EMI have denied a report that they are planning to scrap singles releases which appeared in yesterday’s Sunday Times.
According to the report, the plan emerged from negotiations over the contract of Kylie Minogue, who has been told to abandon the singles market, the company saying that she would not be paid for the first 80,000 sales. All new signings to the label are now being discouraged from releasing singles.
But EMI director of Communications Cathy Cremer told nme.com: “It’s definitely not true. There are no plans to scrap singles.”
Since the start of the decade, single sales have been in decline and most companies have used them effectively as advertising for the more profitable albums. But sales have declined to such an extent that there has been speculation as to how long labels can sustain the losses that they incur.