5m Beatles downloads on iTunes

Since becoming available in November 2010, sales of Beatles tracks have exceeded 5 million, according to Apple.

Among US iTunes users the most popular track has been ‘Here Comes The Sun’.

Apple stated that the 1969 album Abbey Road was the band’s bestselling album on iTunes, with overall album sales topping 1m.

Following a lengthy legal tangle between the Beatle’s record label EMI and software giant Apple, the Beatle’s tracks were finally launched on iTunes on November 16^th 2010.

To date there has been no public disclosure of the commercial agreements reached by all concerned parties, although some unconfirmed reports purport thatr Apple is offering better royalty payments for Beatle’s music than with standard iTunes contracts.

Single Beatle’s tracks sell for 99p with albums costing £10.99. Specific sales figures for the UK have not been released.

Marketing salaries reach five-year low

According to the annual Marketing Week/ Ball & Hoolahan Salary Survey, marketing salaries have hit a five-year low.

A fall of 4% was recorded for marketing directors at £75,300 compared with £78,500 last year, with marketing manager’s salaries dropping from an average £42,000 last year to £41,300 in 2011 a decrease of 1.6%.

The findings from 2,545 online surveys also revealed that some salaries have, after compensating for the 2010 inflation rate of 3.3%, dropped lower than the 2001 average.

The gender divide continues to widen, with female marketing directors earning £15,000 less than their male counterparts, a divide that reportedly begins with female graduate trainees earning an average of £1,400 less than their male colleagues.

Digital marketers are however faring much better in the current economic climate, with the average salary for top digital marketers weighing in at £111,700 – considerably higher than the average marketing director.

A third of marketers have said they plan to change jobs in the next two or three years, while almost half have said they plan to seek higher-paid positions this year.


The survey also reported a higher average marketing wage for positions at US-owned companies. 

(We don't know who the guy in the picture is, but he could sure use a haircut).

Call for £2.50-an-hour training wage for interns

A training wage of £2.50-an-hour should be paid to interns working for a minimum of three months as it would boost UK productivity, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CPID).

The CPID has also called for the government to offer the right to request flexible working for all employees and “a step-change in the UK’s leadership and people management skills” to enable the UK to keep pace with competitors internationally.

John Philpott, chief economic adviser said: "The government wants to foster a strong, private sector-led, economic recovery, but we have yet to see a coherent strategy for economic growth to sit alongside the chancellor's very clear-cut approach to reducing the fiscal deficit.

"The coalition needs to show greater urgency in implementing measures to help boost the long-run supply side capacity of the UK economy, which must include efforts to boost productivity by improving the way in which businesses manage the people they employ."

According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency almost 22% of 2009 graduates who were employed six months after graduating had work experience, largely through internships, representing the largest group of university leavers.

Critics of unpaid work schemes such as internships have argued that young people from poorer backgrounds are at a disadvantage to more financially secure or better connected peers.

Campaign group Inernocracy and IPPR thinktank reported last July that the majority of interns could and should be legally defined under national minimum wage legislation as workers and are therefore entitled to launch claims for back-payment of wages.

The CIPD’s has called for the government to introduce legislation to implement minimum training wages for those on extended internships or work placements. 

Apple launches Mac app store

Apple yesterday announced all the way from sunny Cupertino, California HQ that it had opened the app store for Mac OS laptop and desktop computers, following the initial announcement at the ‘Back to Mac’ event last October. 

 

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said: "With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start. We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps."

Apple’s recent success has been largely attributed to the popularity of apps for iDevices, and this latest move is an attempt to create similar allure for Macs and Macbooks.

The store is brought to Mac users in the form of an OS update, from OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 to 10.6.6, rather than the store as an installed app. The Mac OS Software option will be replaced by the 115mb update.

Apple’s own apps are available from the choice of over one thousand apps, including iPhoto 11, iMovie 11 and Garageband, previously only available bundled with the iLife suite, they are now available from the app store for $14.99 each. Components of the iWord office suite are also available individually for $19.99 each. Prices in GBP currently unavailable at the Creatives offices as we're using stinky Windows :(  

Some programs have been drastically reduced in price, including Apple’s photo-editing program Aperture, down from $199 to $79. This move could be put down to third party software being made available through the store.

The store gives Apple the ability to reject and accept store entries (as it currently does with the iPhone app store) and allows premium tech vendors a 30% share of the price of apps sold.

Leading design software vendor Autodesk have participated in the launch, as well as Bionix and Ancestry.com.

App stores popularity has recently spread beyond Apple, with search engine giant Google launching its Chrome App store offering web-based software such as Tweetdeck. Rumours that Microsoft are developing an app store for Windows users have recently started to circulate.

To get started with Apple’s app store simply run a software update or head to apple.com/mac/app-store

Help to plan the year ahead

With Christmas and New Year fast-approaching, assessing whether the last twelve months are to be repined or reminisced is important when planning the way forward for the next year.


Making time to take stock of the year’s accomplishments and failures is hugely important; without reflection there’s little to base strategies upon.


We’ve discovered a fantastic tool here at CreativesRus called The Wheel of Life. It’s a simple diagram that allows you to assess how well balanced your life is, from family life and hobbies to career and health.


To find yourself on the wheel, rate yourself in each category, for example if you’re doing fantastically in your career pop yourself further away from the centre, and if you’re neglecting your hobbies, put yourself closer to the centre.


It would be fair to assume that most people’s wheels are somewhat unbalanced. Juggling career and health can be very tricky (unless your line of work happens to be something that doesn’t involve sitting down all day picking at biscuits and guzzling tea). Likewise, balancing career and family may leave you with little time to yourself, and that’s a recipe for burnout.


Your own Wheel of Life has to be balanced, and perhaps looking at it in black and white (or indeed purple and orange) will encourage you to take the necessary steps to achieve the equilibrium essential for living, not just surviving.

Product placement allowed from February

Media regulator Ofcom confirmed yesterday that product placement in UK TV programmes – forecast to be worth £150m - is to be allowed from February 2011.

Paid-for references to brands will be allowed to feature in broadcasts including soaps, films and entertainment shows from 28^th February 2011.

Product placement in children’s programmes, news broadcasts, all UK produced current affairs, consumer affairs and religious programmes are still prohibited.

Under the new legislation alcohol, tobacco, baby milk, weapons, medicines, gambling brands, escort agencies and food and drink deemed high in salt, fat or sugar will be banned from product placement.

According to Ofcom’s rules product placement “cannot be created or distorted so that they become vehicles for the purposes of featuring product placement", must be editorially justified and cannot impair broadcasters’ editorial independence.

A ten month-long public consultation was held ahead of the changes to Ofcom’s code.

Ofcom’s rules stipulate that product placement must be made clear to viewers, with a new product placement logo appearing for a minimum of three seconds at the beginning and end of programmes and following advertising breaks.

An audience awareness campaign overseen by Ofcom is to be launched in the New Year on commercial TV stations intending on broadcasting programmes with product placement. The campaign will comprise of short information broadcasts during advert breaks in popular programmes.

Product placement has been a part of American broadcasting for some time now, with many high-profile programmes such as American Idol and Sex and the City adopting the advertising technique, which accounts for 5% of total TV advertising revenue, according to product placement company MirriAd.

In light of the new rules, Ofcom has relaxed its TV sponsorship regulations and paid-for references to brands (radio only), allowing brand logos to appear during credits and using product placement in programmes they are sponsoring.

Five social networking faux pas to avoid

                                          Spam sammich!


Mass messaging friends and not fans is a fast and easy route to surefire deletion. Opening Facebook messages to a sea of spam from ‘friends’ touting their services is frankly just annoying. Often these promotional mail outs are socially, geographically and economically irrelevant and have been sent to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the friends list without a second thought as to whether or not any of these people would be remotely interested. If you’re going to mass message anyone, make sure they’re fans who have taken the time to ‘like’ your page and have a genuine interest in your services.


Control yourself!


Status updates every hour. It happens all the time on every social network – some misguided fool unable to control their compulsion to spread the word about their latest cup of tea. If you’re trying to promote yourself as a serious freelancer, this will say one potentially damaging thing: you have too much time on your hands. That said, spam updating about your business every hour (rather than simple inanities) it is likely a bigger bugbear than your latest cup of tea announcement. Updates should be well constructed and relevant rather than another irritating reminder of your existence. Stop annoying your friends and restrict business updates to business pages.


Don’t believe all digital hype


Advertising campaigns solely conducted through online social media can be restrictive and if not executed with foresight and precision can end in disaster, as furniture retailer Habitat learned the hard way. Despite some protests to the contrary, traditional advertising remains relevant. Although virtual advertising is boundless, it’s also saturated with people like you struggling to be heard, and even if you’re savvy enough to stand out from the herd, continuing to captivate your existing and appeal to a new broader audience . Check out our networking tips.


Stay on topic

If the sole reason you’re using social media is to make money, frequently deviating from your business message is a major no-no.  Unless you’re Stephen Fry or Kanye West, philippic outbursts (indeed on any subject) are likely to turn people off, particularly if the material bears no relevance to your business page or profile. Sticking to subject little and often is key.


Personal space – know the boundaries


Linking your personal profile and your business page can hinder your business reputation. We’ve all heard horror stories about people being sacked, arrested or just plain failing to get past the interview over Facebook content, so why as freelancers would the rules be any different? Keep your page profile colloquial and professional; keep your personal profile completely and utterly private. A transparent Linkedin profile will do you more favours than a Facebook one.