Multiplatinum-selling pop group McFly are to become the latest music act to give their new album away for free after signing a deal with the Mail on Sunday.

Readers of the mid-market Sunday newspaper will get a free CD of McFly's new album Radio: ACTIVE when they buy a copy of the Mail on Sunday on July 20.

The McFly deal is being seen as significant as the group is the first current major pop chart act to give their music away as a newspaper cover mount.

This follows the deal by Prince to give his new album, Planet Earth, away with the Mail on Sunday on July 15 last year - a move that saw the newspaper put on around 600,000 sales and kicked off the current trend.

McFly - Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd - decided on the deal after leaving record giant Universal and setting up their own self-funded independent label, Super Records.

"This new freedom has given the band the opportunity to pursue new ways of getting their music into the public domain," a source close to the band said.

"It's a big deal as no act of their genre, ie a relevant big selling current pop act, has ever given away a brand new album before."

Fletcher, the band's singer and guitarist, added: "We want to get our music out to the widest audience possible and working with a massive paper like the Mail on Sunday will definitely help us achieve that.

"We're very excited about this great opportunity. Setting up our own label allows us to rip up the rulebook and find new ways of reaching an audience."

Stephen Miron, the managing director of the Mail on Sunday, said: "As part of the Mail on Sunday's ongoing innovation in bringing new music to the masses and exactly a year since we created a world first with Prince's new album, we are absolutely delighted to be involved with one of the UK's biggest selling pop acts, McFly.

"We're very excited to be giving away the new album free with the paper on July 20 and are confident that millions of our readers will love the new album."

A deluxe version of Radio: ACTIVE will be released as a CD by Super Records through retailers in September, featuring four extra new songs, a bonus DVD and a 32-page booklet.

The four-piece, aged between 20 and 22, became the youngest band to see their first album, Room on the 3rd Floor, debut at number one in the UK charts when they launched in 2004.
McFly's second album, Wonderland, also went straight in at number one in 2005, while their third album, Motion in the Ocean, entered the UK charts at number six in 2006.

Last year, they released a greatest hits compilation, which charted at number four.

The band has scored 13 top 10 UK singles, seven of which reached number one.

The Mail on Sunday's Prince promotion sparked a furious reaction from the record industry, although HMV agreed to sell the paper so its customers could buy the CD.

Despite the Mail on Sunday's sales soaring to 2,800,846 copies the week of the Prince giveaway, it appeared to lose most of the extra 600,000 sales the following week.

However, the paper said it was still up 31,000 from the week before the giveaway.

As well as the Prince deal, the Mail on Sunday also gave away Paul McCartney's new album, Memory Almost Full, last month, although it had already been released through Starbucks coffee shops.

The paper has also given away releases from Simply Red and UB40.

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Article Courtsey: Guardian.co.uk