Circus Goes Platinum
Circus has officially been certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A.. That means the album has sold more than one million copies. Congratulations Britney!
30 JAN 2009
Virgin Mobile Presents The Circus
Virgin Mobile USA, a leading provider of both prepaid and postpaid wireless services, announced today its title sponsorship of the upcoming Britney Spears concert tour. The tour, to be titled "Virgin Mobile Presents the Circus Starring Britney Spears," features special guests The PussyCat Dolls. The circus-themed tour is due to kick off in New Orleans on March 3, 2009 with a planned 31 dates in the United States.
"I'm thrilled to partner with Virgin Mobile on my tour," said Britney Spears. "They will have cool opportunities for my fans and me to connect, and they'll bring a lot of excitement to the tour."
As part of the sponsorship, some lucky fans will have the chance to catch a sneak peek at one of the most highly anticipated tours of the year, by attending Britney's final private dress rehearsal in New Orleans on March 2. Virgin Mobile USA will also have VIP ticket giveaways for tour dates around the country.
"Britney's draw is undeniable and her show is sure to be one to remember. We're very proud to help deliver what will be the tour of the year!" said Bob Stohrer, Chief Marketing Officer, Virgin Mobile USA. "We'll provide special access and exclusive opportunities for our customers and her millions of fans including behind-the-scenes events."
In conjunction with sponsorship of the "Circus" tour, Virgin Mobile USA plans to launch its new Ocean 2 multimedia device. Select fans at the private show will be given an Ocean 2 to chronicle the event. This "Ocean 2 Camera Crew" can blog, IM, email, post to social networking sites and send photos from this one mobile phone to share with friends and fans.
Virgin Mobile USA will partner with Virgin Mobile Canada to extend Virgin Mobile's sponsorship to Britney's five scheduled shows north of the border.
"Britney Spears is about to bring some much needed heat to Canada with what promises to be the tour of the year," said Nathan Rosenberg, Chief Marketing Officer, Virgin Mobile Canada. "We're beside ourselves with excitement and have some truly brilliant ways we'll let Virgin Mobile customers get access to all areas."
Source: BritneySpears.com
29 JAN 2009
Tour Rehearsal Pictures
BritneySpears.com posted new pictures of Britney and her dancers rehearsing for the Circus tour. Click the picture below to see more.
Source: BritneySpears.com
28 JAN 2009
Britney Wins At NRJ Awards In France
Britney won two awards at the French NRJ Music Awards that took place yesterday. She won 'International Female Artist Of The Year' and 'Best Video Of The Year' for "Womanizer." Britney, who didn't attend the ceremony, won her first NRJ award last year with Blackout for 'International Album Of The Year.'
18 JAN 2009
Tour Rehearsal Pictures
BritneySpears.com posted pictures of Britney rehearsing for the Circus tour which kicks off in New Orleans on March 3. Click the picture below to see them all.
Source: BritneySpears.com
16 JAN 2009
Circus Remains #1 In The World
Britney Spears reigns the global album chart with Circus for a fourth week in a row.
Source: Media Traffic
15 JAN 2009
"If U Seek Amy" Censored?
Profanity in pop songs is old news. Hell, the chorus to Christina Aguilera's recent single, "Keeps Gettin' Better," kicks off with the phrase, "Some days I'm a super bi---." That one is easy enough for radio stations to edit out in order to avoid any fines from the FCC or threats to yank their licenses.
But what will they do with a new single from a major artist that doesn't actually contain a four-letter word, but rather spells it out in a not-so-subtle way? That dilemma is beginning to dawn on top-40 radio programmers across the country as the third single from album, "If U Seek Amy," starts to make its way to the airwaves.
The cheeky title (try saying it fast) joins the tradition of album titles like Van Halen's 1991 For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The chorus doesn't even try to make grammatical sense of the phrase: "But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy."
The spelled-out profanity puts the song into a legal gray area for radio stations.
"It's OK to put in on an album, have fun with it, but we're publicly owned, you know?" said Patti Marshall, program director at Cincinnati's Q102, a pop station in a decidedly conservative Midwestern market. "We have a responsibility to the public ... you put this ... out and act like we're all fuddy-duddies, like we're trying to make moral judgments. It's not about us. It's about the mom in the minivan with her 8-year-old."
Like several programmers we talked to, Marshall said she had not yet been told that "Amy" was the next single from Circus. She's still busy playing the album's title track, which was recently released as the second single. Asked if she would play "Amy" if it came to her as a single, Marshall said likely wouldn't. She likened its chorus (which she has not heard) to "a little boy in sixth grade doing arm farts."
A spokesperson for the Federal Communications Commission did not return calls for comment, and Spears' label confirmed the choice of the single but would not comment on its content or any potential issues at radio.
Sharon Dastur, program director at Z100 in New York, also had not yet heard the song and said she's not sure what the station's plans are for it. She compared its possible problems to those faced by her station in 2005 upon the release of the Black Eyed Peas single "Don't Phunk With My Heart."
"Listeners thought it was the other word, and so we had to change it to 'mess,' " she said. That example was also the first that popped to mind for KIIS FM Los Angeles program director John Ivey, who said he knew he couldn't play the Peas' song as originally recorded but felt that censoring it would make it sound more nefarious, so he asked the group's label for a new version.
"It's a potential issue for every station," Ivey said of the Spears single. "I'm certain that I would run it by my legal department first. My first job is to protect [the station's] license. ... It's better to be safe than sorry."
Asked if he would recut the song to edit out the naughty bits, Ivey said he probably wouldn't because he felt the phrase was included in the song to provoke, so an alteration would change its intention. "[Spears' label, Jive,] might also be just floating it out there to see if they can stir things up a bit."
Source: MTV News
12 JAN 2009
Baby One More Time 10th Anniversary
Britney's album Baby One More Time was released exactly 10 years ago. It's Britney's best selling album to date. The album reached #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and many more would follow. Congratulations Britney!
12 JAN 2009
"If U Seek Amy" 3rd Single
BritneySpears.com has announced that "If U Seek Amy" is the 3rd single off Circus. Release date is set for February.
Source: BritneySpears.com
07 JAN 2009