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‘Focus dates’ and ‘Impact dates’ are helping the dance industry sell more music – but what are they?
Words: Nick Stevenson
Published in Mixmag November 2011
A shift in how dance labels release music has led to an increase in sales.
Traditionally, tracks were promoted heavily in the lead-up to their release date – so when they finally became available they would sell loads in their first week, ensuring a high entry position in the singles charts. That’s changing.
“Getting a Top 20 single is only relevant for certain sections of the market,” says George Ergatoudis, Head of Music at Radio 1, speaking at the International Music Summit In Ibiza. “Building awareness is key.”
These days, technology allows tracks to be downloaded as soon as they’re finished. This means that instead of long lead-times and far-off release dates, dance labels put a track on sale immediately and promote them in the run-up to a ‘focus date’ or ‘impact date’. The added time the track is on sale in the lead-up to this date means fans no longer need to wait weeks to buy it.
James Drummond at Southern Fried says sales are benefiting from the shift: “It used to be that you’d hear a track on Tong’s show but when you Googled it or YouTubed it you’d find nothing, and forget about it. Now we like to get the track live to download and promote towards a focus date so people can buy it while it picks up press and radio plays along the way. It means we can release a track early, but then focus our promotion around a key date such as Radio 1 in Ibiza or Miami. Without focus dates we wouldn’t necessarily have got The 2 Bears’ ‘Bear Hug’ playlisted on Radio 1. Impact dates allow us to be more flexible with promoting the music while we continue to sell it.”
And its not just dance acts that have changed their release times; after the UK government told major labels that long leads encouraged piracy, giants like Sony and Universal have committed to work towards an ‘On air, on sale’ policy.
For Mixmag readers it means you’re more likely to get your hands on tracks you read about without waiting for a distant release date.
