"Extraordinary Machine" Leakage

I've had a love-hate relationship with Fiona Apple (warning: site neglect) for years. Well, until about a year ago, it was pretty much all hate. She struck me as a talented but petulant brat whose singing did nothing for me, but whose bathtub writhing I found quite appealing.

Then, about a year ago, thanks to mix CDs from Sid and Jen, I finally started listening closer. I've always been a big fan of her producer Jon Brion and his distinctive sound, and these days I find it amazing he and Jason Falkner were in The Grays together.

A few months ago I started hearing about Extraordinary Machine, the album Fiona Apple recorded in 2003 and which was shelved by Epic Records for lack of a hit single. Epic pulled a Wilco on her. The title track - a lilting tune that sounds like it should have been in a Disney movie -  and "Better Version of Me" showed up on some music blogs, and they are both strong. The buzz kept building, and Web sites like FreeFiona.com have been running petitions for the album's proper release.

The entire album has now been leaked, and from what I can tell, it's a winner. The new tracks reflect a maturity in both vocals and songwriting. For your ID3 tagging enjoyment, here are some album covers to use, most of em are lame, but I like the one with the apple peeler.

Look, this album definitely has an audience. There are people out there who actually made it through most of "I Heart Huckabees" just to hear the score. I don't see why Epic doesn't just throw the album up on iTunes and make some money on their investment.

It's part - and just a small part - of what's wrong with the music industry. Here's an artist who's growing and developing, and has a loyal audience that wants to buy her product, but can't, because the album doesn't sound like all the other crap that's out there. How can Fiona, Jon, and whoever else deserves it make some money from this debacle?