It has become quite clear over the last few years that file sharing has put a whole new spin on the music industry. The Internet has changed the way we think about music. Not only is illegal downloading common, it has been completely accepted into popular society.

We’re all human, and I’m not here to preach that you should refrain from any downloading, or remind you that in most situations the artist doesn’t benefit. We’ve moved way past the point where that would do any good. Instead, let’s go where music sharing has possibly crossed the line: when an album is leaked to fans months before its scheduled debut.

The leak is what the most dedicated fans look for in hundreds of blogs every day for months before their favorite bands’ CD is due to come out. It’s the thing the PR people at the band’s label spend each of those days trying to prevent. Some view it as inevitable; others use it as a marketing tool, but the fact is that leaks greatly hurt the albums sales.

“Leaks can hurt a band before the world has a chance to hear their music. If a certain album is worth searching relentlessly for when you heard a rumor it leaked, it should also be worth buying when it comes.” says Garfield sophomore Cally Shine.

However, not everyone sees it this way.

“Releasing music or a single prior to its release can cause excitement, and inspire a lot of response in the musical industry, with new styles and different genres being mixed and infused over common themes and messages,” says Jade Jones-Hawk, another Garfield sophomore.

In a way, leaks epitomize human nature. For one thing, we’re impatient, and when we want something, we want it now. And secondly, everyone wants to be the first to do something. Whether it be hearing a great new song, downloading a new iPhone application, or buying those new Nike dunks everyone has been talking about, we crave that feeling of originality.

However, if an album can generate enough buzz from its prerelease, then maybe enough other people will want to buy it and be part of the same trend. Radiohead’s 2007 album In Rainbows was released on a pay-what-you-like system to anyone online. We’re not talking one “iTunes free single of the week,” but the entire CD free at the click of a button. Girl Talk very successfully sold their 2008 album Feed the Animals this same way.

There’s a flaw to this system, though: both of these CDs were by known artists and were praised as two of the best albums released in the last few years. What if your music isn’t “Top 10 of 2009” material? Would you pay for a CD you don’t plan to finish listening to? But if it’s free and easy to download, you might as well grab it for your 160 gig iPod.

Luckily, it’s not only the downloaders’ fault. In fact, almost all leaks originate from inside the music industry itself, since it’s nearly impossible for outsiders to get their hands on an album before the release. The only copies sent out go to reviewers and people closely associated with the band. Sometimes these albums aren’t yet completely finished, and in a world so quick to judge, it’s impossible to gain back listeners that heard and rejected an early version of a song.

In the case of Bloc Party’s July 2008 leak, Vice Records label manager Adam Shore says, “the band saw the album as a concept. They recorded almost triple the amount of songs used, and selected how they wanted to tell the story. When the rug got pulled out from under them, they just felt like they didn’t have control over what they were doing anymore.”

In response, record labels are making an effort to crack down on album leaks. Fewer prerelease copies are being circulated, and in some cases, reviewers are asked to come listen to the new music in a studio where all copies can be monitored. Serial numbers can even be inscribed into MP3s now too, so any reviewer that leaks their copy can be tracked and presumably shunned by the industry.

But, the truth is, the entire business has changed, and until the world settles into a new way of retaining music, it’s impossible to say where we’ll go next, or what kind of duct tape might stop the music industry’s leak problem.