Press Leak Screws Vagrant, Thrice
Posted by Dan Rodriguez on Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Vagrant fell victim today to some douchey pirate/hacker who took advantage of the press stream of Thrice’s upcoming Beggars and leaked it for all the world.
Vagrant Records here. We don’t normally chime in on message boards like this, but we see a lot of back and forth about the Thrice piracy issue and feel we should let people know our position: We see a lot of posts basically blaming us for this leak. Vagrant has been using that same player for almost three years and this has never been an issue. In this case, someone clearly and unfortunately went out of their way to try and hack into our system. The link got into the wrong hands and someone took the time to figure out how to get around the password and user log in. Obviously there are people out there we thought we could trust with that information, but instead have proven to be dishonest.
Vagrant is currently speaking to Thrice’s management and the band about the best methods for the album release and how we’re going to proceed. When there is more to tell on that front, Vagrant will get the word out through all available media outlets.
The band is honored to have such true, loyal supporters, and your responsibility in this matter is greatly appreciated. All we can do at this point is appeal to the fans good graces and ask they avoid permeating an already tough situation.
We sincerely thank you for your support!
- Vagrant Records
Well thanks, you leaker a-hole. I didn’t even know there was a stream, and now they’ve taken it down until they can fix the security hole, so I can’t hear this highly anticipated album. I called The Pirate Bay to see if they had it, but they started rambling about donating my hard drive space.
The people at Vagrant are fine folks, so I’m sure they know what they’re doing, but I feel like if you want to keep a lid on an album leak, the last thing you should do is make a formal statement addressing it. With the record scheduled for October 13, no doubt the discussion between label and management is about moving the release up to a closer date before everyone’s had a chance to hear the album and move on.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 AM
It is douchery in the extreme for any member of the press to leak a record, or put the link and/or login in the hands of someone who is intent on finding security holes. But this might not be such a huge deal so long as the record is good — I haven’t heard it, so I can’t weigh in on that, but I dig Thrice. I think the only time a leak really hurts a band is if the record sucks.
Maybe this is a good opportunity for them to figure out additional material they can include on the commercial release, special schmancy packaging, and/or add in a string of shows for the people who buy the record in October.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:53 AM
I agree with you if a leak happens a few weeks or a month before release. But three weeks out, eesh. Even if it’s a great record, even the super fans will be bored with it by the time it releases.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:18 PM
Fans getting tired of the album before it’s even out is definitely a risk, and it absolutely sucks that the leak happened this far in advance. Just hoping that Thrice and Vagrant are able to turn it into something positive/creative.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:12 PM
I’m looking forward to this album. I’ve always liked Thrice.
July 25th, 2009 at 10:09 PM
This is getting tiring hiding from Vagrant.. somebody let me know when the dogs go home.