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Clear Channel Streams Album Exclusive, Initiates Series

Clear Channel Radio continues to put some sizzle into its online music
initiative, most recently announcing an album exclusive with the Backstreet
Boys. The sneak preview starts today, with the album Never Gone representing
the group's first studio effort in five years. The album stream will beat a
Tuesday in-store, giving fans a critical sampling window over the weekend.
The album preview is part of a new "Sneak Peek" series from Clear Channel
Radio, and builds upon a recent move into exclusive, in-studio performances
on member station websites. While many young fans have since moved on from
the seminal boy band, the group boasts sales of over 30 million discs since
the late 90s. Clear Channel pointed to ten similar previews in the coming
months.

Clear Channel is certainly not the first to position an album preview
online, with AOL Music, MySpace, MTV.com, Rhapsody and a long list of others
trumpeting exclusives. A pre-release peek certainly offers a nice pop for
everyone involved, though to some extent the concept of a firm album release
date has become a bit antiquated. Pre-release leaks on P2P networks are now
commonplace, with Coldplay the latest to experience a sneak preview of
another sort. That situation has become complicated by staggered
international release dates, with Europe often releasing CDs one day prior
to US retail outlets. Still, for big acts that can keep their content off of
P2P networks, a pre-release stream can help to build demand for CD
purchases.