The BACKSTREET BOYS have been talking about their plans for a world tour in support of their forthcoming album 'BLACK & BLUE', while their record company JIVE have hit out at fans planning to download tracks from NAPSTER.

Speaking last Friday (October 27) AJ McLean confirmed that the world tour would kick off on January 23, 2001 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, adding "It's finally going to be a true world tour. We've been saying we were going to do a world tour for the last two years, but we end up hitting the US, Canada and Europe, and that's about as far as we go. This time we're taking this tour the whole way around the world."

After spending eight weeks touring the States, the Backstreet Boys will be taking a fortnight off before taking the show to Asia and Australia, then Europe and South America. Another six weeks' touring in America will follow, and is expected to finish towards the end of 2001.

Meanwhile, the Boys' online 'street team' campaign is gathering momentum, with tens of thousands of fans subscribing in order to support the release of 'Black & Blue'. Last week, subscribers were issued with the following statement:

"There may be some people who acquire copies of 'Black & Blue' illegally or downloaded from Napster before it comes out on November 21. Let's make sure all BSB fans know that such practices are hurting not only this team's goals but also taking away from the guys themselves. If people are buying these copies all over the place, you can understand how it would take away from all of our efforts. I encourage all of you to get the word out there about this serious issue."