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The Mail On Sunday, a UK national Sunday newspaper, today confirmed that they would give away approximately two million copies of a specially pressed 'Heartbreak Hotel' CD single this weekend. The CD is being packaged with the newspaper itself and contains two audio tracks and two videos for use on a multimedia PC. The tracklisting has not been confirmed although the buzz confirms 'Heartbreak Hotel' as being the focal song on the CD. The Mail On Sunday also confirmed they will advertise this exclusive offer over the weekend. This is the second time BMG have struck a deal with a leading UK Sunday newspaper. On 14 May 2000, the Eurythmics single, 'Peace Is Just A Word' was distributed with The Sunday Times with over a million copies of the song given away. That CD contained three songs, a video interview about the band's latest album, 'Peace', three live video performances and a video interview with Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart. The commercial single for 'Peace Is Just A Word' was due for release the following day but did not appear and was subsequently never issued following the promotion. The Sunday Times featured an interview [in print] with the band and discount vouchers to buy the Eurythmics Greatest Hits album at discount pricing - it propelled the album back up the chart and edged it closer to 2 million copies sold. The album 'Peace' returned to the Top 75 on the back of the promotional give-away. The campaign behind the Eurythmics offer was backed with a £1 million spend (US$1.6m) and BMG/19 Management justified the apparent act of self-sabotage by stating that that the purpose of a single is to promote an album and that this was the best way to reach the 'ardent Eurythmics fans from the eighties' that may no longer buy singles or visit record stores. Judging from the eleventh-hour cancellation of the Eurythmics single in favour of this mass give-away, the commercial single for 'Heartbreak Hotel' seems increasingly unlikely. 'Heartbreak Hotel' is featured on 'My Love Is Your Love' and 'Whitney The Greatest Hits' and is therefore already in close to two million homes within the UK. If this promotional single reaches more than 1.6 million homes, it will be the most widely owned Whitney Houston single in the UK, topping 'I Will Always Love You'. NEWSFILE: 8 DECEMBER 2000 |