October 17, 2003
New singles formats to save the charts
A raft of new music single formats are shortly to be released in the UK in an effort to reverse the dramatic decline in sales over the last two years, including ringtones, reports the BBC.
"James Gillespie from Official UK Charts Company told BBC World Service's The Music Biz programme that the changes were "part of what's going to be quite a long-ranging review of the singles market in the UK".
The plans included a "ringtone single," a pocket-sized single, and a new type of release that would contain even more data than current multimedia CDs, which usually include video and weblinks.
And interesting, according to Gillespie: "Kids don't mind spending £3, £4 on a ringtone, but they're not so keen to spend the same amount of money on the master recording."
Just for the record, Nylon Beat, a top Finnish girl band, was the first group in May of 2000 to release their new title, “Not Guilty”, as a ringtone before the CD was available on the market. The teaser played over the radio proved so effective that it became No. 1 the first day it hit the stores. And now, whenever the group performs the song in concert, fans hold up their phones and ring along with them. cf Nylon Beat, releases first ringtone teaser
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