Because if you do, a very bad habit will have become even more deeply ingrained among the British record-buying public. In their absence, people find other means of entertainment to spend their money on. Hard evidence for this view was provided by figures released a fortnight ago. Primarily aimed at under-14s, singles have long been a reliable guide to the record industry's real growth.
Sales falling by a fifth therefore spells very bad news.
Oasis's Standing On The Shoulder of Giants , released in March and now out of the top 50. However, the figures supporting this trend paint a bleak picture when it comes to retail profits. During one week last month, only 24 of the titles in the top 75 album chart were newly released during the year 2000. Again , which hoovered the cash out of 88,000 suggestible pre-teen pockets. Yet both these sales successes weren't achieved without cost to record retailers as sales figures for each were boosted by heavy price-discounting.