I heard Kylie’s new single 2 Hearts on Radio 1 today. A shockingly old fashioned way to release music, Kylie gave it a ‘radio only’ release. There isn’t even a video on YouTube yet – what the hell’s that about?

Even more old fashioned – the only place I can find the video is on Kylie’s own website. It’s not even flash embedded, you’ve got to stream it in Windows Media or Realplayer. How long has she been away?

Seriously though, I can understand the desire to control the release, but this release could have been done much more stylishly using the Internet rather than trying to do a radio-only release.

The song itself is less than impressive – listeners on both the Scott Mills show and Sarah Cox today texted in their disapproval. Cox tried to explain this by saying that Kylie’s music is usually slow to grow on you, but eventually becomes classic material.

I normally agree with that outlook, but the song sounds roughly cobbled together – that snare drum at the start really bothers me. The Australian website news.com.au reports that a number of fans have taken matters into their own hands and posted the song online.

Any (illegal online copies) hosted anywhere in Australia are being removed as our top priority,? said Ms Heindel, head of the Australian Record Industry Association’s piracy arm.

She denied any suggestions the single may have been leaked intentionally as a promotional gimmick.

I know Kylie’s been off the scene for a while, but ignoring the Internet as a marketing medium is ridiculously old fashioned. Other acts know their fans go online for new music – why would you make such a ridiculous move in 2007?