Yes, I know I did one of these a few months back, but this one has extra options...

i picked to release the first sunday after its first play to give radio a chance to change their playlists. An immediate release is okay for new artists but for artists with a massive fanbas its stupid as it just jumps up the chart and then falls away after the first week as the passive music listener doesnt hear it yet!!

It pleases me that enough people are seeing sense to put "depends on type of music/artist" in second place. It's absolutely the only sensible option in the UK as it is right now. You can see from the way OA/OS releases have turned out with different artists that it's not ideal for everyone. Essentially, if you're a complete nobody with an extremely catchy song or a massive superstar, go with OA/OS (and yes, release on Sunday). If you're basically anything in between that (e.g. Nicola Roberts, The Saturdays), going OA/OS is a suicidal move. Primarily because of radio in the UK simply not adjusting to OA/OS anywhere near as well as it should. I don't think it needs to be explained again what radio is doing wrong, but I wish people would think about it more. Screaming "WHY ISN'T EVERYTHING RELEASED IMMEDIATLY" is so foolish, it's just not feasible in the UK at the moment and on many an occasion, holding back a release is the far more sensible option. It's just that people only think about the cases where holding back a release isn't needed.

I don't mind releases being held back as such, because like what's been said in some cases it's needed but being held back for literally months like Rita Ora has been for example is not needed at all, all it does is cause horrificaly frontloaded songs, which is what leads to calls for EVERYTHING to be reelased immediately.

 

So I'm not reallysure what to answer, I think held back releases are fine (it would be ridiculous to just switch to OA/OS for everything completely, if it happened then I'd rather it was gradually phased in) as long as it's only a month or so rather than being 2/3 months of holding back and then the songs end up spending only that long in the top 10.

Right now it depends on the type of artist/music. For example, a dance song (e.g. Molly by Cedric Gervais) needs to be held back so that it can get the best chance of a top 40 position - but songs like 'How We Do' and 'Good Time' need to be released ASAP as they will be massive anyway. Rock and indie songs also benefit from OA/OS but they should learn to release them on the nearest Sunday so they can get a full week of sales. Songs by The Saturdays, Stooshe and other British acts should be held back as we know what happens when they're not (Notorious) but songs by American artists should only be held back for a few weeks at the maximum. It is sad that the UK is the only place where not everything is OA/OS but instead of forcing everyone to release OA/OS we should introduce it gradually so that the general buying public and radio stations get used to it. Then maybe in a few years we'll have caught up with Australia, America and Europe with everything being available when it gets released to radio.

On a side issue, how many midweek-released OA/OS songs have actually gone to #1, either immediately, or in later weeks?

On a side issue, how many midweek-released OA/OS songs have actually gone to #1, either immediately, or in later weeks?

 

In the 2010s;

 

Shout For England ft Dizzee Rascal & James Cordon "Shout" (immediately)

The Black Eyed Peas 'The Time (Dirty Bit)' (in later weeks)

Rihanna ft Calvin Harris 'We Found Love' (immediately)

 

I don't remember any other #1s being midweek, but many were released on a Monday alongside the album instead of Sunday when singles are released.

 

In the 2010s;

 

Shout For England ft Dizzee Rascal & James Cordon "Shout" (immediately)

The Black Eyed Peas 'The Time (Dirty Bit)' (in later weeks)

Rihanna ft Calvin Harris 'We Found Love' (immediately)

 

I don't remember any other #1s being midweek, but many were released on a Monday alongside the album instead of Sunday when singles are released.

 

I think some of the X Factor winner singles have been released on Mondays, when the finale is on Sunday.

 

Looking at the #1s from this decade, I think maybe Bad Romance, OMG and We Are Young were released mid-week? Also Gettin' Over You and Titanium were promo singles, so were probably released at some weird time in the week (I know for sure Titanium was anyway).

 

Also, maybe Party Rock Anthem, Give Me Everything and Somebody That I Used to Know were mid-week releases? I'm not sure about those though, they didn't make much of an impact at first, so I can't really remember. Those songs would have got to #1 no matter what day of the week they were released though.

Bad Romance was definitely mid-week, I think it might have been Thursday/Friday because they rush released it, I remember the demo leaked before the song was actually meant to be out and so that was probably why they pushed it forward so immediately, but I don't remember.

I do agree with Umi that OA/OS sale doesn't always work, but for the majority of artists who can score a hit in the UK, it seems to work well. This can certainly include rock singles, I don't think R U Mine? or Burn It Down would've done as well as they did, even if it didn't seem that way by the peak, I guess releasing on a sunday after first radio play will work far more in favour of fanbase driven acts, but I do think its the best possible solution.

I think some of the X Factor winner singles have been released on Mondays, when the finale is on Sunday.

 

I wouldn't count Monday as 'midweek' in this context, since for many years it was the normal day to release singles.

I'd say releasing on the first Sunday after first radio play, it would give it a full week of sales and allow radio playlists to change, as others have said. An interesting footnote on Radio 2's playlist - "Before any track can be considered it must be commercially available or be within 3 weeks of commercial availability". Perhaps if other radio stations even had this rule in place, it could help.

I just wish that record companies would read polls like this - though knowing them, they'd still ignore any result that didn't fit their preconceptions... :rolleyes:

 

After all, it took them three years to accept all downloads sales counting towards the chart, and even then they had to be dragged into it, kicking & screaming... :)

I just wish that record companies would read polls like this - though knowing them, they'd still ignore any result that didn't fit their preconceptions... :rolleyes:

 

After all, it took them three years to accept all downloads sales counting towards the chart, and even then they had to be dragged into it, kicking & screaming... :)

 

The wait was ridiculous but not as bad as whoever decided that tracks should be removed from the chart two weeks after physical deletion. March-December 2006 looks so odd chartwise and yet it was actually one of my favourite times in music.

Oh either as soon as or the first Sunday, I don't really mind. I don't buy that there should be differences though, fanbase acts are only going to sell to fanbases whenever they're released. Big non-mainstream acts in America get right to the top and plummet straight away and it would be no different if they held their songs back for a few weeks.

 

Also the problem is airplay/video play. Why does something NEED to have airplay before being released to get a good chart position? Why can't it be released and radio play it, if everything charted that way it's not like radio would have much choice, they'd soon learn that songs falling down after initial hype would be common and shouldn't equal dropping from the playlist, although given radio bosses are bigger morons than those of record companies and the public who don't seem to tire of hearing the same songs five times a day for 12 months, probably not. If something ('Molly') needs six or so weeks of airplay to be able to get 10k worth of sales to get into the top 40 and then drop down straight away, then quite frankly it doesn't deserve to chart.

Interesting results - the most notable being that virtually nobody likes the record company's long-promo plan. The vast majority want new music ASAP, though 3/4's are prepared to wait a few days in order to maximise initial chart impact.

In retrospect, if you go back to the 60s/70s etc. The majority of records were released on Fridays. Hence not entering the chart in really high positions, unless you were people like Daryl Denham's written "Going Underground". The Jam were rather cagey by putting out their records on a Monday, so you'd go straight to #1 with the full week's sale. This is actually where the drugged up/nutcase Sex Pistols went wrong. Aha. If they'd put "God Save The Queen" out on a Monday, then it would of entered the chart at number one, with over 100,000 sales, but they did not. So, only cleared 20,000 for 2 days sales & entered at #11, to lose out on week 2 on just over 80,000.

 

If you want to enter the chart & grab a higher position, you've got to get a complete week's sales in & it's still true today. It's no good putting out a song on a Wednesday. Get it out on the Sunday, regardless of whether people are demanding it & some station is playing it. If you wait, you'll get a bigger first complete week sale & a bigger chart position in the bargain. Daryl Denham & Paul Weller were not stupid.

 

Obviously artists & their Record companies today, don't really care about chart position, anyway.

Edited August 6, 201212 yr by davetaylor

Released on 1st Sunday after airplay debut - No brainer imo

Released on 1st Sunday after airplay debut - No brainer imo

 

Unfortunately, that's exactly the sort of people record companies employ as release schedulers... :lol: