The anti-iTunes distribution kings and legendary rockers AC/DC have a new album coming out on October 20, but a pirated version of the album is already available on the Internet. The highly anticipated album, Black Ice, was leaked on October 7 onto a torrent site and spread like wildfire from there. According to a report on Torrent Freak, the album has already been downloaded more than 400,000 times. Although I was unable to confirm this figure, a few quick searches of the major torrent sites shows that something called Black Ice by AC/DC is all over the torrent world and, if the numerous comments are to be believed, this is the real thing.
But AC/DC fans are a funny bunch and, according to the comments left on Piratebay.org, those who downloaded the album just had to have a listen and intend to buy the album when it comes out. One commenter called Manfred016 said, "I'll download it and listen to it, but I'm too much of a fan to uhhh 'steal' from them so I'll buy the album when it comes out. Thanks for the torrent." Not exactly scientific proof, I know, but there has been some debate in the past about whether illegal downloading is hurting sales as much as is commonly believed.
Maybe progressive AC/DC fans are feeling sympathetic to the band and stealing a page from Raidiohead's pay-what-you-want music scheme it used with the album In Rainbows.
Clearly, however, people like getting their tunes in digital form.
AC/DC has been in the news lately leading the anti-iTunes charge due to the retailers' refusal to sell albums as a whole work instead of the a la carte model customers currently enjoy. AC/DC and other major artists have not suffered a decline in sales due to their anti-iTunes position and have in fact either increased their sales or kept pace with sales projections. AC/DC is not completely anti-digital either; prior to Black Ice, the band had an exclusive deal in the U.S. with the Verizon music store to sell its music as whole albums. Black Ice, however, will only be released in physical form and available in the United States at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, and AC/DC's Website.
Black Ice is AC/DC's first album release in eight years and its debut album with Columbia Records. But is AC/DC prepared for 2008? A lot has changed in online behavior since 2000: iTunes is now the number 1 music retailer in the United States and the music industry is moving more and more to digital downloads and online subscription models. Whether Black Ice's album sales can hold up against illegal file-sharing, consumer preference for digital downloads and the disappearance of brick-and-mortar CD stores remains to be seen.
Interested in previewing AC/DC's Black Ice legally? The band has teamed up with the Times of London to release three songs per day for streaming until October 19. You can find the music at Black Ice Preview.
