Pitchfork

Maybe you heard that the music industry experienced something like a 5% drop in total sales last year. Why could that be? Mos Def might have some answers for you, because the 11,004 copies the Brooklyn MC's most recent album sold in its first week are being called a limited-edition "pre-release" due to an enormous label screw-up, according to MTV News.

Geffen Records released True Magic-- which was, admittedly, kind of crap-- on December 29, a Friday, which is pretty much unheard of (Tuesday is the standard release day). And since it was put out at the very end of last year-- after holiday shopping was long over and music nerds were too busy reading year-end lists to realize there was still music coming out in 2006-- True Magic was guaranteed to get buried, and it did.

This would have been just another case of a bad album (the last in the MC's contractual obligation) being recognized as such by the label if Mos Def hadn't met with Geffen and decided that, actually, they did want to promote the record and have people buy it. So, with plans to re-release the album in the spring with a different tracklist, Geffen recalled True Magic, even though it had already been shipped to stores. Since retailers are at their own discretion in the case of an already-shipped recall, 11,000 people bought an album that was rushed out because of an early December leak in the first place. Way to build trust and combat piracy, Geffen!

What's worse is that the label got away with it. Not only do 11,000 people own a record that would only be valuable to Mos' mom and the creepiest of fanboys-and-girls, but the updated version of True Magic with full artwork (anything is better than this) will count as a new release, new first week sales figures and all. And don't forget that single "Undeniable" was nominated for a "Best Rap Solo Performance" Grammy. Except for the disgruntled fans (and the fact that you can still purchase the album online and in stores), it's as if the old version never existed. Fortunately for Geffen, no one there cared about Mos Def's fans in the first place.