Adnan Sami spent the last five years working on his soon-to-release comeback album. The last thing he imagined was discovering that the entire album had leaked online on pirate sites days before its official launch. It’s when people started congratulating me on Twitter about my new release and quoting lyrics from the songs that I realised it had been leaked. We didn’t see it coming. Our planning for the launch went for a complete toss, says a disheartened Adnan Sami, who was expecting to get back into the music scene after a hiatus of almost half a decade.

The album, titled Press Play, features eight songs, all of which were found on several music sharing sites that allow illegal downloads. It’s difficult to pinpoint how it could’ve happened, because the album went into so many hands during the stages of recording, mixing, mastering and digital formatting, adds the singer-multi-instrumentalist.

As a damage-control measure, the album’s music label, Universal, made the tracks available for digital download by Saturday evening, the same day the entire album was leaked out.

The launch event has also now been preponed from January 23 to January 17.  Says Devraj Sanyal, managing director, Universal Music India, “Such a thing has never happened before. But the leak is also an indication of how great and highly anticipated this album is.

 Adnan Sami has delivered hits such as Kabhi toh nazar milao (1999), Lift karade (1999) and Tera chehra (2002) in the past. Many of his songs have been collaborations with Asha Bhosle.
 
His most popular videos have featured film stars. Amitabh Bachchan appeared in Kabhi nahin while Govinda was seen in Lift karade. His Bollywood songs include Salaam-E-Ishq (2006) title song and Noor e khuda (My Name is Khan, 2010).