DanM Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Sorry if it's AP, I haven't seen it. Longtime manager Guy Oseary spoke to Billboard just days after successfully launching Madonna's new album... four-and-a-half months ahead of schedule. Madonna's surprise pre-release of six songs from her upcoming album Rebel Heart on Dec. 20 was a hard-fought victory: the result of two sleepless nights to combat the widespread leaks of more than a dozen unfinished demos just three days prior. And it almost didn't happen. "We didn't know until Friday night [December 19], 11:30 [Eastern] and 8:30 [Pacific] that it would even work," Guy Oseary, Madonna's longtime manager, said in a phone interview on Dec. 23. "There was a chance that technically it was not possible because it was so last-minute. Normally it wouldn't be the end of the world, but because iTunes was shutting down [for the holiday] we were told that it would either go live at 11:30 East Coast time or January 5. We didn't know -- she was saying her prayers, we were all just hoping." The result? Pre-orders for the March 10, 2015 album topped the iTunes charts in more than 36 countries, with three of the album's six finished songs entering this week's Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Lead single "Living For Love" was serviced to U.S. radio stations on Dec. 22 by Madonna's label Interscope, with a bigger push coming in January. An official music video will be filmed next month as well, with a planned release for the "first week of February," as Oseary revealed in a separate Twitter Q&A on Dec. 27. But Madonna & co. aren't coming up for air just yet. Just hours after Oseary spoke with Billboard on Dec. 23, 14 more tracks from the Rebel Heartsessions leaked, including the alleged Lady Gaga diss track "Two Steps Behind Me" (which Oseary has already denied is about Gaga or "anyone in particular"). Below is an excerpt of Billboard's conversation with Oseary last Tuesday (Dec. 23), including a detailed account of how Madonna and her team sprang into action to respond to the leaks. "If people knew what had to happen from Wednesday to get it it up for Friday, it was a circus show." It's been six days since the leaks started spreading. Have you slept yet? Last night I got some sleep. This ride was crazy. And what a crazy year. It's been big. So what happened, exactly? I mean look, our music was stolen. And now it's an ongoing investigation, so we're taking it very, very seriously. Two songs came out a few weeks ago, and we were able to contain it. We did what we could to contain it. It's hard to contain a leak online. And then it was Tuesday, last Tuesday -- it feels like a year ago -- but it was last Tuesday when I started seeing messages going a lot of the songs are leaking. [We were] trying to pull down as many leaks as we could, and then it got to Wednesday morning it was just unstoppable. It was all out there. You could not seal this leak. So, Madonna was pretty adamant that we should go immediately, that we should put out as much of the finished music as we could. And there was a lot of talk about the many reasons why it didn't make sense – there was just a lot of chatter of having to hurry and all of the many, many reasons why it made no sense. But she was adamant that she didn't want people to think those were the finished tracks. And she was devastated -- I mean, devastated and sickened that someone would do this to her and not allow her the chance to share the finished product with people. We were thinking about going with "Living For Love," as you saw, as a Valentine's Day song, and the album at the end of April. We're talking all of April, so that's four-and-a-half months early. You always hear about one week early, two weeks early... but this is crazy. So, [interscope vice chairman] Steve Berman was really helpful, and he also knew all the many reasons why it may not make sense to do it. But he supported Madonna to do it and rallied all the troops together to pull this off. And then Robert Kondrk at Apple really helped us push this through. When did you know you were good to go with the iTunes upload? We didn't know until Friday night, 11:30 her time and 8:30 my time, that it would even work. There was a chance that technically it was not possible because it was so last-minute. Normally it would be the end of the world, but because iTunes was shutting down we were told that it would either go live at 11:30 East Coast time or January 5. We didn't know, so we get this phone call at 8:30 at night saying, "we are good." She was saying her prayers, we were all just hoping. When I got the message that [the release was working], it started happening slowly and surely. Then it finally rolled out around the world, and it took a full day, until Sunday, for the album to register. On Saturday, six songs were in the top 10 almost in every country around the world. On Sunday, when the album finally registered, it was number one in almost every country, along with the six songs. It was an exciting ride. We all wish the hacking or stealing of the music never happened, but we're really grateful that everyone wanted the music to be heard. If people knew what had to happen from Wednesday to get it it up for Friday, it was a circus show. Now that you've pulled off this feat, and moved up the album timeline by nearly two months, what's next? We have a video shoot at some point, things to go do, now we've gotta figure it out what happens next. She really wants to support this, and wants to make sure that -- because it was so far out, we have to regroup. She did one or two interviews... there was no time to explain. I've learned a lot over the last few years, and it was important that the few songs we did release be understood because it was so rushed. How is this being handled legally? Do you have any idea of the source? We're talking about a criminal. It was photos, videos, anything that feels like it shouldn't be out there. She was posting them [on Instagram] saying, "Hey, I'm seeing this for the first time. Nice, thanks a lot." You know, this is new days, we've learned a lot, we understand where the holes were. And we're doing all of it. It's real. It's real stuff. A lot of pain, you know, seeing a lot of your private work just being thrown out there to the universe because someone can steal it and do that. Was this a case of a fan feeling like they were "gifting" this unreleased material? They weren't gifting people. I don't want to get too into it, but it will all be revealed at some point. http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6422319/guy-oseary-circus-show-madonnas-rebel-heart-release?utm_source=twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanM Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 As much as I feel sorry about the leak and the rush-release of the 6 songs (which are not properly mixed/mastered in my opinion), I don't know what were they thinking with the late April release date. Anyway, they could still go with that date, I don't see the need to change it to March if she feels like she won't be ready by then, or if she can be ready, why did she want to release it in April anyway? If April means better quality, then I guess we can all wait until then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TearsInHeaven Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Interesting read, thanks for posting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boy skeffington Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 All super relevant and important info... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip The Switch Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 As much as I feel sorry about the leak and the rush-release of the 6 songs (which are not properly mixed/mastered in my opinion), I don't know what were they thinking with the late April release date. Anyway, they could still go with that date, I don't see the need to change it to March if she feels like she won't be ready by then, or if she can be ready, why did she want to release it in April anyway? If April means better quality, then I guess we can all wait until then. I totally agree with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 So if even the 6 tracks available with the album were "rushed", does it mean they could still be perfecting them? wouldn't make sense, right? cause there's people who already paid for it individually if they wanted it, so wouldn't be fair if they paid for a product that would get "perfected" when the album comes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip The Switch Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 So if even the 6 tracks available with the album were "rushed", does it mean they could still be perfecting them? wouldn't make sense, right? cause there's people who already paid for it individually if they wanted it, so wouldn't be fair if they paid for a product that would get "perfected" when the album comes. I was thinking the same. Especially the outros of some of the songs sounds like there were cut-off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaything Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Lol at him saying 'our music' was stolen. Take a seat, Guy. Interesting read, though. A few months ago, when all those track titles were floating around and we got the strange descriptions from some 'fan' sites, I thought "damn, I'd love to hear the tracks". Here we are now, with 30 demos available all over the internet and even though I listened to them, I still feel bad...and very sorry for M that she only just realized what is happening for many many years with her music and pictures. Maybe this wake up call was needed and I really, truly hope that we don't get any kind of snippet, demo or preview for album #14. I just hope she doesn't lose interest or joy in creating more music in future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rachelle of London Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I am not sure what to make of all this. I cannot believe so much as leaked early. You'd think they'd learned their lesson with "GMAYL" back in 2011. Anyway, it was probably smart to get the ability to pre-order the album out there. At least people are kind of locked in for a sale. If it was originally intended for late April, I am assuming a tour wouldn't even start until summer or early fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apples388 Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Another day, another clueless interview from Guy Oseary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phineaspoe Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Another day, another clueless interview from Guy Oseary. Lol, I've been trying to reply to this for ten minutes but can't even make sense of what he is saying. He wanted to focus on containing the leaks and not releasing the music. He was not pushing for an earlier release date. They had no contingency plan even though the demos have been circulating for many months, and the first two became widely available not in mid December but in mid November. By his own account, the single was always going to be released in Feb but he makes it sounds like the video recording is being rushed. And also, there is the little detail of the album artwork having been shot in November/December... For an end of April release? Not that I don't believe him, but I truly just don't get what their timelines were. And I can only imagine what's going on behind the scenes with the tour announcement... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckeye Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 my opinion: they were waiting until april because she had to write/record some new tracks because they knew she was hacked. sounds like they know who and their is a major investigation going on as we type and they cant say because of it. so we'll find out soon enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonski43 Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I think they're serious about their investigations as another very well known M site was taken down today. However, it is Staggering that he's talking like this is new. I wish someone would ask if he knew about the leaks for the last FOURTEEN YEARS, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerGirl Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Which site did they take down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crozzauk Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I do find it bizarre that they were so unaware these leaks were coming. The press were reporting info on these songs months ago, and that must have raised an alarm. I definitely think that they knew a hack had happened months back (was that the "bad" thing that was referred to along with all the demo information?), and wanted to try and nullify the damage and threat of a leak by recording more music and altering the course of the record. These are all demos - they sound quite rough in parts, and i wouldn't be surprised if we only see a few brand new, unheard of tracks, and the rest are a selection of these demos, but worked on and polished up. Hopefully thats the job Blood Diamond was brought in to do. Also his last line about it "all being revealed at some point" is very dramatic - certainly gonna have the conspiracy theorists clamouring for more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanM Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 I was thinking the same. Especially the outros of some of the songs sounds like there were cut-off. I was pretty sure MNEK will be featured on the album version of LFL. If not on the vocals then as a producer, but he is obviously not, which makes me think the released version is not the one that was supposed to be the end-product. The current version also omits the "Lord-lord lift me" part, which I totally love in the demo version. I hope when they relaunch the single, they will send out a different version/the music video will feature a longer version. Remixes are usually not recorded months before the single is released, especially since she most likely hasn't decided about the first single when she collaborated with MNEK in July. It's just a bit strange to me that MNEK made only a remix considering the way he was talking about the track in his interviews. Also in the Billboard interview M was quite strange about the whole situation - she referred to it as "the version that can be heard now", etc. Well, who knows, I guess we are going to find out soon enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 okay, I don't hate Guy Oseary, and this isn't a hate post... It has always irked me that he always says "we" but saying "our music was stolen" just gets under my skin. It's HER music, and if SHE was adamant to get it out earlier as damage control, it's his job to manage that (which he did) so I don't understand the frantic, whiny tone of that interview. I get it, they had to scramble. I don't envy being in his situation, but his whole career owes a lot to Madonna's trust and support to go into "mogul" status. He doesn't sound very clear about what he's actually talking about. Those long winded quotes didn't really reveal anything. As I've said over and over and over, he's a great business manager; making deals, endorsements, etc. but he comes across as clueless when it comes to creative endeavors. I'm glad he talks to us fans, and I appreciate that candor at shows and on Twitter, etc. and to get that insight is nice, but hes not very....professional in the way he talks in interviews. His Billboard interview announcing the Maverick Management thing was just as vague. I know he does a lot, and I know he knows a lot, but sometimes it just seems like he should utilize Liz R a bit more. She says so much in as few words as possible. Lol. Does it sound completely off point to say that Madonna could be collateral damage with all of this? We all know that she's a valuable commodity on the black market, but who does her security really come down to? She's the talent, that's why she has a management team and a staff of people to take care of that shit! And just to be cheeky, there's a part of me that wonders if he says "our free album on iTunes" when he's referring to U2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I don't want to get too into it, but it will all be revealed at some point. I look forward to that, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bretticus Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 The "single version" of Living for Love could feature MNEK and be slightly remixed, which will mean more people will buy it when it is "officially" released in February or whenever. They should also have had a few lyric videos prepared for BIM and LFL to keep it chugging along until March... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lights Above Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I look forward to that, Don't hold your breath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mensch Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Yeah I want cool lyric videos for songs. I have a wierd feeling living for love is going to be remixes a la Celebration for the video... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drunkbysix Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 But I hear MNEK on the released version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Gold Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Which site did they take down? MChile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 But I hear MNEK on the released version.She confirmed it's not him :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddlyEven Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 This got me to thinking, what if none of those songs appear on the album? And now she's rushing through new stuff and half-assing it again and it all turns to crap. This could end up being horrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mensch Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 This got me to thinking, what if none of those songs appear on the album? And now she's rushing through new stuff and half-assing it again and it all turns to crap. This could end up being horrible. No way. They are now back to schedule and more relaxed. The past two weeks were a nightmare for them but now thy are back on track. January the balls starts rolling again...probably at a higher pace than initially planned (since it was set for an April release and now it's been pushed up). I think with a 19 song number, they have an idea of which songs are going to make the album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDK Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 (edited) This got me to thinking, what if none of those songs appear on the album? And now she's rushing through new stuff and half-assing it again and it all turns to crap. This could end up being horrible. she won't cuz she already released some of the tracks that were leaked. they'll be polished like devil pray as well as some new songs she's done since the hacking like ghost town. I have faith even with the hacks theres still much to look forward to. the 6 released tracks give me a lot of hope in this project still. I didn't know how they could make devil pray better than that demo & the album version is just FLAWLESS & NEXT LEVEL SHIT **sorry its late & my editing is a mess... Edited December 30, 2014 by PRDK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apples388 Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I look forward to that, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andra Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Was this a case of a fan feeling like they were "gifting" this unreleased material? They weren't gifting people. I don't want to get too into it. Anyone else thinks he sounds like they know who did this and now it's just a matter of having enough proof? I guess the late April release means Madonna wanted to have a summer album....I bet we would've gotten a kick ass Unapologetic Bitch summer video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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