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MusicTank to focus on the release window issue

By | Published on Monday 15 February 2010

Oh, now this could be one of the most interesting MusicTank events to date, centring, as it is, on an issue an increasing number of music business types have been raising concerns about in recent years, but on which few in the record industry have as yet acted.

The issue is this: the fact that the traditional record industry marketing model, whereby most publicity activity takes place in the six weeks before a record is actually released (a model designed to boost first week sales and therefore chart position) means that when a new track is at its most hyped it’s not actually available from any legit music stores. A fact which might make the modern impatient consumer go and find it on illegal file-sharing networks instead, where it was probably posted before the hype even began.

This was actually an issue we raised in a CMU report on music retail way back in 2004, a report undertaken by then University Of Westminster student Jennifer O’Kane in association with MusicTank, as it happens. That report noted that one reason teenagers gave for accessing music illegally via P2P was that when they first saw a new video on music TV it could be weeks before that track would be available in the shops, or on the then emerging new download stores and subscription-based digital music services.

Of course, many records do now appear via digital stores and streaming services before they arrive on the high street, but there is still generally a gap between records being serviced to music radio and TV and their arrival on digital platforms. Some would argue the TV and radio sectors like it that way. Others would say that a week or two of radio play is needed before release to ensure a high chart position, and that the media coverage enjoyed by chart topping singles is still important in the wider scheme of things. But some might argue that record company marketing methods are increasingly outdated, and that record labels should just try and get all and any new music available online as soon as its mastered.

Anyway, these are some of the arguments that will presumably be put forward at the next MusicTank Think Tank, which has the title ‘Number One With A Bullet… Is Pre Release Killing Our Business?’ On the panel will be BBC Radio 1 man George Ergatoudis, artist manager Joe Taylor and Martin Talbot of the Official Chart Company.

The debate will take place on 10 Mar at 6.30pm at the PRS For Music HQ in London town. More info at www.musictank.co.uk/events/charts-and-the-release-process



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