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Long before the internet, Bob Dylan's 'Great White Wonder' was the world's first album leak

Long before the internet, Bob Dylan's 'Great White Wonder' was the world's first album leak

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Pitchfork takes a look at Bob Dylan's Great White Wonder, widely regarded as the world's first album leak.

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Bob Dylan (Flickr)
Bob Dylan (Flickr)

In 1969, an illicit pressing of basement demos mixed with some tidbits from other sessions and a live recording from TV became one of the most sought-after albums of the year, and made Bob Dylan one of the most widely bootlegged artists in history. Pitchfork takes a look at how the pressing called Great White Wonder came to be, the reaction from the recording industry, and the lessons we’ve learned about music buyers from the world's first album leak.