iTunes Accidentally Flips Björk’s Switch

It hasn’t hit The Answer May Surprise You’s Leak Alert yet, but we’ve received news that Volta, the new album by the exclamation-point-happy Icelandic enigma Björk, has made its way to the Web’s seedier chambers. And it wasn’t even from someone ripping a promo CD eight times! As Shameless Complacency retells the tale:

Yesterday, you might have heard rumors about a Volta leak through UK iTunes, but nothing actually came of it. I wrote it off as a prank, to be honest. But now, rumors are flying around again, and it appears that Volta actually was available on UK iTunes late from Monday night to early Tuesday morning, a full two weeks before it’s [sic!!!] actual release date.

The leak actually sounds pretty crummy, with a few the files skipping thanks to their being flipped from AAC to MP3. We’re pretty sure that Björk’s music needs the higher fidelity to be fully appreciated, but our recent obsession with all things DRM-related is making us wonder if this mix-up–which echoes the Arcade Fire “leak” that happened earlier this year–will be used as major-label leverage to clamp down digital protection on its iTunes-sold files. We can hear the majors’ arguments now: “Think of it as a technological protection against human error!” Not to mention a way to keep the status quo intact, which suits the record biz just fine.

Volta Leaked . . . On iTunes [Shameless Complacency]