Leaks of songs that will be released in the future - bad
Leaks of material that would be otherwise unreleased - good, especially if the material is finished but was eventually abandoned. However it still disrespects the artist.
When it's really early then yeah it's bad. However a few days from the release date doesn't do much damage, as the people who were gonna buy the album still will and those who never intended to won't regardless of a leak.
Although if the album is sh*t people might cancel their pre-order like I've done a few times.
I don't like early leaks tbh, and I don't use "leaks" (as in someone getting their CD copy early and uploading it, so not reeeeally a leak) for my faves when it's close to release date. But they can surely help an album sell to gain some hype if it's some weeks before release, but when it leaks months early I don't think it's good
