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October 23, 2003updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

CDs days numbered ?

By Press Gazette

The days of using covermounted CDs to boost newspaper and magazine sales could be numbered.

According to a survey, some 60 per cent of record companies report no increase in sales from the practice. Newspapers, conversely, achieve on average a 10 per cent sales boost.

The last three years have seen a boom in CD giveaway promotions, according to music marketing consultants Frukt, to the extent that they have become almost the norm for weekend editions of national newspapers.

Usually the paper pays the production costs and record labels waive the usual royalty payments because of the perceived publicity benefits. Last year more than 20 million music CDs were given away by newspapers and magazines accounting for 10 per cent of the total sold in the UK.

Tim Grimsditch, who edited the Frukt report, said: “For magazines and papers covermounts are an easy and fairly cheap way of building up sales.”

Grimsditch said the fierce nature of competition in the music industry makes it unlikely that record companies will ditch CD giveaways in the near future.

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