The dramatic shift bows to demand from music fans and follows months of research, discussion and soul searching by the two majors. It provides artists with more creative campaigns and also ends the so-called "self-generating piracy".

On-air/on-sale was the only logical way forward, says Universal Music UK chairman and CEO David Joseph. "For a lot of our younger fans and consumers the word 'wait' is no longer in the vocabulary," he says. "You hear something and want it and then ...