UK Record Labels to Align Radio Airplay, Singles Release

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Called "On Air, On Sale," Universal and Sony finally realize that making music fans wait up to six weeks after hearing a song on the radio before they can legally buy it is "out of date," acknowledging that many simply turned to P2P to satisfy demand.

Several UK record labels have finally realized that the standard practice of playing new tracks on the radio for several weeks to build up demand before they hit stores is outdated.

"Wait is not a word in the vocabulary of the current generation," says David Joseph, chief executive of Universal Music. "It's out of date to think that you can build up demand for a song by playing it for several weeks on radio in advance."

Universal and Sony plan to end the practice February 1st with a new policy called "On Air, On Sale."

Previously, some songs were played on the radio for up to six weeks before they were officially released for sale, leading many to turn alternatives like P2P to acquire music.

"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," added Joseph.

Delayed release dates have always been a rather contentious issue. The longer a record label sits on an album the more likely it is to find its way to file-sharing sites, and services.

A few years ago Sir Paul McCartney expressed his dismay with former record label EMI and its "boring" approach to releasing music. He said he had became frustrated with the amount of time it took for EMI to release a song. What he wanted released within weeks record label executives told him it would take six months or more.

He told The Times:

I'd started saying to them: 'Look, we could write a thing and have it released the next week.' And they would say: 'You can't do that these days.' So I would say: 'Well, how much time do you need?' And they'd say six months. I said: 'Why do you need that long?' And do you know what they said? 'To figure out how to market it.' I said: 'Wait a minute, are you sure you need six months for that? Couldn't some bright people do that in two days?' Jesus Christ. I said: 'Look boys, I'm sorry, I'm digging a new furrow.

Hopefully decreasing the length of time between when an album is completed and when it goes on sale will be the next step in music industry reform.

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