Sunday, January 7, 2007

The Beatles block book the Top Ten?

In the 70s (or was it the 80s?) the Beatles did a block re-release of their singles in their original sleeves and labels. As a result, several of their old singles reached the Top Twenty. It was a masterful marketing move.

Now they are set to "block book" the entire Top Ten. With internet downloads entering the chart calculations today, new download spikes for recordings will enter the charts.

The Beatles, or their estates, have, until now, very shrewdly witheld their recordings from download. It is rumoured that this situation may soon end, leading to a mighty surge of downloads for the Beatles' catalogue, resulting with a chart saturated by the Beatles.

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo comments, from a not entirely disinterested perspective:

If the Beatles' songs were made available digitally, there would be such a rush to download them that a top 10 made up entirely of their music would be almost guaranteed.

Brilliant marketing. And an excellent opprotunity for a new generation to discover the superb music of Liverpool's Fab Four.

2 comments:

  1. Never mind the Beatles - I see you've got a Motors track on your 'Top 3 List".

    Now that's a band that shouldn't be forgotten.
    Ah, the days of "Airport" and "Love and Loneliness"....

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  2. What a man of taste you are Chris! Happy New Year! Yes, I got "Forget about you" on 12 inch vinyl when it originally came out. It really is an absolute corker - particularly the guitar riffs.

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