ArsTechnica on Planet Earth

ArsTechnica, which is a high-tech (well, really mostly focused on PC stuff) site, did a quick article about PE's release: http://arstechnica.com/ne...offin.html

Prince's CD giveaway another nail in the album's coffin
By Eric Bangeman | Published: July 17, 2007 - 11:29PM CT

Last weekend, diminutive, purple-loving rock star Prince upset music industry executives and retailers alike by deciding to give away copies of his upcoming CD, Planet Earth, via the Mail on Sunday in the UK. The results are in, and it appears that the giveaway was a big success for the newspaper. At the same time, it demonstrates the degree to which the album is becoming irrelevant to the record labels.

The Mail reported sales of at least 2.8 million papers last Sunday, compared to the June's Sunday average of 2.276 million, according to figures obtained by the Guardian. Mail on Sunday managing director Steve Miron pegged the cost of the promotion at £1.25 million, including a £250,000 payment to Prince for the rights to the album.

When plans for the giveaway were announced last month, retailers and industry figures alike pilloried Prince's decision. Paul Quirk, cochairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said that Prince might soon be known as "The Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores.

"This decision beggars belief," Quirk said in a statement. "It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career."

Prince's label, Sony BMG UK, was also irritated by the move, with a representative of the company telling the International Herald Tribune that trying to sell the CD in the UK was "ridiculous" in light of the free CD. The rep then added that the label was still "delighted" to be associated with him.
Does the album really matter?

Prince's free CD was noteworthy not only in that it marked the first time a music icon of his stature gave away a new album of original music, but also because it demonstrates the degree to which album sales no longer matter as much to artists. After all, tours are where most acts make most of their money, and he fact that the music sales have been in a tailspin for the better part of this decade is not news to anyone at this point.

There are a number of factors behind the sales slide, but one important takeaway is that the album is no longer the primary means for an artist or group to get their music into the hands of the public. Most bands have pages on MySpace where would-be fans can sample their wares. Others, like the Barenaked Ladies, have released albums on USB flash drives. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has even released versions of his songs for fans to rework using GarageBand.

It's not about the album any more, and while that's a mixed bag for artists, it's definitively bad news for the record labels. Although digital sales have been on an upswing since 2004, paid downloads are not sufficient to make up for the steep decline in sales of albums and other physical media. Licensing deals and royalties may be able to partially offset the decline, but there's no going back to the good old days.

Prince's decision to give away 2.8 million copies of Planet Earth is another indication to the music industry that the album is nearing the end of its useful life span. Note to the music industry: don't hate the playa, hate the game.

Album sales don't mean much to an artist anymore. Alot of people buy an album may not like it enough to keep it, and sell it at a tradepost or on ebay. Album sales are only measured by the new copies sold, not the used copies bought and sold time and again. Giveaways like Planet Earth are a means to broaden the fan base and sell more concert tickets. I agree with the writer on that point. I do think that the record industry took too long to embrace the digital download age by trying to kill it. They're still tryin to get on that bandwagon but it could be a little too late. With more ways for artists to get their music to the fans there is little need of a record company anymore.

Purpleaxxe1972 said:

"This decision beggars belief," Quirk said in a statement. "It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career."



Those record stores all got a piece of the pie in the past!



Prince's decision to give away 2.8 million copies of Planet Earth is another indication to the music industry that the album is nearing the end of its useful life span. Note to the music industry: don't hate the playa, hate the game.

Xactly!!!

Purpleaxxe1972 said: Album sales don't mean much to an artist anymore. Alot of people buy an album may not like it enough to keep it, and sell it at a tradepost or on ebay.

Now that is very true. I can't tell you how many cd's I have purchased by different artists because I knew of one particular song that grabbed my attention to only be let down by the rest of the cd. They are sitting in a pile and I don't play them. There is less than a handful of artists that I can purchase cd's by and enjoy all the music on that cd.
[Edited 7/18/07 11:56am]

Except for that first stupid sentence that seems to accompany EVERY article about Prince the article was right on!

a change is gonna come...

Trent Reznor!

emesem said:

Way to go Prince! I'm all for new ways of self promotion!

Why doesn't he do this in USA?

Prince is onto something here. Pushing magazines or newpapers is all about advertizing. The times have changed.

Furthermore, the industry never looked out for the artists (when downloading started up) so why should the artists look out for the industry? When he leaked it in the UK anyone in the world could go and download the cd. He simply banked a million dollars to leak his own cd to the world.

The smarter record stores in the UK will embrace and bank on the back catalog. Industry folks are talking like babies now, like this is the only Prince cd!! The outlets Prince could use to release the music is endless. Starbucks, releasing a soundtrack to a film as a giveaway at the movies! (The movies theaters would love that), Sirius sat radio, Magazines.

Best thing is people will know the new music at the show..so it ain't dead for us who have followed him for ages. We get to hear Musicology, 3121, PE stuff!! YAY!!

Spookymuffin said:

Trent Reznor!

yeah Im glad he took this step as well..

however I am just a little confused....Here is prince the man who wages a personal war against record labels in the past and almost kinda despises their very existence...yet a new technology comes about to completely TURN out record labels *aka the age of downloading* and he is the main policeman trying to stop people from knowing more about his music either through youtube videos, housequake videos, or possible free downloading of his old material. Yes he made NPG but it was only limited material compared to the stuff he has created and that he would not make available to the masses. Now he releases his CD for FREE but yet I still don't know his take on downloading music....to me he is just as bad as the record labels STILL because instead of trying to truly embrace the downloading era he seemed to try to only work with downloading when trying to strike out against labels. Yet I'm pretty sure he is not going to release any LEGAL dirty mind concert footage any time this decade...I adore Prince for this historical move but if he is going to do this then HE NEEDS to have a clear stand on how he wants to work with technology...does he now approve of providing material to the masses because HE WANTS to and would help his fans learn even more about him or did he only release this cd to spite the labels and claim his authority over his music.....because Honestly an even bigger gift to fans and an even bigger and greater message would have been him allowing housequake and other media outlets to showcase his old video footage or else have agreements to showcase this footage on his site for easy access instead of having to deal with terrible lawsuits from his lawyers.....im 21, and to me, seeing Prince do his live performances in the 80s with my "illegal" material is such an inspiring thing to see, it teaches me and helps me learn about music and what to look for, yet the same man that inspires me can shut me out from the material, the same man who came up with NPG cant think of new ways to release the material or else educate his younger fans in ways such as video blogs maybe virtual lessons, behind the scenes tour footage, virtual soundchecks, just something to tell us "HEY I am opening myself up to you with all of my past knowledge so the future generations can grow and create meaningful music and my other older fans can enjoy my material without fear from anyone"....I'm not saying he should give his fans free stuff but give us some sort of legal access to the past/present material and truly make a stand and im sure alot of his fans would be happy to pay for a reasonable fee...he complains about how terrible music is today yet he is in no way helping younger generations understand how to go in a new direction except giving out free cds of his new material...I'm not trying to complain, because again it was a lovely gift, however you cannot give a slice of cake to a party and expect the party to be satisfied with that one slice when you put the rest of the cake in the fridge

mehogeni said:

"It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career."

Everytime I read this quote it makes me so angry!! In the UK during the mid to late nineties I lost count of the number of times I went into HMV or Virgin, had a look in the so-called Prince section and found bugger all there. Not only did they not stock hardly any of the man's back-catalogue but they made almost no effort to sell his new releases. But as soon as Prince is back in vogue again they want a piece of the action....I'd love to see HMV try and explain the fact that Prince had to sell most of his albums through the late 90's and early 00's through his own website. Where was the support then???

I was delighted to see Prince give the album away, if for no other reason than to piss of the record stores who gave him the elbow over here because they deemed him unpopular for a large chunk of his career. Put that in your pipe and smoke it HMV!!!!

DaveT said:

BartVanHemelen said:

BartVanHemelen said:

Why does he climb into bed with these deceitful liars?

Prince needs to be asked this question. It's this kind of journalism that leads nations to war.

Truly irresponsible.

All this talk of him being an innovative genius makes me feel sick.
Other artists have done this kind of thing before. It's a tried and tested market strategy for getting the product out there.

All this bullshit about Prince being the innovative genius makes me nauseous!
Anybody with half a head for business could have seen that this is a sure enough marketing strategy. Prince will have his "money mad" advisors telling him what to do in order to make his money and how to keep it for himself.
Prince is hardly alone in looking for new ways to cut out the corrupt distributors. There have been plenty of others before him.

He should have made his business business deal with a newspaper which isn't as sick as the 1 he chose.

Why did he choose a rascist, sexist, homophobic paper. He has often said himself that this type of journalism spreads only hateful lies, ignorance and confusion.

He should be held to account for that.

Most of his fans are pretty clueless, for whatever reason and I don't hink he is.

People this is not an act of genious.
It's ugly, petty and short-sighted. Don't believe the bollocks.
"Just like another snowflake in an avalanche", my ass. He should be held to account for his irresponsible actions, and come down from his patronising high horse.

Rightly said:

pennylover said:

Rightly said:

All this bullshit about Prince being the innovative genius makes me nauseous!
Anybody with half a head for business could have seen that this is a sure enough marketing strategy. Prince will have his "money mad" advisors telling him what to do in order to make his money and how to keep it for himself.
Prince is hardly alone in looking for new ways to cut out the corrupt distributors. There have been plenty of others before him.

He should have made his business business deal with a newspaper which isn't as sick as the 1 he chose.

Why did he choose a rascist, sexist, homophobic paper. He has often said himself that this type of journalism spreads only hateful lies, ignorance and confusion.

He should be held to account for that.

Most of his fans are pretty clueless, for whatever reason and I don't hink he is.

People this is not an act of genious.
It's ugly, petty and short-sighted. Don't believe the bollocks.
"Just like another snowflake in an avalanche", my ass. He should be held to account for his irresponsible actions, and come down from his patronising high horse.

Sorry! u sound as mad as u look

DerekH said:

Spookymuffin said:

Trent Reznor!

Cool! Another NIN and Prince fan (besides myself). I'm looking forward to both their tours. Trent even mentioned Prince (and Public Enemy) in the credits of "Pretty Hate Machine".

As for the free copies of "Planet Earth"....Yes, it was free to the public, but Prince still got paid $1 million from the newspaper to do that promotion. So, he makes all that money without having to sell any copies of the disc!

"In the end, they'll stock what sells"

That's exactly my point though!! How can HMV say that Prince is giving them the elbow when they've hardly been overly supportive of him in the past....they only stock him when they know they can make money off him, so please HMV, stop moaning like you've been wronged somehow by what Prince has done.

"You went into two CHAIN stores"

And living down here in the cultural wasteland that is the Medway Towns in Kent, UK, there isn't a whole lot of record stores to choose from!

Point of the article being:

The suits are dragging behind and are nagging because they fear to lose even more.

Well, let them, they made the bed in which they lie.

Spookymuffin said:

DerekH said:

Cool! Another NIN and Prince fan (besides myself). I'm looking forward to both their tours. Trent even mentioned Prince (and Public Enemy) in the credits of "Pretty Hate Machine".

As for the free copies of "Planet Earth"....Yes, it was free to the public, but Prince still got paid $1 million from the newspaper to do that promotion. So, he makes all that money without having to sell any copies of the disc!

Go NIN!

I saw that in PHM; I own every halo, ya see.