The future of music was ruled by paid downloads, which further spurred piracy. Online piracy was easier, even in the United States where intellectual property is highly regarded, it was unstoppable. Who hadn't secretly downloaded a song from the internet? Sticking too closely to album sales was a dead end—within five or six years, a singer achieving seven or eight million album sales worldwide was considered extremely popular, and breaking ten million was almost impossible.
Thus, singers needed to broaden their pathways for sustained growth—maintaining a popular image while keeping the exposure was very important. At the moment, Britney still mostly retained the girl-next-door look, though she showed a sensual side in her third album, it was far from a transformation.
