It’s pretty shitty to leak a known “pay what you want” album early, but it happened anyway. Spor’s much anticipated album Caligo was slated for early release via Bittorrent on March 9th. Earlier this morning, news that it was leaked broke and the album quickly made its way around to various file sharing sites and formats, including Zippyshare, Hulkshare, and Mediafire.
However, the reactions from Jon Gooch and his teams at Bittorrent and Sotto Voce were nothing short of swift and brilliant. In response to the leak, decisions were made to move up the official Bittorrent release to today and begin promotion. In the face of such a “betrayal of trust” from some unknown source, Gooch seems to be taking it rather well.
First listen: Caligo by @spor. Pay what you want to unlock the album. https://t.co/eVVfYvKNBZ pic.twitter.com/1mVghTtmyW
— BitTorrent (@BitTorrent) February 19, 2015
In a reddit AMA that was rescheduled for today, Spor answered questions regarding the leak and his views on D&B as a whole. When asked directly about the leak – “Did you know about it?”, “Was this planned?”, etc. – Gooch gave an extremely detailed and mature answer, stating that it was an expected possibility, and that strategies were put in place in the event of a leak occurring.
I anticipated this happening, no matter how hard I worked to prevent it. As a result, we were fully prepared, and the full release of my album Caligo will launch in about 17 minutes, hence beginning this AMA a little early (also this is getting busy).
It’s important to be pragmatic. In the end, I’m more so flattered that people are interested. I read your sticky and appreciate the angle; essentially it’s the ideal response to the situation. I only wish more people showed that level compassion and emotional intelligence regarding peoples work.
How do I feel? Seeing a good few people saying they were prepared to wait it out, and showing some feeling towards it leaking really is flattering, so a huge thank you to all those people. It’s impossible not to be really attached to something you’ve worked on for so long, I really do appreciate the unity. That said – I’m not one to dwell, and I’ve got the best team and management in the world, as well as BitTorrent fully behind us, so it’s also been humbling watching them all react so quickly.
I’ve listened to the album, and while I personally don’t believe that it will “redefine the nature of current DnB” or anything like that, it’s a stellar collection of tracks that are extremely well-produced and formulated. One track in particular I would like to single out is “Empire,” featuring James Smith of Hadouken! It’s a heavy track with rock-infused vibes reminiscent of The Prodigy or The Qemists.
The Bittorrent bundle, along with the 13 official album tracks, includes 36 others items – several artist sketch pieces and official photos for Tjani, Seventh Stitch, Tinlicker and ZEROS, an official video for “Empire,” and a few extra tracks.
Please consider paying what you can.
