Can't wait to hear Madonna's highly anticipated new album? You can catch the first single from the forthcoming Ray of Light on the Internet ^× unauthorized and weeks before its official release.
Frozen was released Friday to radio stations in several foreign markets, which quickly resulted in the creation of a number of fan Web sites offering the song free to anyone willing to take the time to download it, plus lyrics and peeks at the album's cover.
Fans trafficking in free songs with some sites offering entire albums have mushroomed on the Internet the past year. The Recording Industry Association of America last week won a settlement in the first suit brought against Internet music pirates. Madonna's Ray of Light album will be released in several foreign markets Feb. 13. U.S. radio listeners won't officially get to hear the single Frozen until Feb. 14, with the album released to stores March 3.
The pop diva's first album in three years marks yet another stylistic change, this time showing the influence of the beat-heavy computer music known as electronica. Among the single's lyrics, as posted on a Web site: ''You're frozen when your heart's not open/You're so concerned with how much you get/You waste your time with hate and regret.''
Bob Merlis, a spokesman for Warner Bros. Records, says the company will try to squelch, ''with any means at our disposal,'' any sites that offer free downloadable files of Warner Bros. material, ''whether it's a Madonna song or a Doobie Brothers song out for 25 years.''
Internet sites that offer songs for listening only so-called ''streaming'' media are OK, Merlis says, as long as the song has been ''legitimately released. . . . We consider that the equivalent of radio.''
But, Merlis adds, ''if the song hasn't been released in this market, we will go after them.''
Pete Howard, editor of ICE, a CD newsletter, believes that only hard-core fans will bother downloading the single. ''I don't know anyone who downloads from the Net and doesn't go out and buy the CD,'' he says, citing the iffy sound quality of Net music files. ''Right now, it's a great promotional vehicle.''
By Bruce Haring, USA TODAY
