[Feelyat]

Originally Posted by AllHandsOnTheBigOne

I don't see why any sort of reverence should be attached to the release date.

Well, some people just don't care about timing, I suppose. And of course it doesn't matter to you -- that was the whole point of my lengthy post.

Originally Posted by AllHandsOnTheBigOne

If the concerns are economic, I can't think of a better way to promote your band than allowing as many people as possible to hear your music.

This is a non-issue. Clearly only hardcore Sonic Youth fans are going to download the leaked copies of their upcoming record. Average Joe Internet doesn't give a shit about "Do You Believe In Rapture?", I'm sure.

Originally Posted by AllHandsOnTheBigOne

If the concerns are artistic, music is music. It's not going to be effected [sic] by packaging or anything like that.

I think a lot of people care about packaging. I think that number is steadily decreasing as the internet gets bigger and bigger, but I do think that a significant number of people are affected in some way by the packaging, by the physical presentation of the music.

And packaging aside, sure, music is music, but a lot can be said of the fidelity of the music. If it's in an inferior format, the music probably isn't going to be effective in the way it was intended. It's like all those people that go to art museums and take digital photos of paintings. You can say an image is an image, but the actual painting is always going to be more intriguing than the digital photo of it.