I think I like the White Stripes about as much as Imaginary Liz (even if we disagree on *Get Behind Me Satan*). The band is playing two shows in September at the Paramount and I will be at both of them. I love the White Stripes mucho.

Yet... I wish Jack White would start acting like an adult one of these days. Leaks happen. Deal with it. He threw a similar tantrum when *Elephant* was leaked to file-sharing services. When the singer of another band questioned how much work he actually did in producing a record, White beat the shit out of him. He even got pissed off at the journalists who found out the he and Meg were not actually siblings by looking at public documents.

So. The people who heard first-hand how great the new White Stripes record then heard a conversation of what a dick Jack White is.

I think that Jack is totally in line here... where do these radio DJs get off playing the record in its entirety on the radio before the release date. These folks are the mailing list to get records before release date with the caveat that they won't play/distribute it before the release date. They are on this mailing list so that they can get familiar with the album ahead of time - so they are prepared when it is released. It is a privilege - not a right. Sure there's drugs and hookers in the music industry, but that doesn't mean that there's no expectation of common courtesy.

To step over that rule of common courtesy is rude and they should be held accountable... which means they should expect that someone is going to call them on it and chew them out.

And that guy he punched totally had it coming to him. That's what happens when you pick a fight with someone... sometimes they punch back.

Usually all that ends up happening in this situations is the station would get a "cease & desist" letter from the label lawyers if they're playing the album before the radio release date. Of course, it looks like good ol' Jack took it in his own hands. The problem here is (a) if the audio quality sucked, then it compromises the artists' vision for the album and could end up giving people a bad impression of the album; (b) if any sweet deals had been brokered with other stations for playing songs/album early for shows and such (yay, slimy radio!), then those are put in jeopardy, or at least makes everyone pissed and (c) it just promotes more stations to try to get a pirated/leaked copy to catch up with the station that played the leak - becoming a nasty vicious cycle. Heck, when I was at WFNX, we played a leaked copy of "Bounce" by Snoop Dogg & Rage Against the Machine that I don't think ever got released for real and after a few days of playing it, we got a healthy "cease & desist" for that one. Anyone, 95% of all commercial radio DJs are a**%^oles and ego-centric maniacs (why on Earth would you take the call in the studio, with chumps like Sherman and Tingle?) Obviously, they wanted it to become a publicity fiasco in the first place - White Stripes lovefest or not. And trust me, I'm sure she wasn't "about to cry" because if a rock star chewing you out makes you feel like crying then so-called "Queen of Snark", you're in the wrong business.

I lost most of my respect for Jack White when he was touring with the Raconteurs. Someone had asked him/the band if they were going to be playing any new songs while touring and he told them no because if they play new songs they'll end up on line and that would be like giving records away for free or something along those lines. I understand protecting your artistic intgrity but I have issues when you hide behind that in order to ensure a consistent cash flow.
Should they play a poor quality leaked copy on the air, proabably not, but given past history with Mr. White was that the reason he was angry or was it just the fact that somebody got a free copy of his new record and dared to play it? Get over it Jack.

Music is a tricky thing because it's so easy to copy/distribute/re-record. So I propose this question: What if this happened in other industries? What if a book reviewer got a pre-released copy of a highly-anticipated novel, took it to Kinko's, copied every page, then distributed it to thousands of people? What if that author was you? Would you be pissed? I sure as hell would. What about a movie screening for journalists? If someone took a video camera, taped the whole thing, then gave it away, wouldn't the director be pissed? How about a painting. What if someone took a photo, copied it thousands of times and gave it away for free? What if you were the artist? I think it's easy to get mad at musicians for being greedy/neurotic, but if you put yourself in their place, you'd be pissed too.

I agree with Cal. Plus, that Von Bondies dude totally deserved a punchin' just for having a sucky band.

Those photos of the Von Bondies dude all swollen and bloody are etched in my mind (and still make me giggle).