Are Lady Gaga and Katy Perry Secretly Pirates?

Lady Gaga and Katy Perry were due to announce their much anticipated new singles a week apart this month. Katy Perry sailed through last week, revealing her new album title ‘Prism’ on a giant gold truck, whilst Lady Gaga has had all hands on deck with an app release and nude collaborations with the artist Marina Abramovic. However, Perry’s ‘Roar’ and Gaga’s ‘Prism’ were both leaked online this past weekend!

Pre-release leaks very much go hand in hand with music piracy. It began when tracks were initally taped off the radio when you wanted to make mixtapes to get that girl, or if you were an eager beaver who just wanted songs to gel your hair to before they were released. #90skids! Leaks are pretty much the same nowadays, if not worse as listeners are demanding releases to be sooner.

Matt Grimes, senior lecturer in music industries at Birmingham City University comments notes how easy it is “to share and distribute just by the click of a mouse button.” Increasingly digitised music means fewer CDs are circulated to radio stations and journalists, an illegal copy of an unreleased single can become global bootleg in just minutes as an MP3.

In true power puff girl style, both stars joined Pop power puffs to defend their treasure chests from unknown “hackers” on twitter. Although they did not end up at the world’s end, both Pop stars have sparked a battle between their fans in a race to chart success.