Katy Perry gets a pop-boost from the iPhone
Tap Tap Revenge helps sell music
CDs, it seems, are going the way of vinyl and tapes. This Christmas saw the worst sales season for music disks in recent memory, though the majority of this problem is due to the music industry’s inability to adjust to modern distribution methods.
But not all artists can be accused of being behind the technological times. Katy Perry is one of the pop-tastic stars who lent her music to the hit iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge, and it’s now being reported that she’s seen a significant boost in sales over on iTunes.
Apparently Katy’s song Hot N Cold encouraged an extra 250,000 iPhoners to download and play the free version of Tap Tap Revenge, and EMI says an impressive 56,000 of those then clicked through to iTunes and bought the song.
Other bands have been less reluctant to license their music for free, and although paid versions of Tap Tap Revenge have come along that feature track listings from specific bands, Katy’s pioneering move might well encourage others to stop being cheap and follow suit.
It makes perfect sense, in today’s digital age, to allow the modern listener to try before they buy. This marketing method has proven to be the key to App Store sales for games - utilising demos and lite versions to grab attention - and it now seems this might also be the way to go with album sales.
