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By Marguerite Reardon
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: May 31, 2007, 2:53 PM PDT
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Verizon Wireless is giving away digital copies of Prince's latest single as it sets the stage for an impending mobile-music battle with Apple.

On Thursday, the second largest wireless carrier in the U.S. announced that it would be exclusively offering Prince's new single "Guitar" through its VCast service. And subscribers will be able to download the song, which will appear on Prince's upcoming album Planet Earth, for free.

The exclusive content deal is part of a larger strategy as Verizon takes on AT&T, which will launch the much anticipated Apple iPhone next month. Verizon doesn't yet have an iPhone killer, so the company has been pushing its mobile music store, which has more than 1.9 million songs.

Interesting.

I wonder how he'll make the record available.

Good luck with that. Bwahahahahahahahahah...

squirrelgrease said:

Yeah, seriously... is this a joke Press Release? cuz that first line has me laughing.

I heard months ago that this was gonna happen, I'll wait for the single!

wlcm2thdwn said:

Wait no longer. The single is now aavailable. (If you are in the US, and have Verizon as your carrier, oh... and you have a VCast capable phone).

Is that version of "Guitar" any different than the one previously available at 3121?

realm said:

Yes. It's a more fleshed out track, with "live" instrumentation.

Verizon has been really pushing it's mobile stuff lately such as selling tickets to Fergie's tour through Verizon customers only...

Great, all this after I switched from Verizon to TMobile two months ago.

I'm just floored by how few of us are calling him on his shit... I mean the number of corporate co-ventures lately is a joke...What happened to the idea of Prince as an independent distributor through his own website?

Jude418 said:

Prince is rocking the boat simply by exploring new avenues on how to release music. At the end of the day, he relies on other companies/corporate people to distribute his work one way or another, and I appreciate his constant desire to challenge the traditional status quo. Yeah, he could just stick to releasing music on his own website - but you could argue that simply limits sales to fans when there is a much larger potential market out there.

Saying that, it all falls apart if you can't get a strategy going where everyone that wants your music can easily buy it. Can't say I've heard of Verizon in the UK, and I wouldn't change my mobile user just to get a Prince song ahead of the game - I'll be waiting for the album proper if it really is to be on there.

metalorange said:

I hear ya, but how is hooking up with Macy's, CitiBank and Verizon (to name a few) "rocking the boat" or "challenging the traditional status quo"... It all just seems to be a TOTAL contradiction to what he once spoke on as the future of music marketing.

Jude418 said:

Because no other artist is doing it? The record companies have only recently started to accept the downloading of music as a tool rather than be threatened by it - now phone companies are muscling in on the act! Though you could argue Prince is getting into bed with one devil to avoid another...

Jude418 said:

I totally agree to you. It's a bit frightening how much he is involved with big companies nowadays. This is for sure not challenging a status quo or evolving new ways. This is simply cashing in the traditional way. If you ask me, he seems to betray his own ideals. A couple of years ago he made the decision that his ego / his popularity / his public status is more important to him than sticking to all the things he said in the mid 90'ies. Sorry, that's how it is from my point of view.

Prince has 2 be profiting from it in a big way in order 4 him 2 explore these new avenues. I’m not mad at him for venturing out as long as he’s getting paid

Here's a crazy and wild, really out there idea for him: how about putting all his npg stuff (like Chocolate Invasion and it's ilk, Planet Earth, etc...) on iTunes world-wide in the new DRM-free, high-quality "PLUS" format? That'd be quite radical, he'd be able to reach a much larger audience then Verizon - ride the wave of publicity sorrounding EMI's DRM-free tracks, and, as the sole owner of the NPG records, he'd get the bulk of each sale (I think labels get on the order of 80% or so of the price).

I'm not saying this has to be the only way he should sell his stuff. Putting his stuff on shiny silver discs and selling it in stores may still work for him (my personal preference, actually). And he can still do these novelty things like the Verizon deal, but still be able to reach a large audience.

funkystuff said:

It has taken me by surprise myself ...maybe he feels if he can't beatem then joinem .....Oh well its all about a solid paycheck and trying to save for retirement like the rest of us .....hmm I wonder what he will write across on his other cheek ???

>>Downloaded.

Even though I already paid for it a long time ago...

He can word it any kind of way... Prince has been trying to cash in big time all along the way. He will do whatever it takes. That was the idea even back then when he signed with WB. Don't let him fool you into thinking that it isn't about the money. The man never had a real job, other than being a musician. That's his bread and butter. He has no back-up job.
If it wasn't about the money, he would've stayed in his friend's basement, making music there instead of cashing in on it.
After being 30 years in the business, he just has to try a little harder.What made big bucks in the 80's isn't working for him anymore, so Macy's, Verizon and whoever is helping him out quite a bit.
In his own words: Money can't buy you happiness but it pays for the search...

Fuck Prince. A person with extensive knowledge about health and he is pulling shit like this!!???

The human race is being attacked from all angles. The famous "artists" pretend that they're on our side but they are not. They are all frauds...prince, paul mccartney, michael jackson, bono and all these other celebrities going about saying stupid shit like "make poverty history" or pretending to raise money for aids/cancer research are all full of it, they are acting!. There are cures for these diseases and they know it - they know the elite of this world could "make poverty history" if they wanted to - but they definitely do not want to. The big names in hollywood are in the know about these things. Prince knows the dangers of cell phones and other wireless devices and he still does business with them. Prince knows the way these corporations use ancient symbols and words as their corporate logos to subliminally program your mind. This is not about money! It goes deeper.

"In the ancient celtic druidic system one of the most important and well-known symbols was the magic wand. This magic wand was used by the magicians of the day to work their magic on the people. The magic wand was made out of wood from a holly tree... hollywood, and Hollywood is still working its magic on us today!" - Jordan Maxwell
[Edited 6/2/07 16:00pm]