Is the relative pittance he gets from record sales important to Prince? Does he care about the charts?

The concerts are where the big money be. Maybe he cares more about butts in the seats at this point...?

Wall said:

I'll educate you once, and once only. Prince is giving away 400,000 copies of his album during his shows. Therefore the amount of sales the album would get would probably be small. So, Prince also wants to give the album away free with the paper. Big deal. He did this during the Musicology Tour, and that tour and album were a huge success in the USA. Prince gave away several hundred thousand albums, and yet the album still sold 500,000+ copies in retail stores. Prince made his money, and gained new fans and respect, which could see seen by the #1 debut of the 3121 album, another success.I hardly doubt Prince is "desperate." It is more like the record industry that is desperate. I'll clue you in on something Wall... the record industry is dead. Deader than dead. Nobody really buys CDs anymore. The industry is facing record low sales and profits. Poor quality music, piracy, and online sales are destroying corporate greed and brick and mortar stores.

So, anything Prince can do to get out of that chain, that cycle, is a good thing.

Thank you and good night.

I think the Musicology deal was smart and I think this UK thing is smart. My question is what does Sony have to gain for supporting PE?

jaynoonan said:

It will be sold else-where. (my guess) just don't make sense to sell in UK, if you already giving most of them away for free in the first place.

Genesia said:

He makes big money even from relatively small sales, He takes a MUCH bigger slice of an individual cd sale than he used to, since 'going alone' and making the deals to suit his 'needs'

bonedaddy said:

or another thought, He will follew up with a different version or similar

bonedaddy said:

Hummmmm.....

lspear76 said:

^^^^^Powerful posting....

bonedaddy said:

Even after his bigger piece of the pie, its a drop in the bucket compared to what he makes touring. The Musicology tour gross 90 million. do the math of the CD thing . I havent a clue whae he makes per CD.

i could give a fuck either way


as long as this motherfucker is sittin on oink, i'll be good


oh yeah, and best buy! i gotta get the silver back...
[Edited 6/28/07 8:52am]

fair play to him, this tour will generate c£11m i.e. 18k tix per night x £31.00 x 21 dates = a good day at the office!.
I can't understand why he would hack off the U.K. though HOWEVER record stores here WILL stock him again in the future because business is business and they need the sales. I think this may well cement his rep' as being a nightmare to work with though!.
I am usually highly critical of a lot of his marketing but my gut instict is to applaud this one. The real shame is that the super slick marketing that accompanied Musicology will be missing now however it will still generate a lot of publicity although may well impact on worldwide sales.
Good luck P.

bonedaddy said:

This makes sense to me. If I'm not mistaken, the BIG MONEY is in CONCERTS, NOT CD SALES. If he does this Prince would be getting great music into more hands. More people would be motivated to come see his 21 shows in London and buy more music from him in the future.

Plus, let's not forget his religion. Couldn't this also be seen as a way for him to get his religious message to more people?

If this turns out to be true, then once again Prince has proven himself to STILL be someone who is a total revolutionary, both with his music and with his business practices. He threw the industry a curveball when he was giving away his cd's on the Musicology tour and it looks like he is doing it again. How many artists have the music, the talent, the legacy, the smarts, and the courage and conviction to do things like this?

And anyone who thinks this is a desparate move is ridiculous. This is the complete opposite of desperate. This is a bold move by someone who is in complete control. He's letting the record companies know he doesn't need them, they need him.

if this is true i'll be completly deverstated, by doing this he'll be turning it into a piece of trash, those free cd's only cheapen the idea of the album, sure lots of people will get their hands on the album but who the hells gonna want to listen to it? i certainly won't. he's shitting on his medium. an album should be an event, not a throw away freebie.

plus the people who read the daily mail are racist assholes.

newpower99 said:

Yeah, it would be foolish to compare the two as short term money spinners, but the point is he don't put an album out for mega bucks, it's about putting his music out, and sales more than clear his production costs. The album, however, will be sold forever, kinda! and over 20-30 years may return more then enough.

emilio319 said:

There u have IT!

gravelface said:

the daily mail is truly a scum rag disguised as upper middle class and is a strange choice for him BUT this is a Prince CD so will generate quite an interest especially after all the publicity around the 21 dates. I think it's a great way of reintroducing the 'Prince' brand back to the U.K..

But not the Mail on Sunday!..... What a shit, middle-England, mid-life crisis pile of shit of a paper. Give it away with News of the World or the Sun for cryin out loud...

I can see it now - Mail on Sunday giveaway. Planet Earth, Inspector Morse series 2 and Lassie.

gravelface said:

Why would you not want to listen to it because of this? And one could say that the controversy about this makes it a bigger "event" than a usual release.

And the best thing is, it'll be released on a Sunday, so I can take it straight home and play it - and keep the other 6 copies that I'll buy sealed up.

This is a great idea, I think. He knows he'll make a mint with its release in other countries around the world and he's probably not doing too bady out of the O2 shows in the UK and as has been pointed out, a Prince CD will be in the homes of people who wouldn't normally buy one - even if a number of them do throw it away.

Shame it's the Mail on Sunday though, for all the reasons everyone else has stated. Mind you, if this is true, I hope they print all the credits, etc in the paper if it's only going to appear in a slip-case.

emilio319 said:

Well said, whilst P may have stopped innovating so much in music he's still turning the business upside down and in knots. With his talent the cream will ALWAYS rise to the top.

Somebody's sellin 12,000 CDs 4 a dollar...make me wanna holla!!!

Yeah, detest the Mail on Sunday but I think it's a great idea. We can all get our hands on it and I'm sure when he actually plays here the hypocrites at HMV and wherever else will have their shelves bursting with back catalogue albums that the artist only makes a small percentage on.

Why shouldn't he give it away? Isn't that what he was saying was his intention back in 1995?

This way he gets a fee/publicity (presumably) and if it does bomb he isn't left with warehouses full of dusty CDs.

Thanks for the apologetic Prince education earlier poster.

But I stand by my earlier point -- if he was ever going to sell cd's in the UK, this is his time -- and please don't tell me Prince doesn't care about money. Remember his number one at the bank loop comment a few years back? And the Musicology give away was equally desperate. The album sold 500,000 copies which for all the press he was getting at the time was pretty sad. And 3121 entered at #1 because of his hardcore fan base. Remember where it went after week one? Straight down the toilet.

Wall said:

So if only the hardcore fans and a few casual are actually going to buy his new material what is the point of filling stores with it? Why should he do it like everyone else?

On a business level he has everyone where he wants them. He knows his fans will fly in and go to multiple shows so he doesn't have to waste money dragging his tour around and his hardcore fans are still getting new material for pennies.

I don't have much to complain about here.

calldapplwondery83 said:

Agreed, don't get this reasoning. The album, like it or not, is goin' the way of the 8 track.

its like talking to a brick wall.

Wall said:

The Musicology giveaway was desperate? What planet are you living on? Record sales aside, Prince had the #1 grossing tour in 2004, was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and put himself firmly back into the public eye for the first time since the last century. If that's what desperation gets you, look for me on top of the Empire State Building -- ready to jump.

gravelface said:

Cobblers!

I for one am sick to the back teeth for splashing out crazy money for cd's, nice 1 prince

ps i got me free copy of Tubular bells in the paper too.

Genesia said:

Exactly -- record sales aside. Like I said, he was all over the place, that was his public rebirth and he still had to give away copies of new cd to get people to listen, or at least touch, it -- desperate.

And in regards to your question, I'm on planet earth.