Scarlett Johansson: Firmly under major label control

Last week, a pair of tunes from Scarlett Johansson's debut, "Anywhere I Lay My Head," found their way onto the Web. With the acclaimed actress tackling the songs of Tom Waits, singing with David Bowie, and working with a host of underground rock luminaries (TV On the Radio's Dave Sitek and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner, among others), there was, understandably, quite a bit of interest in the songs.

But within hours of the title track and "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" leaking, the songs were removed from any blog that hosted them. Yet with the May 20 release of her album, due on Warner Bros.-owned label Atco/Rhino, it seemed like high time to get the music out to the public. The sudden Web removal of the tracks seemed a bit puzzling. Warner Bros., after all, was the first major label to strike a licensing agreement with streaming site Imeem, and there is a seeming newfound attitude among labels to get music into the hands of fans as quickly as possible (see Gnarls Barkley, the Raconteurs).

When contacted, a label rep for Johansson did not comment on why the two tracks were asked to be taken down, but did note that a new and different Johansson song would be made available the following week. And voila, it has, as "Falling Down" featuring David Bowie has landed as an exclusive on AOL's Spinner site. Consider it proof that even in 2008, the Web can't totally derail a major label marketing campaign.

But the Web can certainly make one even more frustrating for all parties. Check the VH1 site for Madonna's "Hard Candy," which at one point offered brief snippets of every song on the album. Perhaps everyone soon came to their senses and realized that a full track or two would be a better tactic. I'm betting more fans than not are comfortable making their purchase judgments based on 30-second clips available on iTunes or Amazon, so why let them make that decision two weeks before the April 29 release?

As for Scarlett's "Falling Down," expect a more link-friendly version of the song to be available in the next day or two. It's an icier first single than expected, which Johansson offering a surprisingly still delivery around a deliberately slow swirl of spacey effects and heavily layered instrumentation.

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