I don't know if it's Mr. Carter's connections with the current president of the United States, but the digital security surrounding the release of their ASTRONOMICALLY ANTICIPATED release for Watch the Throne was on some Secret Service type levels.

You've probably heard the entire album at this point, maybe even several times. Pre-release sales have made Watch the Throne platinum already, but there has been some very interesting social/economical dynamics behind it. This album is the FIRST in about TEN YEARS that has not been "leaked" by hackers, industry insiders, or eager fans.

Kanye West and Jay-Z, are more infamously known for having their music leaked, distributed, and sold illegally MONTHS before official label releases. Although both artists respectively still achieve platinum level sales on all individual projects to date, one wonders how many true sales they would have acquired had they been around a different digital climate.

All artists involved in the WTT project were sworn to secrecy up until the official press release of the duo's new artistic endeavour.  From the jump, many industry insiders, and international music aficionados knew the marketing approach for The Throne would differ from that of ANY other album released to date, but never did we think that they would ACTUALLY get away with a "leak free" studio album.

Jay-Z has taken many attempts to protecting the premature releases of his audible artwork. He has even spoken publicly in his NY Times best selling book Decoded about the stabbing of producer Lance "Un" Rivera (circa 1999) after Rivera allegedly leaked a full studio version of Jay's Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter. The pain associated with having his life work not presented in the manner he originally intended, has haunted Jay for the majority of his musical career. The true question is, how after 11 studio albums, 46 singles, and 5 collaborative endeavours was Sean Carter, and Kanye West able to do what MANY have failed to do in the past?

Live Collaboration:
In our current landscape, many artists collaborate digitally, sending accapella files or reference tracks through secured emails. Jay and Kanye were insistent on working together live at secured private compounds throughout England, Australia, Paris, New York and Los Angeles. This not only kept their music exclusive, it made for a never seen before artistic synergy between the two poetic storytellers.

Private Listening Party for Media Heavyweights
Most music writers (myself included) are MAJOR fans first. One of the reasons we love leaks is because we get a sneak peak of music that is not accessible to the general public. Contrary to popular belief, most writers are not millionaires; and with that being said, we truly thrive on getting exclusive access. That all-access interview you've been working MONTHS to get, or that break to an unknown artist that is off the radar is what fuels our literary jets.  Most music writers I know keep their all access badges as if we had just came from an epic battle, telling stories of yesteryear and the "good 'ol days".

Jay and Kanye were smart enough to know that granting that exclusive access and allowing for a listening party would help quench the insatiable thirst of many writers and journalists. On top of that, allowing writers access to snippets and creative freedom to write reviews, really puts the "bad guys" in your corner.

Staggered Release Dates
One of the major changes to the release of Watch the Throne can be seen through it's distribution deal. Today (Monday), WTT was released exclusively on iTunes at midnight in standard and deluxe forms, and will be released in stores Aug. 12. The deluxe hardcopy is exclusive to Best Buy for a limited time.

Although independent retailers are enthralled by this executive decision to stagger distribution and work independent distribution with major retailers, it was a smart decision on their part. Giving iTunes exclusive digital access and pre-sale rights allows for all the tech-savvy hackers to patiently wait until the digital release goes "live".

Thoughts:
Although this is not a "true"  leak-less digital release (the blogisphere went bonkers at midnight, pretty much posting it EVERYWHERE), it is definitely a win in the artist column. Do I think many artists will try to copy this imprint? Yes. Do I think many artist will fail in this attempt? Yes.  What set Kanye and Mr. Carter apart is their commitment, money, and power in the music industry to garner this type of security.

One dynamic that will be interesting however, is to see how The Throne Effect will change future studio endeavours. Has the label/artist won? Possibly; but the internet vs label fight is definitely a long battle. Who will be victorious? I guess only time will tell.

PURCHASE : Jay Z & Kanye West -  Watch The Throne (Deluxe Eddition)

Deez Update: I came across a pretty cool piece on Hip Hop Update touching on more reasons for this intriguing non-leak process.