Band makes record by releasing mobile single

With just about every teen out there lugging around a mobile phone, the concept of premiering your band’s work over a mobile network could certainly offer some worthwhile appeal.

An Anglo-Italian five-piece band is set to make an entirely different kind of record next month when it launches Britain’s first single that can only be bought by cell phone, mobile network operator 3 said on Monday.

“Stop Me” by Planet Funk, due to be released on May 8, comes after “Crazy” by Gnarls Barclay reached the number one spot in the UK singles chart by download sales alone, before it was even available in record stores.

It is the latest attempt by bands and record companies to breathe life back into the flagging singles market as they look to capture the imagination of a new generation of music lovers who are shunning established formats such as compact discs.

Downloads are now estimated to account for around 4 percent of UK singles sales.

That number is set to soar as prices fall and more people gain access to on-line music stores such as Apple’s iTunes through phones and Internet-connected mobile devices.

The single will be launched on 3. The Hutchinson Whampoa mobile network division has invested heavily in its music service and says its users have downloaded more than 16 million video and audio tracks in the last two years.

Mobile firms in Europe’s fiercely competitive market see media content as an avenue for new revenue as they battle lacklustre growth in customer numbers.

3 has also introduced call packages that include free music downloads in an attempt to give users a taste for the service.

In addition users can transfer the songs to their computer for free so they do not pay twice for tracks and can then download them to other digital music players that support the format. Source: Reuters

[tags]anglo-italian,whampoa mobile network,music services[/tags]