Always at the center of one story or another, Britney Spears is hitting out against the possibility of her new album, Blackout, doing the rounds on Ares P2P filesharing services before its official release date.
Originally slated to hit stores November 13, Britney’s record label, Jive, pushed the release forward a full two weeks because snippets and demos of the album had begun popping up on numerous filesharing sites.
Jive authorized MTV’s preview site, The Leak, to stream the new album in its entirety. Jive has also filed a lawsuit against gossip-mongerer Perez Hilton who presented unfinished material on his blog as if it were the finished Britney album.
Although Britney’s album is protected on The Leak, there is some doubt as to whether the move will help record sales. Furthermore, when albums hit the filesharing sites before they’re supposed to, the release dates are usually pushed back. Jive have made a bold move to beat Internet users who would otherwise have downloaded the album for free.
The world waits for what could be one of the biggest albums of the year. The hype has already begun.