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Vaizey welcomes ‘on air, on sale’ policy
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 19 January 2011
The government’s top ‘dude’ Ed Vaizey has welcomed Sony and Universal’s previously reported decision to release new singles digitally on the same day they are serviced to radio, rather than having new tracks appear on air weeks before they go on sale.
As previously reported, the move means that as soon as a music fan hears a new track on the radio they can stream it via Spotify or buy it from iTunes. The change responds to the “I want it now” nature of the modern consumer, and removes one of the key excuses for online piracy – that when a song is new and buzzy it can’t be bought from legit digital music stores.
According to Music Week, Vaizey has welcomed the policy shift and called on EMI and Warner to quickly follow suit. The Creative Industries Minister said: “The internet has revolutionised the way we consume music and industry must respond to the change in demand. The more legal sources of online content meet the expectations of consumers in the digital age, the less people will be tempted to turn to unlawful sources”.
In related news, the government has confirmed that Vaizey, whose creative industries brief previously saw him reporting to both Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Business Secretary Vince Cable, will now solely report to the former.
It follows the shift of a whole load of responsibilities for the media and telecoms sectors from Cable’s department to Hunt’s office, mainly because of the controversy that surrounded the Business Secretary’s off guarded remarks to undercover journalists late last year that he had “declared war” on Rupert Murdoch, despite him supposedly independently reviewing the merits and implications of Murdoch company News Corp’s bid to take complete ownership of BSkyB.
