists who never even make it. Radio play and fame is dictated by such things as age, sex appeal, cool factor, etc... and unfortunately, Stevie's got those things stacked against her in regards to the target album buying/radio request audience, most of which has no idea who Stevie Nicks is. Cher was the oldest female to ever have a #1 single... and that was more than a dozen years ago. Stevie is a dozen years older now than Cher was at the time.

This is why WB has to try different tactics to build a buzz around Stevie's new album and song. If they don't start early, and prime the pump... Stevie will have no hope of getting radio airplay, and in this digital age, greatly diminished album sales. If Stevie's album is to get off the ground at all, WB has to let things like this single get passed around and for a grass-roots buzz to build.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Meowi

Do you think WB still has any interest in Stevie fans?

Not really... I think they realize we're still here, still rabid, and will buy anything she releases. What they're concerned with is selling Stevie to a new audience, and broadening her appeal. hence releasing this "single" way early. Yes, it might look like it's to excite her core fans... but it's also meant for her core fans to get the word out about the upcoming album.

[ShangriLaTroubl]

Originally Posted by StreetAngel86

excuse me, but what exactly does stevie's age have to do with any of this?
if you're listening to one of her new songs on the radio
and you've never heard of her b4
you aren't going to assume she's a 60+ year old awesome bitch

certainly radio stations have a tendency to play more "modern" crap
but if Stevie's stuff is really good (and not just by OUR standards or Dave Stewarts)
her age should be irrelevant

I'm sorry, but age has a lot to do with it. They will not just play it because it's really good. Now maybe some adult contemporary stations will, but pop stations will never in 2011. They won't even give it a try.

You're never going to have 13-18 year olds listening to a 63 year old woman...not going to happen. And you can tell by her voice that she's not young, you don't have to know her. Not just her age, but also her style of music is not really what is played anymore.

This is just the reality. I don't think it matters that much though. We all loved TISL the same without massive radio airplay.