As you may well have seen, the boss of the Mail On Sunday has hit back at rising opposition to newspaper covermounts by taking an ad in Music Week to put his side of the argument. Opposition to covermounts is rising again, of course, after Mike Oldfield hit out at the Mail On Sunday's recent promotion in which it gave a free copy of his 'Tubular Bells' album to every reader.
As previously reported, the Mail On Sunday gave away copies of the 1973 album last month, tied to editorial about Richard Branson's new book, 'Tubular Bells' being the first album to be released on the original Virgin Records. The paper licenced the CD from EMI, who now own Virgin Records of course, but Oldfield, who will soon move his back catalogue to Universal, has since told reporters no one consulted him about the giveaway, adding that he only found out about it by chance, and that he objected to his music being given away as a newspaper freebie.
Although EMI were not obliged to involve Oldfield in the licensing deal, his public criticism of the promotion has reignited opposition in the artist, management and retail communities to national newspapers giving away free CDs to their readers. It was opposition in those three communities three years ago that saw many record companies, who had previously participated in covermount promotions, backing away from the newspaper partnerships. However, keen to find new revenue streams, some labels have started to participate in covermounts again, with the Mail On Sunday the most proactive newspaper in the covermount space.
Responding to renewed criticism of covermount promotions, the Mail On Sunday took an advert in this week's Music Week, with the paper's MD Stephen Miron arguing that, far from being bad for the music industry, the promotions deliver valuable income and marketing exposure for labels and artists, adding that many labels recognised that fact and were keen to work with his paper. Miron wrote: "We spend more money marketing music acts than any other music company does. A lot of people recognise that we are a different distribution channel. I have never understood why retailers have never come to me and said 'Is there a way we can work with you?' We can draw people in to a retailer on Sunday to go and buy music".
He continued by pledging to continue running covermount promotions, writing: "This isn't going to stop. Their [the record companies] worst fear is that we stop doing it. When we stop doing it, it will have a far worse effect on album sales. We are promoting music. Record companies are desperate to work with us again. They are nervous, but they don't want to bite the hand that feeds them".