THE RUMOR: A new song by Britney Spears—"Candy From Strangers," which is a collaboration with the hip-hop wondertwins Laze & Royal—has leaked. This is the first taste of her forthcoming album, Circus. At least, that's what the site britneyspearscircusleak, which claims that it's going to release a new Spears song "everyday" [sic, sigh] until the album's December release date, says.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 72%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: The vocal sure sounds like Spears, although to be fair, there are about three pounds of effects troweled onto the track—enough that I could probably sound like her if I could be arsed to record the song myself. The music, too, sounds at least somewhat similar to the songs on Blackout, with some observers even pointing out that parts of this sound pretty much identical to that album's "Break The Ice." And back in August, Laze and Royal blogged about working with Spears, so the idea of them appearing on a track of hers isn't that out-there.

britneyspearscircusleak.com is currently a single page with a frame linking to a page on Jacksonville, Fla.'s pop station KISS-FM, which is a Clear Channel outlet that's not to be confused with all the other SWAK'd stations out there. (The leak isn't teased anywhere on the station's homepage, although that could just be the result of a lazy Web team.) For those of you who want to try Internet sleuthery, a Whois search on BSCL.com came up inconclusive:

Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States

BURNING QUESTIONS: Wasn't the first single from the album supposed to be "Womanizer," and wasn't it supposed to drop next week? Also, why on earth would Jive Records choose a Jacksonville, Fla., radio station as its preferred leakage channel? Are we that deep in the Internet age that New York's Z100 and Los Angeles' KIIS-FM don't have to be the sources for big-name premieres? Could this just be a—gasp!—publicity stunt by Laze & Royal, or, like last year, another half-real, half-fake leak that's just designed to whet the public's appetite for new music from Spears, as opposed to new paparazzi shots?

Is This Britney Spears [Music Is The Heart Of Our Soul]
britneyspearscircusleak.com [Official (?) site]
Whois BritneySpearsCircusLeak.com [GoDaddy.com]

THE RUMOR: Ciara is contemplating a lawsuit against Vibe, saying that her nude pics in the mag—including the one on the cover—were the result of Photoshop trickery, and not her posing while wearing nothing but a pair of super-ugly shoes.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 4%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: Ciara might not be all that happy with the result of her Vibe shoot, although I suspect it's more because they didn't exactly set the world on fire with their SHOCKING NUDITY!! than anything else.

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: Hey, look at this interview where Ciara talks about the shoot!

"It was pretty fun," Ciara revealed in a recent interview with Dimewars. "It was my first time being this open for a photoshoot. This was my first cover for my new project so it was a lot of fun. I'm in a different space now, I'm older... I'm in an even more experimental and really fun feeling phase right now so I think a lot of that just came out when I was doing my photoshoot...Just stepping into this setting today I was excited, I was very happy I'm in a different phase and very very experimental phase so because of that there is a very strong connection to what I'm doing today."

These rumors of her suddenly being unhappy with the pictures—which mushroomed from being mentioned on one blog Wednesday to much, much more today—seem more like a ploy to keep her name in the press than anything else. Did you know that a single of hers leaked this week? Yeah, neither did I, until I Googled around for something on this "lawsuit" beyond a whirlpool of sites whispering the rumor while all linking to one another. Bottom line, this smells more like a whsiper campaign designed to keep Ciara's name "out there" and simultaneously capitalize on the post-Jordin Sparks outburst era than anything else. Thankfully, I'm not alone in my suspicions.

Ciara suing Vibe for defamation?? [StreetCred.com]
Ciara Credits 'Experimental Phase' For Nude Vibe Cover [ciaraharris.org]

THE RUMOR: iTunes is going to launch a subscription site called iTunes Unlimited as soon as October. And access to as many downloads as you like will only cost $129.99 for the whole year!

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 7.5%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: Before we get into that, let's outline the specs of the new service, according to a tipster who's been spamming as many sites as he can with the details:

-256 Kbps music; highest quality digital music subscription service ever
-50% of U.S. store available for iTunes Unlimited at launch, U.S.-only launch
-Available through iTunes or retail box a la MobileMe, funds applied through iTunes gift cards cannot be used towards subscription purchase
-$129.99 stand-alone or $179.99 with MobileMe, current MobileMe subscribers can add iTunes Unlimited for $99.99
-One-year subscription period
-Current a la carte options unchanged
-When signed in to subscription account, "Buy" is "Get"
-"Download and Play throughout iTunes Unlimited Subscription" or "Buy and Keep"
-"Buy and Keep" option available for downloaded subscription songs, purchased version replaces subscription version
- Late October launch with iTunes 7.8

It reads like Mac fanboy fan fiction, really.

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: Would the major labels actually be OK with giving people unfettered access to music for the low price of 131 single-song downloads—via iTunes, no less? Wouldn't the Big Four be more likely to head to eMusic first, or develop such a service with Amazon, given their fractious relationship with Apple and tendencies toward acting like spoiled children? Would iTunes really launch such a high-profile service with only 50% of its inventory available, thus further confusing and angering users who already feel burned by the whole MobileMe debacle? And isn't Steve Jobs a little too market-aware to foolishly think that people will start caring about subscription services simply because it's branded with the Apple logo?

I think all of those questions can be answered with a huge "No." (In a tasteful font, of course.) And Silicon Alley Insider quizzed a few music executives about the possibility of "iTunes Unlimited" coming to pass, and they all said they know nothing about it. I think this thing is not a likely proposition anytime soon. But who knows, maybe Apple will change the "Buy" button on iTunes to a "Get" one across the board. Anything to reel in cash from the BitTerrorists who aren't all that bright, right?

Rumored iTunes Music Subscription [Listening Post]
Music Subscriptions Coming To iTunes (AAPL) Next Month? Nope [Silicon Alley Insider]

THE RUMOR: The new lead singer of Velvet Revolver is none other than Lenny Kravitz.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 38%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: The "source" of the Sun story that broke this rumor is claiming that Kravitz has been spotted in the studio with Slash, Duff, and Matt Sorum, a scenario that isn't all that far-fetched. Kravitz is no stranger to playing with many of the members of Guns N' Roses, what with Slash appearing on his album Mama Said and Lenny jumping on stage to perform "Always On The Run" during a Guns N' Roses show back in the day. That sort of pre-existing chemistry could definitely serve as a hedge from relations devolving into the sour sniping that marked Velvet Revolver's end.

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: But would Kravitz want to subsume his identity into a band that wasn't his? Kravitz's latest solo effort, It Is Time For A Love Revolution, didn't sell too badly, reaching the 189,000-scanned mark before it dropped off the Billboard 200 back in April. And his name recognition has, after all, led him all the way to the racks at Kohl's.

Itz Lenny for Revolver [The Sun]
[Photo: Getty]

THE RUMOR: News Corp is signing 50 Cent and the rest of his G-Unit posse to a $300 million deal that includes "a large stake in every aspect of 50's businesses," 50 signing to MySpace Records, a G-Unit book deal with HarperCollins, and Curtis becoming one of the media company's largest shareholders.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 20%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: I dunno, maybe Lloyd Banks is playing a MySpace secret show sometime soon? Or 50 called in a favor for some tickets to the American Idol finale?

LIKELY FALSEHOODS When I heard that 50 Cent's official site, ThisIs50.com, was the source of the 50/News Corp rumor, my first thought was, "That seems a little gratuitously self-promotional, even for Curtis." (Well, OK, that was actually my second thought after "So this is Uncle Rupe's big bounceback after losing out on Newsday, huh? Someone's feeling a bit emasculated!") But as it turns out, the "sourcing" was merely the result of ThisIs50 Hoovering up the RSS feed of the ever-reliable MediaTakeOut, then repurposing it for page-filling-out purposes. Good old Internet content, always circling its own drain. Anyway, file this one under "probably not even vaguely true," especially since, well, do you think that Bill O'Reilly would let this stand?

50 Cent Reportedly In Talks For $300 Million Deal [HipHopDX]

THE RUMOR: Nate Dogg passed away over the weekend, according to a MySpace post that was picked up by MediaTakeOut earlier today.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 0%. Yes, that's right—it's a rumor that's been, shall we say, wholly exaggerated.

LIKELY TRUTHS: True, Nate Dogg hasn't been in optimum shape ever since he suffered a stroke and subsequently had his girlfriend's 911 call mocked back in January; he's currently recovering at home and staying out of the spotlight.

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: But he is still recovering, i.e., he's still alive, and not dead. According to his manager, who spoke to XXL, the MySpace post was the result of Nate Dogg's account being hacked by some person who clearly had a very misdirected desire for 15 minutes of Internet fame. Which they got. Hooray!

On the bright side, I'm pretty sure that this is the first time the eternally gullible MediaTakeOut has actually issued a retraction for a post it ran, although it's probably not that surprising that said post is currently not linked from the site's front page.

Nate Dogg "Alive And Well," Says Manager [XXL]
Earlier: Internet Assholes Almost Cause Nate Dogg To Have Second Stroke

THE RUMOR: Motley Crue's "big announcement" today will break the news that the Sunset Strip lifers have signed with touring megaglomerate Live Nation, and that its first tour under the deal will be the traveling hard-rock circus Cruefest, also featuring Buckcherry, Papa Roach, and Sixx A.M.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 80%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: Blabbermouth has a fairly detailed itinerary for Cruefest, so that's probably going off—although what happened to the initial reports that Drowning Pool would be on the tour? (And does this mean that the name-drop of Belle & Sebastian was a ruse to get indie-kid bloggers all het up?)

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: The rumor that the Crue had signed to a three-album, three-tour 360 deal with Live Nation has been floating around since February, and early reports had Vince, Nikki, Mick, and Tommy netting $100 million for their services. In anticipation of today's press conference, that story popped up again yesterday via the concert-news site Pollstar, but since its initial posting the site has pulled the story. Commenters at Blabbermouth are taking this little bit of Internet censorship as incontrovertible proof that the story is, in fact, true, because "Motley Crue can't grasp the concept of information leaking at such a rapid rate due to the internet... they seem to have to do damage control only because they were not the source of the news."

If it is true, it may represent the first major misstep for Live Nation—or the first move of theirs that looks like a misstep out of the gate, anyway. Three albums and three years adds up to a lot of time for a band that actually works well together, and given that all the members of Motley Crue are around the "around 50" mark age-wise, the band hasn't made a decent album in nearly 20 years, and Vince Neil isn't exactly known for remembering the words to his songs these days, Live Nation's "get 'em while they're old" strategy may finally be showing its first cracks.

MOTLEY CRUE & LIVE NATION? [Blabbermouth]
MÖTLEY CRÜE's 'Cruefest' With BUCKCHERRY, PAPA ROACH: More Tour Dates Revealed [Blabbermouth]

THE RUMOR: Ashlee Simpson's camp is so nervous about Mariah Carey getting all the press—and the sales—when Ashlee's long-delayed album Bittersweet World comes out at the end of April that they've actually leaked E=MC² in an effort to make its release "less newsworthy."

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 20%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: "Joe Simpson has every right to be nervous about Ashlee going up against Mariah. They are backed into a corner with this release date since they already changed it once," a source told MSNBC. E=MC² leaked in full over the weekend, a week and a half before its release date, which is probably freaking out the suits at Island Def Jam.

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: The source continued: "Their only option in fighting the Mariah machine would be to create a way to make the album's release less newsworthy." Well, no. They could always, you know, try and figure out just what has turned Ashlee into someone people don't want to hear anymore, and why neither "Outta My Head" nor "Little Miss Obsessive" have really caught on with listeners. Or they could capitalize on their fake-redhead's tabloid stature by announcing that Ashlee got engaged!

Besides, does anyone think that Ashlee would still have a career at Universal Music Group if she'd been revealed to be leaking songs from the Mariah album, also known as "the album that killed the pop-music blogosphere?" Those copies of Bittersweet World would be sent to China for landfilling faster than you can say "Ay ya ya ya ya."

Ashlee's new album to go up against Mariah's [MSNBC via ONTD]