The Mail On Sunday yesterday launched its own record label with the release of a new single, 'Oh Holy Night' performed by the ACM Gospel Choir, which the paper hopes will compete for the coveted Christmas number one spot (though it's been released a bit early to do so). The single is being sold in the conventional way, albeit only as a digital download, but the album it comes from will be given away with the paper on 14 Dec.
The MoS has dabbled more than most print media in the music space, of course, continuing with the covermount promotion long after other newspapers had tired of the idea, mainly by working with classic artists to put together exclusive greatest hits collections, normally to promote a new album or tour, and, more recently, by releasing brand new albums from big name artists like Prince and McFly.
The paper says its new venture, Mail On Sunday Sounds, will look to work with newer talent as well as the big names that have featured on past covermounts - the ACM Gospel Choir, from the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, being one such example of newer talent.
Music Week quote MoS editor Peter Wright thus: "When we did the Prince album we got a lot of flak from the music industry and one of the things that was said was that anyone can put out an album by an established artist like Prince, but what are we doing to promote new talent? I think that if we can move more into original content in the long run that will be more exciting. It is closer to what we do in newspaper - we don't publish other people's stories. We are original content providers. If we can begin to move into that area with music, that is very exciting".