October 24, 2000 12:45

OFFSPRING FANS 'NET NEW ALBUM

Download [b]'Conspiracy Of One[/b] in its entirety...

THE OFFSPRING's new album 'CONSPIRACY OF ONE' is now available to download from the Internet in its entirety, despite the band's parent label SONY's attempts to block it appearing ahead of its November 14 US release.

The album has shown up on fansite www.cooltohate.comwhich is claiming between 3-4,000 hits a day from fans downloading MP3s of the 12 tracks.

Last month The Offspring were forced to pull the plug on their plan to post the entire album on their own official website when Sony threatened to sue. The band had intended to enter all fans who downloaded tracks into a draw to win $1million. Instead, the download and prize are limited to forthcoming single 'Original Prankster'.

The appearance of the album has not surprised the band. "It's just like we said - that it would wind up being everywhere but on our site," the group's manager Jim Guerinot told www.mtv.com. "I'm disappointed it wasn't our site. It remains hypocritical, it remains stupid, it remains short-sighted that instead of each one of those kids who download tracks off (Napster and fan sites) having the opportunity to win a million dollars, we keep them isolated, wherever they are, doing this by themselves, and not help create a greater community for our fanbase."

Guerinot added that the band themselves had not been party to the songs' early release, and were not concerned in the least if Sony believed they were.

In a posting on the official Offspring site earlier this month, guitarist Noodles had encouraged fans to scour Napster and the Internet for the album.

The track listing for 'Conspiracy of One' is as follows:
'Come Out Swinging'
'Original Prankster'
'Want You Bad'
'Million Miles Away'
'Dammit, I Changed Again'
'Living in Chaos'
'Special Delivery'
'One Fine Day'
'All Along'
'Denial, Revisited'
'Vultures'
'Conspiracy of One'