Band hope ringtone will get them to Number One

Jimmy Saville would be spinning in his grave if he were dead

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 10th April 2006 14:56 GMT

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Mobile music might mean irritating ringtones to you, but an Italian band is hoping a deal with mobile network 3 will be enough to get them into the charts.

Planet Funk are releasing their single "Stop Me" exclusively for 3's UK customers to download.

The song is out 8 May and 3 is setting up a marketing campaign, a microsite, and space on its portal to promote the song. It will also be available as a free "dial tune" - what you hear when you phone someone on the 3 network.

Gnarls Barclay recently got to number one on the strength of downloads alone, well, downloads and a couple of months free promotion on BBC Radio One. 3 claimed responsibility for one in five of those downloads.

According to this story, Barclay sold 31,000 copies of his download single, so 3 won't have to convince a very high percentage of its 3.5m customers to buy the single to make it a Number One.

Press release from 3 is here.

The band have a Flash-heavy website available here. ®

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