Lady Gaga released her latest single ahead of its official release date on August 19.

The official release of the song was done in a hurry about a week before its scheduled release to fight piracy which has already affected the single's business. Gaga's latest single is called "Applause" which was leaked online some time back.

The lower quality versions ruled the online market as Gaga's dedicated fan following tried their best to control the same. It was encouraged by the fan community to bring it to the notice of the authorities whenever the leaked version of the song is available on any Web site.

The official release of the single "Applause" came under the banner of Universal Music which has a dedicated Web site to take down music piracy of the single. Apparently, there were over 500 Web sites reported in one evening.

Lady Gaga asked his monsters on Twitter to spread the word that her latest single "Applause" was out August 12. In typical Gaga fashion, she used the social networking Web site to declare the official release of the single.

Gaga called it a "POP MUSIC EMERGENCY" as "Applause" was released in a hurry to radio and at iTunes stores all over the U.S. The official release in other countries will soon follow. "Applause" claimed to be the very first single off "Artpop" which is the upcoming album of Lady Gaga.

Gaga was apparently pretty upset as hackers spread her single all over the Internet much before the official release of the song. She tweeted her annoyance as she thought that people could have waited until Saturday for its official release.

On the other hand, this was not the first time a music celebrity faced piracy. Kanye West faced the same with "Yeezus" only hours after the notoriously strict claims of BuzzFeed on how much precautions were taken to fight piracy.

Gaga, however, seemed to be bothered about the leak more for artistic reasons than commercial ones, as it is unlikely that the sales of her single are going to be affected by the lower quality leaks.