50 Cent album to debut early

“Get Rich or Die Trying,” the debut album from rapper 50 Cent, will hit stores Thursday, five days sooner than scheduled, a move his record label says is being driven by intense bootlegging and Internet piracy.

50 Cent, a magnet of controversy in recent months, has been hailed as an underground talent ready for mainstream stardom, and executives at Interscope Records said Friday that leaked copies of the music threaten to undermine its first-week sales.

“In today’s world, these are huge problems we have to confront every day in the record business, and we can’t leave anything to chance with a record that has this kind of heat,” said Steve Berman, Interscope senior executive for sales and marketing.

Record release dates are traditionally on Tuesdays and involve months of promotion and marketing efforts, and Berman said switching this late creates intense pressure on the distribution system. Interscope also abruptly moved up the release date of an Eminem album last year to diffuse piracy.