During the change over from records to CDs, 12cm CDs were intended to replace the 33rpm LP and 8cm CDs were intended to replace the 45rpm single. However, only a small selection of 8cm CDs were produced (anyone remember Blobby :p) and then suddenly all have been replaced with the 12cm CD as we have today.
Universal Music UK now plans to reintroduce the 8cm single later this month naming them as Pocket CDs. Each pocket CD will contain three tracks and a code to get the matching ringtone for the consumer's mobile. The majority of CD players can play 8cm CDs although a small fraction will need a 12cm adaptor for the player to accept them; much like some 45's which required a 'middle' adaptor to play in certain record players.
The aim of the 8cm is to try and improve sales of singles once again. Quite surprisingly, global ringtone sales have reached a total of $ 3.5bn; a whopping ~15 times more value in sales than $ 232.5m from global singles. As a result, Universal has decided to include ringtone codes with their 8cm singles for the first time to tempt consumers to purchase the single and get a matching ringtone for their mobile. GristyMcFisty submitted the following news via our news submit :
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Alas, all but a handful of CD players were unable to cope with the format, requiring owners to clip extension rings around each disc to take them up to the standard 12cm CD album size. The 8cm format passed away, at least in the music market, though you do occasionally come across them offered as novelties or as driver discs for small IT products such as USB Flash drives. Each Pocket CD will contain three tracks and - for the first time - codes that enable buyers to download ringtone versions of the songs. Mobile phone ringtones are seen as the basis for an increasingly lucrative music market - sales have already outstripped CD singles. |
With such a hefty price for mobile ringtones at the moment, it is quite surprising that consumers are purchasing them as if they were sold at a fraction of their cost. Unlike a song from a music download service, a ringtone often costs as much as double the price of the same song from a music download service and contains only a fraction of the song in midi or monophonic sound.
If ringtone sales are really about 15 times greater than single sales, the music industry should be happy with this. This may give another reason why CD single sales are falling, for example some consumers may feel that the artist has made enough from buying a ringtone, so they decide to get the matching track for free off the net rather than pay again by purchasing the single.
Source: The Register - Internet & Law
