Sunday, January 27, 2008

Atomic Kitten's guide to downloading

So, the big push to grab "Liverpool's first number one of 2007" - part of the Capital of Culture celebrations is on.

It's not really clear that Atomic Kitten were the best choice for the job, as it does rather remind people that - despite Liverpool's former strong record at turning out chart hits - the city hasn't topped the charts since Atomic Kitten did back in 2002. It's not quite the longest drought - there was a seven year gap between Sonia and Three Lions - but making a huge fuss about being the home of number ones when you've not managed a big one for over half a decade seems a bit of a hostage to fortune.

The omens for the Kitten's cover of Anyone Had A Heart breaking the dry spell aren't great, either. The Liverpool Echo reveals:

Their aim is to get Liverpool’s first number one of 2008 and raise £1m for Merseyside charities.

But, it is only available as a download, which means you will need a computer with internet access to get your hands on a copy.

So, nobody much interested in releasing it as a physical single, eh?

Aware that these new-fangled downloads are confusing to a lot of people (apparently), they decide to show that anyone can do it. Since the rules on employing three year-old kids are difficult, they've got one of the Kitten to explain how simple it can be:
Liz McClarnon showed just how easy it is.

She said: “I’m a big fan of downloading. I get everything on the internet these days. Plus, it’s loads cheaper, so rather than paying two or three pounds for a single, you only pay 79p.

Although, of course, a single has more tracks on, and you're getting a physical article as well. So it's not "loads cheaper" - actually, for what you get, it's more expensive.

Oh, and the official site hosting the download is charging 99p.


6 comments:

Jack said...

They should look at what happened with the Sex Pistols and Malcolm Middleton and their "campaigns" to get to number 1. It'll be lucky if it breaks the top 30 I bet.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that Liverpool has gone so long without a number one - a sign, I think, of the cultural WCML*isation of the rest of Britain, which has led pop acts to come from a much wider range of places ... once, there were enough distinctive pre-Americanisation cultures in Britain to ensure that only WCMLers could do pop properly. Not any more, I'm afraid.

*West Coast Main Line

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

@Robin
Of course, both the more recent and 2002 number ones owed their success to older heads than the acts fronting them - Waterman and McCluskey; it's arguable Liverpool's decline kicked in much earlier...

Chris Brown said...

To be slightly fair, the 99p price is only for the non-DRM MP3 version. So if you're more interested in the Number One than actually listening to it you can save yourself the 20p.
That said, it's not a great sign that EMI gave up on the idea of a CD single, and so far it hasn't reached the Top 200.

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

@Chris
- at the time I posted, the official site was only taking preorders for the 99p version and didn't mention that it was DRM-ed free. But, yes, it certainly is the case that you can buy for 79p.

Chris Brown said...

Point taken. You could still have bought either from the same link, but I suppose they started out drawing attention to the more profitable version. Only when desperation kicked in did they point out that you could save 20p, although understandably most people seem to be saving all 99p.

And somebody doesn't know how to spell Lightning Seeds, do they?

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