How does an album get leaked before its release date?

They send out early copies to reviewers. I'm sure some are intentionally leaked to generate some publicity.

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Leaks (music, new products, sex tapes) are intentional and just part of marketing. I doubt hardly anything is really "leaked" anymore, it's just a sneaky way of promoting.

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The only instance that I can think of, of something truly being leaked was a Dave Matthews Band album back around 2000 or so. The band had recorded some songs with Steve Lillywhite producing and it was almost complete. But suddenly the band reversed course and decided to abandon that album, hire a different producer and re-record the music. That album was Busted Stuff but the Lillywhite version was leaked to the internet (some say by Lillywhite himself) and became known as The Lillywhite Sessions.