On leaks

So the new Morrissey album Years of Refusal was leaked on Morrissey-solo. More on that album later after I listen to it a few times. But it provides me with the perfect excuse to write about leaks. I've been thinking about leaks for some time. Spin magazine had a great feature in the August 2007 called "Days of the Leak". It pinpointed the various stages at which a musical work could be leaked to the internet, AKA the public. One obvious stage is the journalist. (More about that article here.) (Not yet up on the Digital Spin archives.)

One thing that pisses me off is lack of ethics in journalism. Usually that's not such a huge deal in music journalism EXCEPT when it comes to the leak. There is a major rift between journalists and musicians, lack of trust. Maybe that's a bit hyperbolic. Well, maybe if journalists weren't such assholes and uploaded albums on the internet, things would be a little bit better.

Allow me to publicly state that if I ever receive advance copies of anything for the purpose of reviewing, I will never leak it. Because that's a dick move. And as Wil Wheaton says, "Don't be a dick."

Query: Is it hypocritical to participate in a leak when one pledges to never leak something oneself?