The days coming up to releasing my debut album are fast falling away from me you know...and it makes me think about the whole life cycle of music, and how people consume music.

The whole downloading music has always been a grey area....of course it goes on, of course people share music within their circles. And I'd be stupid if I didn't say that I didn't think about how it may affect my release...it does play on my mind.

I've got friends that have downloaded music illegally - it never seemed important because I wasn't part of the business - I was just like everybody else and I didn't truthfully understand all the hard work that went into it. I guess the attitude was, if it's free then it's there for the taking.

Now that I'm head over heels, ploughed feet first into the whole industry then it kinda makes you think about it from a different angle. When you understand about the money and time invested into it, the hard work that goes into touring, paying for studio time, travelling around the country - wow, all I'm gonna say is that it don't come cheap!

I'm not scared about my album leaking... you know I'm not gonna be a flash in the pan artist, I've gotta hundred more of those records in me - this isn't gonna be my only shot. I've been working on my music for 10 years, and I'm not saying music should be disposable but I have so much more to give. I do really feel like free music is a gift and curse - you know, Passout was passed around that way, it was originally put out as a street track.

And then people started talking, people passed the links on and boom - it all kicked off and turned out to be probably the defining moment in my career so far. So in the same breath - in the right way free music can be amazing and can help artist development.

You know free music can sometimes keep people talking and keep the chatter up - it can be a buzz and go full circle and then people support!

Although I guess there are those situations when artists take it into their own hands and randomly give away music without telling their label, their team and then it kinda screws up the whole marketing plan. Sometimes that can backfire.

So you best watch out Mr Cowell, make sure I don't have one wild night in the studio and decide to give away album number two for free! Can you imagine the telling off!?

I guess the moral to this story is repsect the artist and respect the amount of time, effort and creativity they have put into their music - sometimes its not even about the money - it's the price you put on the blood, sweat and tears they have put into that record!

Until next time...See ya, Lab x

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