Britney Spears album gets early release after leaks

Britney Spears will release her new album later this month, two weeks earlier than planned, because some recordings have already been leaked online, her label said on Wednesday.

"Blackout," Spears' first album of new material in four years, will reach stores on October 30 in the United States, and a day earlier internationally, Jive Records said.

The album comes out as the tarnished pop princess, who was the world's top-selling female artist in the early 2000s, undergoes an extraordinary degree of media scrutiny amid an unending litany of legal and personal woes.

She can now add music piracy to that lengthy list.

Jive said album tracks, unfinished material and demos have found their way into cyberspace.

A statement quoted an unidentified label official as saying: "Due to these numerous unauthorized online leaks, the label is doing everything possible to prevent and avoid any further illegal distribution of songs, including moving up the release date of the album to October 30th."

"Blackout" was originally scheduled for U.S. release on November 13, and a day earlier internationally.

Spears, 25, has already released one single from the album, "Gimme More," which soared to No. 1. on the digital songs charts earlier this month, posting 179,000 U.S. downloads during its first week.

It also hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart which is based on radio airplay, downloads and Internet streaming -- her highest ranking there since her debut single, "Baby One More Time" peaked at No. 1 in 1999.

Her last album, "In the Zone," opened at No. 1 in the United States, but sales ultimately paled against those for her previous efforts.

Back in the real world, Spears has been in and out of rehab and forced to take on a parenting coach in order to gain limited access to her two young sons with former husband Kevin Federline.

She is also dealing with legal fallout from a minor car scrape recorded for posterity by a swarm of paparazzi.

Jive is a unit of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which combines most of the recorded-music assets of Sony and closely held Bertelsmann.

Via reuters