No Rock And Roll Fun

ON THE SPOT WITH BILL AND SIAN: We love Fridays, best of all the Breakfast shows. That's the day when overpaid Dermot Murnaghan and Natasha Kaplinsky get to stay in bed, while Bill Turbull and Sian Williams take the stage - a much more relaxed pair, with far better chemistry and the ability to ask questions which suggest they know more than a two minute briefing paper's worth about the subject in hand. Thus, Bill was quick to pick up on Gary Jules' explanation of why it took three years to get round to releasing Mad World - that it had become popular through British "people downloading it and requesting it on the radio", leading to the eventual release.

"So" says Bill, "Downloading actually created the sales?"

Gary sqirums really, really uncomfortably on the big red sofa, weighing his likely record company's reaction. "Well... it didn't create sales, but it did get people interested and lead to the demand..."

So, that would be creating the sales, then? Because without downloaders, there wouldn't have been a single for anyone to buy, much less being the Christmas number one. Downloading, in other words, was the sole reason behind one of the biggest sellers of 2003. And yet they'll still tell you it's killing music.