Qmusic DJ Domien Verschuuren plays song that would be by Taylor Swift before it’s out,
Qmusic DJ Domien Verschuuren played a song on Thursday afternoon that would be a leaked, unreleased song by Taylor Swift and Post Malone. Fans react with outrage to the action, which would be the world premiere of the song. Friday, April 19 has been circled in the calendars of many music fans and every ‘Swiftie’ for months: the biggest pop star in the world will release her eleventh studio album The tortured poets department. On Thursday, news broke that the album had been leaked prematurely. On social media, a link to an online environment on Google Drive was circulated last day, on which all seventeen songs could be listened to. Whether they are real is not clear.
The album opens with Fortnight, the first single and a collaboration between Swift and rapper Post Malone. The song will be released at midnight, but Domien Verschuuren played the leaked version about eight hours earlier on the main stage of the afternoon show on Qmusic. Fans of Swift react furiously via social media, for example because they had done their best not to listen to the leaked music prematurely and were still served it.
Other fans think it’s disrespectful to Swift and hope that the channel will get a lawsuit. Indeed, it is theoretically illegal to play a song that has not yet been released. But it’s not black and white.
Although artists usually say they are disappointed when their music leaks, it may just be that Swift’s record company is involved, hoping for extra publicity. Then Qmusic’s action is in its interest. It is also different from, for example, leaked photos from a magazine, as once happened with Britt Dekker and Playboy. In such a case, it could lead to fewer magazines being sold, while Swift’s album is bound not to be streamed less because of Domien’s act.
That promotional atmosphere does surround the action a bit. Universal, the Dutch division of Swift’s label Republic, reacts resignedly to the news. Thijs Mantel, deputy head of marketing, says he hasn’t heard the real song yet, doesn’t know what music Qmusic has played and therefore can’t say whether the station really played an unreleased song. According to him, any legal action is up to Republic, Mantel is especially happy that there is so much ‘commotion’ around the record.
It is also possible that the leaked song was created with artificial intelligence and is therefore fake, then the transmitter is probably safe as well. Another mitigating circumstance is when the song is played in the context of news gathering. In other words: when the music illustrates a news event. Then you can also play a small piece, while Qmusic played the whole song. But the channel does throw it at this argument.
“Domien did indeed play a track this afternoon that was circulating all over the internet and what would be Taylor Swift’s new track,” a spokesperson told this site. ‘Today there is a lot of news everywhere that the new album would be online in many places. We paid attention to that news and played one of those tracks that has been going around everywhere.’