Blondie album launch could repair the broken CD

Lara O’Reilly is Marketing Week’s digital and telecoms specialist and here she gives her views on what companies from Apple to Zynga are up to in the wired world of the web.

blondie

One way or another, I think the music industry should be inspired by the magazine-cum-CD launch of Blondie’s new album.

The Debbie Harry-fronted band has signed an exclusive deal with Future Publishing to release new album Panic of Girls.

The only way Blondie fans can get their hands on the physical album ahead of its official release on 4 July is by purchasing Future’s official collectors’ magazine and gift pack from the newsstand.

The pack is priced at a hefty £14.99 – a fair few pennies more than the average CD or download – but it offers some great memorabilia: two extra tracks, badges, posters, postcards and a 132 page magazine.

Future Publishing Music Group publisher Chris Ingham says: “the opportunity is so simple it’s genius”…

…Which he would, but long-term I can see a real opportunity in fan packs for well-established bands to find another way to market their releases in an age when the physical product is so quickly shunned for the cheaper, less space-invading download.

The UK newsstand reaches ten times the footfall of the traditional music retail space, according to Future, which has already produced packs for Slash and Motorhead albums in the last six months under the Classic Rock magazine banner.

Artists used to go on tour to sell their albums but recently that trend has reversed. Extra content could help to migrate the more hardcore fans away from their hard drives and back to the record or CD.