In one corner stirs Led Zeppelin, the rock dinosaurs reactivated for the digital age. In the other, the £100 million machine of the reformed Spice Girls. Let the cash tills ring for a Christmas sales battle that could rescue a punchdrunk record industry.

Today marks the release of block-buster albums from two powerhouse “brands” who dominated their respective genres in their day. Led Zeppelin rampaged across the globe in the Seventies, rocking stadiums, entertaining groupies and snorting most substances available to man. The Spice Girls broke sales records in America, invented “Girl Power” and signed ground-breaking sponsorship deals with Pepsi and Walkers crisps.

The return of the giants to the store and stage has not come a moment too soon for music executives desperate to lure back generations of fans who have lost the music-buying habit.

High-street chains have this week ordered 300,000 copies of Mothership, a 24-track, two-CD comprehensive collection that spans the 12-year career of Led Zeppelin. Containing Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love and Kash-mir, the album is also the first Zeppelin material to be made available for digital download.

The band, which refused to release singles, could dominate this week’s singles chart through individual track downloads. Their comeback concert at the O2 Arena in London on December 10 - a one-off tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, the Atlantic Records founder who signed the band in 1968 – prompted one million ticket requests.

While parents snap up Mothership, the Girl Power generation is invited to buy the Spice Girls’ first Greatest Hits package. Wannabeand its ilk sit alongside two new tracks the quintet has recorded to accompany a sell-out 39-date reunion tour, which includes 17 shows at the O2 Arena and is set to gross £23 million. Merchandise sales should add a similar figure.

The group, which pioneered sponsorship deals, will also front campaigns for Tesco and Victoria’s Secret, the lingerie retailer. With the album tipped to sell 5 million copies world-wide, the band could earn £100 million from the six-month campaign. Simon Fuller, the Spice Girls’ manager, persuaded the members that a reunion world tour would allow them to exploit the Chinese and South American markets they missed first time round.

The compilations are released into an albums market suffering a 15 per cent slump this year. Although digital track downloads are rising, they have failed to make up for the decline in CD sales.

A spokesman for HMV said: “The Spice Girls may be able to do a Take That if they succeed in tapping in to their original fan base, many of whom may now have kids of their own that might like the album. It’s a given that the Led Zep album will appeal to their original fans. The key will be the extent to which it appeals to a whole new generation of fans, who will have picked up on the way Zep have influenced the bands they are into.”

The album is becoming an optional souvenir for fans attending live shows, which have become the premier source of income for artists.

Sales of second albums by Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs and Hard-Fi, bands which easily sell out arena concerts and festivals, are down by 50 per cent on their debut releases. Artists, not their record companies, grab the lion’s share of income from live shows.

Jimmy Page, 63, the Led Zeppelin guitarist, is open to doing further concerts, but Robert Plant, 59, the group’s singer, will not alter plans to tour with Alison Krauss, the bluegrass singer, next year. Geri Halliwell, or “Ginger Spice”, said that the group could not stage its shows without sponsorship.

She told Music Week: “This is probably the most expensive tour in history. So in order for us not to lose money on it, we need supportive backing.”

The Spice Girls

Records sold 55 million

No 1 singles 9

Private Jet Spice Force One 757 with make-up parlour and creche

Fearsome manager American Idol guru Simon Fuller

Moment of madness Sacking Fuller at peak of success in 1997

Cause of split Geri fell out with Mel B who came to blows with Posh...

Tour gross £100 million including Tesco sponsorship deal

Led Zeppelin

Records sold 300 million

No 1 singles Rejected 7” format

Private Jet Starship Boeing 720B customised for groupie action

Manager Peter Grant attended meetings with baseball bat

Moment of madness An episode with a groupie and a red snapper at a hotel orgy in 1969

Cause of Split Drummer John Bonham died after choking on his own vomit in 1980

Tour gross: £0 for the charity gig. But are there more shows to come?

Source: Times Database

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