Streamed

I like to stream albums before they come out.  Gives me a chance to decide whether to spend my hard earned money on the whole thing or just buy a track or two.  Pre-Internet you couldn't do this.  But now you can, and thanks to sites like Npr.org and Spinner.com you can stream ahead of release dates.  Some acts even stream their albums on their websites or Facebook.
Every act should do this.  There should be no hiding from online listeners anymore.  Are artists still afraid that someone is going to leak their album before it comes out.  Forget it.  Someone already has.  That's no excuse to not let us hear it before it hits stores.
Last month, Tom Waits let people listen before his new album was released.  But you had to go to his website, sign up for his email list, and then wait for a code to be emailed to you before you could hear it.
Too complicated?  At first I thought so.  But then I went online looking to hear recent albums by Chris Issak and Shelby Lynne and found nothing.  No advance streams.  And I wondered, why?
Everything should be online ready.  Maybe artists don't do this because they want consumers to risk their cash on something up front.  But music consumers have gotten savvy.  If your an Isaak or Lynne, and you  sell little amount of product, shouldn't you let people know that you have an album out there?  These acts make their money off touring anyway.  Stream, stream, stream.