Following the success of the simultaneous radio/iTunes release of Britney Spears‘ new single ‘Hold It Against Me’, arch rivals Sony Music and Universal Music have teamed up for a revolutionary new release strategy. A strategy which industry pundits claim will change the scope of the charts in a way not seen since downloads officially contributed to chart placings.
Full story after the jump…
Via the UK’s ‘Guardian‘:
Ten years after piracy first began to ravage the music industry, Britain’s two biggest record labels will finally try to play their part in stopping it, by making new singles available for sale on the day they first hit the airwaves.
Universal and Sony Music – home to Take That and Matt Cardle, respectively – hope the effort will encourage the impatient X Factor generation to buy songs they can listen to immediately rather than copying from radio broadcasts online.
David Joseph, the chief executive of Universal Music, said: “Wait is not a word in the vocabulary of the current generation. It’s out of date to think that you can build up demand for a song by playing it for several weeks on radio in advance.”
Songs used to receive up to six weeks radio airplay before they were released for sale – a practice known as “setting up” a record. But the success of selling the winner’s single immediately after the X Factor final has made record bosses think again.
“What we were finding under the old system was the searches for songs on Google or iTunes were peaking two weeks before they actually became available to buy, meaning that the public was bored of – or had already pirated – new singles,” Joseph added.
Sony, which will start the “on air, on sale” policy simultaneously with Universal next month, agreed that the old approach was no longer relevant in an age where, according to a spokesman for the music major, “people want instant gratification”.
Cardle, who signed to Sony via an agreement with Simon Cowell, sold 439,000 copies of When we Collide when it made the Christmas number one, the track having gone on sale just as the X Factor final ended on television.
Industry insiders believe instant sales will make it easier for records to climb the charts as excitement about a new song builds, developing a trend first seen when download sales joined the mainstream.
In the past, heavy pre-release marketing had tended to mean a new single crash-landed at its peak position on its first week of release – making the top 40 a dull narrative of short-lived new entries leavened by falling songs and fading glamour.
Jessie J’s Do it Like a Dude went on sale and on radio at the beginning of December, and the 22-year-old’s R&B single climbed steadily to reach number 5 last week. As more singles follow suit, the charts will briefly become uneven as songs adopting the old and the new marketing policies mix.
Piracy remains a crippling problem for the British music business, where the overall market fell by nearly 6% in 2010 and album sales slumped 7%, despite the success surrounding Robbie Williams’s rejoining Take That and Simon Cowell’s television-fuelled hits factory.
While set to impact the British charts first, it’s no doubt only a matter of time before the US and other major territories follow suit – and just as good. For too long, whatless label execs have prevented many a great song from reaching its full chart potential due to ridiculous gaps between a single’s radio release and digital/physical availability.
That said, it will be particularly interesting to see how marketing and promotional strategies adapt to this new model. For now, it appears everything from videos, television performances, radio tours, and the like, will have to be ‘in place’ and ready to deploy ahead of (or not long after) a song’s on-air premiere and parallell iTunes availability.
Looked at this way, the new strategy provides great opportunity for the autonomous success of non A-List acts, who enjoy great initial radio play (yet not much else due to a previous lack of label backing). Still, the new model also leaves plenty room for labels to continue to drop the ball (if the above-mentioned ‘essentials’ aren’t in place), as well as provide a fertile breeding ground for more talentless ‘digital acts’. One can only hope the former is the true success story to emerge from this, as opposed to the latter.
DAMN BRITNEY’S 1RST SINGLE IS A GAME CHANGER
GAGA BETTA WHAT OUT
DAMN Britney come back in the game and the recording industry is changing the formula #Queen
didnt britney kinda do this doe
oh i’m so against this thats only mean that there’s new wave of talentless h*** to come but its good in a way the lazy artists can sit and watch there songs blow up without heavy promo but its bad in a way there’s those artists that have to do promo (peformances) becuse if they didn’t i may just lay down and die (talking about beyonce here)
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS BEYONCE! YOU BETTER GO DOWN THE LINE AND SNATCH EACH AND EVERY WIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On a lighter note, this is great. It’s kind of giving everyone a fair chance to have chart success and that’s great considering that a lot of the material on the radio is far better than our (U.S.) Billboard Top 10
Yesss for britney changing the game only brit gurl you betta keep slaying *plays kill the lights*
Britney Spears Breaks Mediabase Records With ‘Hold It Against Me’
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/85941/britney-spears-breaks-mediabase-records-with-hold-
Britney is killing it BIG TIME. The biggest Pop star on the planet.
Britney changed the game forever. Ironically the former strategy of waiting to make the single available for download while it collects spins on radio was the EXACT strategy that got Mariah her last number 1 with Touch My Body. She waited a full 2 weeks until the song peaked around 15 at radio airplay to release.
So both strategies work well.
damn if only this was here at 2007 get my bodied would have been number one for a very long long time cuse that song was on radio like crazy
“For too long, whatless label execs have prevented many a great song from reaching its full chart potential due to ridiculous gaps between a single’s radio release and digital/physical availability”
________________________________________________________________
Sam, you do remember there was a time when singles were only available by physical release, right? My guess is the 6-week gap was also used to test the reception of the single by the audience before releasing it. But today in this digital era, it doesn’t cost a dime to release anything on itunes therefore the gap is no longer needed.
Anyway, a good song doesn’t need any artefact to perform well. Only average songs or average singers need that. In the words of the great Dianne Warren – who just won a Golden Globe for best song – “No matter the looks, no matter the marketing, the songs HAVE to be good first”.
Britney baby you killing them.People thought you were done after you came out with that blackout album then you hit them with circus and now you are once again slaying.One of my favorite pop female artist the other being Madonna.
thats wack
id they wait they can hope for a number 1
What do the US and other territories have to follow? Britney Spears new single is out everywhere but in the UK
the question is one , but if a song isn’t played on radios , how can the audince listen it and but it? and not all singer out there , have the fame of Briutney spears….
@ Joel. Apparently, HIAM was out in the UK but the song keeps getting yanked off of the UK iTunes chart.
Something fishy is going on. The original date was set for Feb. 20th, but Jive pushed the date up to Jan. 17th, which is today. But I’m not making a big deal over the success of HIAM in the UK because they haven’t been supportive of Britney in years.
She doesn’t even have a #1 album out there.
I always thought this would b a good idea . U have a release date that’s weeks away but the song is already floating all over the web n radio. I hope this affects in a positive way. N gooo Britney!
THE BISH IS ABOUT TO SLAY! !!!!!!
Well HIAM is #18 on UKiTunes as of now. Pretty poor considering that it automatically went to #1 in US and other countries
Considering that though. Video airplay in the UK is also a major factor for having success in the US.
*UK not US lmao
Yaaawn, this will encourage more HQ downloads in my opinion. That means once the song hits the radio AND itunes it will automatically be avail for illegal downloads immediately!! Before the new strategy, the downloads were LQ, MQ, then HQ over the same period that the original track went from radio spins to itunes/amazon downloads over the same 4-6 weeks. This means that’s no longer the case so HQ downloads are available the same time as it hits the mainstream avenues. This wont deter downloading but encourage higher HQ downloads. Why wait for itunes/amazon when 1-2 days later the HQ is available?? Downloading is here to stay. This wont deter the demise of the recording industry. It will continue to decline. People arent stupid. Money talks, bs walks. In this case NO money talks in freebie HQ downloads at much faster pace. Truth!!!!
I’m not sorry to say this but it’s only one chick that’s going to own the charts the most and that’s RINHANNA she’s a “HOT 100 QUEEN” and everyone knows that. One more #1 song then she will be tied with Janet Jackson. Her Loud album is nothing but #1’s.
TheDimplePuppet,
It’s odd that with nine #1 hits, many top 10 hits and huge promo in her hands her album can’t even go Platinum… NEXT!
Many people in UK already illegaly dl the m**, a bad move from Jive, not releasing in UK/Germany/Austria at the same time with the rest of the countries.
It’s about time, I don’t no how many times i’ve got tired of waiting for a song to be put on UK itunes and just gone and downloaded it illegally.
I’m interested to see how this strategy will work out in the future. Congrats on brit slaying the game as usual 🙂
@ Gilberto but her singles sells millions WW, were in a new age of music so she’s making millions other ways babes.
Great news! It was only common sense that a single have a release the same day it’s heard by all the fans. If you have people waiting around for itune singles it will only make them get restless and choose to download the song illegally(even if they didn’t intend on doing this). If it took Britney to make this happen from now on then that song served a purpose for everyone in the industry!
*The Page with RoyalKev / February 7th, 2011(Where there’s a place for everything and everything has its place)
Yes britney slays she’s set new strategies bet this badbitch didn’t expect that gwarn bspears you gonna tear this industry apart woooo!
@TheDimplePuppet, you have a point. I was watching videos on demand and I forget how much material Rihanna has out within the last year. Rude boy, Only Girl, What’s my name and LTWYL – all went to #1. Her and Katy save themselves with their single sales and placement. I don’t know how credible an artist it’ll make them, but I’m sure their labels are happy in the meantime with their quick and easy single sales.
^^^^Are you Skorpion?
LMAO
CONGRATS TO BRITNEY….. ALTHOUGH I THINK THIS SONG IS WHACK! SHE HAS HAD BETTER SONGS LIKE (WOMANIZER, CIRCUS, S**** 4 U, TOXIC, STRONGER, EVERYTIME) ETC.
NOT HATING BUT I WAS IN LOVE WITH BRITNEY BEFORE MY LOVE AFFIAR WITH BEYONCE…. I SIMPLY THINK BRITNEY IS BETTER THAN “HOLD IT AGINST ME”
@TheDimplePuppet…
Nah, LOL! That’s the 2nd time someone asked. I just started working on my blog for the last few weeks.
*The Page with RoyalKev / February 7th, 2011(Where there’s a place for everything and everything has its place)
I have been saying that a long time Why the single is not release to itunes the same time.
Ppl want the song if they cannot get tit on Itunes or some legal format they’re e going to get it illegally. The next thing is to release the song around the world the same time. the internet has change the game a long time ppl don’t have to wait no more for a song. so why release a song in north America this month while Europe has to wait an extra month?
I think this is great but hopefully not too late. This should have been their model about 8 years ago. I never understood why i had to wait for months to buy a song that i just heard on the radio. When all it takes is the flip of a switch and bam it’s there.
This is a model I have been wondering, why hasn’t this been going on.
I get extremely pissed off when I cannot find a song, and it has been released to radio, and its nowhere on iTunes (when I decide to pay for it). It’s like damn OK send me back to the web for a Rip of the song, which I will NEVER come back to repurchase the HQ version.
That said yes this will at first benefit new artists more, and possibly be more singles debuting high(er), but it can only help new artists too.
A lot of the time new artists tend to be the ones will developing fans who are necessarily willing to purchase their music, and hell if the song isn’t online for purchase but it is for free, and the artist is new and you have little to no connection with the artist:
What is going to make you hold back and wait for the songs digital release as opposed to a free few click process DL? nothing.
—
In time to come this process will need to be adapted to CD released, cause again once a CD releases in its final form, it’s very hard to not DL for free, and WAIT for the digital DL/hard copy when you can snatch it for free.
I think if a CD leaks, near its official release labels need to start releasing this CD(s) earlier-like on the leak day or week of.
All of this because of Britney Spears l
WOOOOW this b**** has the power to change the industry I have been slayed!
Maybe this can help your favs to achieve more number one hits because I know my fav ain’t struggling loooool “side eye” this has just made it even easier .
but I really do think this is a good idea because I also wondered why the hell did record company’s wait until 2 weeks to release a song you have been hearing on the radio for a looong ass time. I think it takes away the buzz and people will always just end up using piracy to get it sorry Aint nobody waiting that long to have their favs new song on there i=pod, phone, computer etc,!
this only means more #1s for digital artist like rihanna,ke$ha, kty perry, mike posner, and bruno mars. im ok with it:)
I agree with the exec! They need to make songs that ppl want to purchase available immediately! Why should a music lover have to wait 6 weeks before they are able to purchase a song? This delay once again heightens my fear that the industry, music charts, and therefore the award shows are all rigged!
Why in the world, in this time of rapid technology, would the music industry not allow ppl to purchase music from anywhere in the world on the same day. This holding music and releasing a song in 2 or 6 countries one day and 9 more countries 2 weeks later is crazy to me! Release the damn music early and all over the globe for all to enjoy equally!
took them 10 years to figure that sh*t out?!?
dont confuse digital artist with singles artist. digital artist like rihanna, ke$ha, katy perry, and bruno mars earn their money from digital sales, but they can still sell albums and tour.
singles artist like far east movement have hit songs but they cant sell albums or tours. singles artist dont have a fan base, so they dont last long
@Gilberto
January 17, 2011 at 6:46 pm
TheDimplePuppet,
It’s odd that with nine #1 hits, many top 10 hits and huge promo in her hands her album can’t even go Platinum… NEXT!
*****
Ha Ha……POW……I was going to say the same damn thing! 🙂
With all the promotion she gets she should have gone diamond by now forget about platinum! She should be changing the music industry standards like the real Princess of Pop is doing “Ms. Britney b****!”
rihanna has gone platinum with good girl gone bad and loud
I mean that makes sense.
It’s 2011.
Sooooo now how are we gonna save physical album sales??
They need to do something to get people to buy PHYSICAL albums..
enough with this digital s***..
& don’t say it’s because of ipods because you can easily pop a cd in your computer & transfer it to your ipod. I get people like to buy singles & pick & choose what songs they like instead of buying an album that has songs they aren’t a fan of..
But that’s how albums have always worked, you have songs you love right off the bat then you have growers..and if you truly love that album/artist you’ll usually grow to appreciate the whole album..
I dont know, I just wish people would realize that have a collection of cds is just better than having a handy device [don’t get me wrong, i have an ipod] but albums are works of art.
I’d rather buy an album, look at the pictures,read the thank yous and the letters to the fans, and really just appreciate the album as a whole piece of art.
Not just LISTEN to it..yes its music, but idk, i guess i just see things differently..
*YAWN*
This aint no “GAME CHANGER”. It should have BEEN this way LONG TIME AGO ever since all these other so called “ARTIST” started LUCKING up on GENERIC #1s B4 this HIAM Disater which should stand for HOT ASS MESS.
Itunes is just a GET HIT QUICK SCHEME to begin with, If your song was truly Hot you wouldnt need PRE-MATURE Download Sells.
& Britney either looks CONSTIPATED, NERVOUS, Or MILDLY RETARDED in that pic BTW, One of the 3… 🙂
@ Kavion:
I completely agree with you. If I like an artist and I like their work, I’ll buy the physical product, the only time I’ll buy a digital single is if it’s it’s the ONLY song or two I like on the whole album. But I love having the whole package; the artwork, the lyric booklet, something that you can’t replicate with a digital product, and I don’t care if iTunes offers virtual booklets, it’s obviously something you can’t enjoy on a tiny-ass, 2 inch screen. Besides, iTunes is too expensive now, better to buy songs on Amazon.
I do find iPods extemely useful though, in that if I hear a live or demo version of a song on YouTube or an unreleased track that will not see an official release, I can download it and have it on my iPod. And I can’t carry CDs with me everywhere I go, there’s that.
I think people don’t take music as seriously as they should nowadays.
* extremely.
call me old fashion but i dont buy digital music. i buy cds and then upload them to my Zune
@TrueBlue/@LTM
I feel the EXACT same way. When singles first come out and I really enjoy them, I purchase them on Amazon (iTunes, like TrueBlue said, is way too expensive nowadays), but I usually purchase a phsyical CD. In a typical release month, I purchase 3-5 new CDs. Yes, it’s a lot, but I love the package. You don’t get that feeling with digital booklets. Yes, it may sound dumb, but they’re is so much work that gets put into all of it and it’s being disrespected, in all honesty.
I hope music never goes completely digital. I’d seriously die, though it would be better environmentally speaking.
*there
@TRUE BLUE exactly..i need my ipod for mobile uses. You know anytime im out
But when i’m at home i’d much rather just listen the cd..alot of times i read the booklets over and over (lol) if what the artist is saying strikes something in me..i just wish other people would realize the beauty in albums as a whole [including artists, some of them just throw things together]
I mean albums are a form of creative expression..it’s just sad that people just don’t care about those things.
I agree with the few later ppl who appreciate physical albums.
I’d prefer a tangible physical copy of an album over a digital copy any day. I also like reading the album booklets. LOL I even like the way a brand new CD has that new CD smell, ha ha LOL!
Thats is true, I hate it when you want to download a song and its not available. YOu have to get on youtube to listen to it, or download it illegally. But since they make it available months sooner that will inspire people to buy it alot sooner, which means we dont have to wait. Now if they can do this with full albums too instead of just tracks that be hot. Just image not having to wait for a Lady gaga album for 10 months u get it as soon as she done recording it lol
Ashlee Littlejohn here! I’ve just released my new single “Mr. DJ” . Please check it out on youtube. Please request it at your local radio station. Thanks