Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/10/ringtones_fornumberone/
Band hope ringtone will get them to Number One
Jimmy Saville would be spinning in his grave if he were dead
Posted in Mobile, 10th April 2006 14:56 GMT
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 (http://music.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1152007.php/British_pop_song_tops_charts_on_download_sales_alone) 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. (http://www.three.co.uk/news/h3gnews/pressnewsview.omp?collcid=1019745742912&cid=1142955345828&index=1)
The band have a Flash-heavy website available here. (http://www.planetfunkweb.com/web/index.html) ®