ONE song leaked online looks like carelessness, but when up to cyberspace, it feels like marketing.
act the Scissor Sisters appeared online.
But in the past fortnight, five new songs have been uploaded onto file sharing sites, while fan sites are claiming that a them down.
It adds up to an audio scrapbook of works in progress, including But should we think we're so lucky? More likely we're just being had, by a cunning cyber age twist on the old record company ruse of manipulating what gets played where.
to play songs, but it might be just as effective.
"She and her record company leaked the tracks deliberately," said music industry analyst Phil Tripp, who runs Australian music consultancy Immedia!
"It's the newest gimmick in the industry, the leaking of tracks. It's the new marketing black.
It's at a time when she needs as much positive press as she can get. Not just her, but everyone in the industry. You need as much exposure as you can get, and you need as much advance publicity as possible.
"
The music blogs agree. "We don't really approve of leaked tracks flying around the web before an album's even been completed," said British music site Pop Justice but, in the case of Kylie Minogue, the constant, relentless barrage of leaked material seems suspiciously intentional.
Minogue's not the only leaky act.
Two songs from the endlessly circulating since late last year.
off recently, when downloads of their CD Year Zero became available.
Minogue's latest leaked demos coincided with her 39th birthday, director Alexander Dahm, reports she denied.
for the demo songs, at the insistence of the record label, and some of the file-sharing sites have blocked the pirate downloads, the online fan base, through forums and blogs.
Kylie impersonator Lucy Holmes, the singer in tribute band 100%Kylie, discovered new tracks Stars, Fool For You sites.
"It's classic Kylie pop," says Holmes.
"She's staying true to her pop roots." Holmes doesn't think the leaks will hurt future sales. "Not many people get to hear them," she says.
"They just get to hear about them. It's just a little entree, a little tease.
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