Leaking is a large problem in the music industry. A good employment opportunity that interests me is to become part of a cyber security team that protects a musician’s music files. Artists that I enjoy listening to had their music leaked at one point or another. An article I found titled “Leak This”, from Fader magazine, by Ben Dandridge-Lemco shows examples of artists who have had their music put out before the release date, and the basis of how their music was stolen. Many musicians are unsafe from cyberspace and the threats it poses when putting music files onto a system or a program.
Reasons Why Artists Are So Protective of Their Files
Artists are never 100% protected from attacks on their devices. Password attacks, social engineering, and even a crew member going against an artist can make for files becoming stolen. Dandridge-Lemco asserts how leaks mess up the entire music recording process including producers, managers, albums, and the artists. Hackers make money from leaked songs by having people crowdfund money to them in order to release a stolen song or album. These current versions of leaking music, and file stealing can come in many forms. From rock to rap, no genre is safe from people trying to pirate unreleased music. Wiz Khalifa, a hip-hop artist, does not keep his files of music on a cloud storage or on a laptop. He stores them on an external hard drive that is shared between him and another person who keeps it safe while he is away from the studio; this is because he doesn’t want his music to be stolen.
Leaks Before “Our Time”
Methods of being on a network and obtaining an artist’s files were not used. Artists could only release music through putting them on physical copies. Before there were more secure ways of storing music on a hardware or software device, Dandridge-Lemco mentions various instances of leaks that happened before a surge of cybersecurity-based hacks. Physical-based leaks were the go-to before artists had more secure means of keeping their music safe. According to the author, “Before he was indicted by the F.B.I. in 2007, Glover managed to leak some of the biggest albums of the decade, including Eminem’s The Eminem Show, Jay Z’s The Blueprint, Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi, 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and Kanye West’s College Dropout.” This is an example of physical means of obtaining an artist’s music and releasing it before the artist wanted it released. This does not involve any cyber security methods of stealing files, but it’s an example of music being leaked. Artists began putting their music on secure websites and releasing them on Apple Music before releasing them physically. This was better than keeping them on a CD or a hard drive because they had the potential to become lost or stolen. Like previously stated, some current artists keep their music on hard drives, but they make sure that they are safe with them in a studio or on another hired person.
Money Jumpin’ Off The Buildin’
Pirated songs or albums would be taken down on Apple Music but can stay up by users on other streaming sites unless dealt with legally. Dandridge-Lemco warns readers that “If leaks continue at this pace in rap, it would seem obvious to hire cybersecurity personnel to update passwords, encrypt files, and generally keep track of how the most valuable data is being stored.” Like previously stated, many of the artists that I enjoy listening to have had trouble with their music being released before they wanted to. Artists like Playboi Carti, Young Thug, and Lil Uzi Vert have all had some trouble with files and even personal information being leaked to the public. Various songs were put on SoundCloud and other streaming sites because rather than putting them on Apple Music. Being on a team of cyber security professionals that protect an artist’s music would be a great job and a great learning opportunity. Also, a hired team of trusted professionals would solidify protection of an artist’s files.
Now This Looks Like a Job for Me
Early instances of people leaking music do not involve methods of getting into a network that has an artist’s music files. As time went on, ways of obtaining files became more sophisticated. While physical methods of obtaining one’s music are possible, these do not involve someone using an application or a password to get into an artist’s personal credentials. A password crack is a technique that I have learned in one of my cyber security classes. This method of hacking could obtain information leading to files becoming stolen. By means of obtaining on an artist’s personal media extensions, a hacker usually has a password or more. Once that person has a password or code, they can do tasks to find other credentials in the process of possibly leaking files of music. A simple start for being safe is a program that could be downloaded or imported to a device that can see which browser extensions are potentially harmful to a device. This type of technology could help artists with the simple but complex help of a program that mitigates threats on their device while they are on an internet browser. This is only a small patch to a larger problem though. Artists, producers and cyber security professionals should be on the lookout for many other threats that can have the potential to steal files.
The article was very interesting in that it supplied readers with various examples of leaks in the music industry. While a cyber security analyst can only hope to mitigate the threats posed on an artist’s software security, there are various ways of leaking music. Through having physical copies of pre-released songs, or files of songs stored on cloud drives, hackers get crafty when it comes to obtaining files. Dandridge-Lemco talked more about physical and social means of leaking music rather than ways of electronically hacking. As technology is progressing, so are the means of leaking an artist’s music files.
Its incredible that people seem to be getting away with this as much as they are without a bigger reaction to it. I never thought about the lengths artists go to to protct their music. Like keeping a secret harddrive or uploading protective software. I guess its true, trust no one. I didn’t think Wiz Khalifa was so protective, kind of cool that he shares his hard drive with one other person, reminds me of the Coke Cola formula. Are there related theft issues that happened in the era before computer technology? Or was piracy less of an issue then? I think it would be awesome if you used your experience in cyber security to help artists, I can only imagine how upsetting it must be for someone to take that joy away from them. I’m sure if you could help them you would be handsomely rewarded. Good luck!
Interesting article, I really like how you gave older examples of music leaks then showed how the current ones are happening. I learned how serious this can actually be, not only is it terrible for the industry it can be very detrimental to the artist. If their music gets leaked and people can listen for free they could lose money. I think this is a great example of how cybersecurity can affect the music industry and how one mistake can cost so much. Good luck the rest of the way in college!
Leaking is a very important problem to think about, and I don’t think that people talk about it enough. I think that people often see artists as being rich and powerful, and therefore, nothing bad can happen to them. However, their work gets stolen all the time and its very unfortunate.
From your blog, I learned that pirated songs or albums that are leaked onto Apple Music can be taken down, but if they are put on other streaming platforms, they can stay up unless legal action is taken. This makes me feel sad for artists that experience this. I can’t imagine what it would feel like for someone to leak your work, and then have your work on the internet for everyone to listen to until the matter is resolved legally.
Although it’s not quite the same situation, I thought of Taylor Swift when reading your blog. Taylor Swift recently lost ownership of her first five albums to her old record label. When a song is leaked, the artist loses control of a project that they worked so hard on. Taylor’s story reminded me of your blog because she lost control of years of work.
After reading your blog, it is evident that this is a topic that you really care about. You mentioned that you want to be part of a cyber security team that helps to protect musician’s music files. This will be an amazing career for you, and you will be able to help a lot of people.
This blog was very interesting and taught me how easy it is for Artist to lose their own music. I myself am a musician, and I find is fascinating that musicians don’t place the top protection on their own music. I never stopped to think of the process that happens for the artist when music gets leaked. I hope you can be apart of the cyber security team strictly for musicians in the future.
This is a very interesting well thought out article. I enjoyed hearing about the older examples used and how it was related to the same type of problems that happen now. It is crazy how people do these leaks and get away with it because they can hurt musicians careers and they lose on on money. It is interesting about Wiz Khalifa and he is very smart for doing what he does to protect his music. Good luck with school and finish out the semester strong!