The single, Stop Me by Planet Funk, will make history when it becomes the first UK single to be made available exclusively via mobiles on 8 May.  The single will be available exclusively to customers on the 3 mobile network, following a similar, successful release on 3s sister music service in Italy.
The release comes as 3 celebrates its 1 millionth audio track download in four months since the launch of the service. 3s music service was also recently named Best Digital Music Service at the Music Week awards.
3s audio service is averaging sales of over 200,000 tracks per month, and according to the Official Charts Company (OCC), the body responsible for compiling the UK charts, the service has made up over 53% of mobile track downloads since the start of 2006. 3s audio sales also account for 3.7% of the combined singles chart and 7.5% of the download chart this year.
Releasing Stop Me on 3 makes perfect sense for us says Planet Funks Alex Neri. Peoples musical habits are changing and millions of people now effectively have a record shop in their pocket 24 hours a day. We know that 3s customers are huge music fans, and releasing Stop Me solely on their network opens up our music to a whole new audience of over 3.5 million people in the UK.
Planet Funk fans will be able to download the full-length audio track to both their mobile and PC with one single purchase, costing 99p. The Stop Me video, including behind-the-scenes making-of footage, will also be available.
3 will be mounting a marketing campaign to promote the single to its 3.5 million customers in the run-up to the release. This will include a dedicated microsite, offering information on the band, competitions, and free downloads, as well as promotion on 3s Today on 3 portal. The track will also be seeded as a free dialtune available to 3 customers, so anyone calling them will hear the track while they are waiting for the phone to be answered.