Number One on Blacknet -- with a Bullet

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004512410,00.html>

The Sun Newspaper Online - UK's biggest selling newspaper


Thursday, November 4, 2004




 By DEREK BROWN
Deputy Showbiz Editor

RAPPER Eminem's new album Encore has been leaked on to the internet.

 The Real Slim Shady star's hotly-anticipated fourth album was stolen
nearly two weeks before its release date.

 The theft has sparked panic at his record label Interscope who have
brought forward the worldwide release date.

 An illegal website called RNS put the entire album on the net two days ago.

 Thousands of fans instantly downloaded it and could pass it on to
countless others.

 It could lose the 32-year-old rapper MILLIONS of pounds in royalties from
CD sales.

 Interscope bosses were locked in meetings all day yesterday.

 They decided to bring forward Encore's release date by three days to next
Friday November 12.

 Unveiling the album on a Friday rather than a Monday is virtually
unprecedented - and a sign of how panicked bosses are.

 An insider at the label said: "This is catastrophic news. Security has
been so tight on this album nobody can figure out how the album has got out
there.

 "We now think thousands of people around the world are downloading it.



"This is a very, very serious issue for us."

 Encore features 20 tracks with titles including Mosh, Puke and Big Weenie.

 Eighties star Martika features on Like Toy Soldiers.

 Despite the theft, experts still predict Encore - the follow up to The
Eminem Show - will be the biggest selling album in the world this year.

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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'