A shocking statement made by the well-known artist Sami Yusuf regarding the music album "Without You" released by Awakening Records under his name. Sami Yusuf says: "The tracks they have chosen to release are ‘work in progress’ and are almost entirely based on stolen mp3 demos that are far from complete" pointing out that for that past year, he had been in dispute with Awakening Records mainly because of "lack of transparency" in dealing with him. He says: "I have made strenuous efforts to resolve the accumulated issues that I kept turning a blind eye to, all the while maintaining a measured, polite and dignified means of communication, but to no avail"
Sami Yusuf provided samples to show the difference in the quality between the released versions - which are based on stolen MP3 demos - and the latest version he made (but which stays to be a work in progress)
The version released by Awakening Records of the song "Without You" and the latest demo version made by Sami Yusuf (but still a ‘work in progress’):
Download Here (Right-click, Save Target As..)
Yusuf asked all his loyal supporters to boycott the sale of this album saying that he would not tolerate them being cheated. He says: "I can’t bear the thought of you shelling out your hard earned cash for music pretending to be my finest work, which it certainly isn’t! Equally unbearable is allowing these people who have abused my trust to profit from selling my music in a form that they know full well is incomplete and which, arguably, doesn’t even belong to them"
Yusuf says that he is in the process of completing his album which will be ready in just a few short weeks, saying: "I will make it available at the earliest opportunity, but only when it is completed to my total satisfaction and which represents my musical, lyrical and spiritual hopes and aspirations for us all"
He, out of affection and respect for his supporters, has released the song Palestine Forever and provided it as a free download on his new website: www.samiyusufofficial.com
