courtesey of Wonder at HQ .Prince just has to be in a drama all the time!.

Prince giveaway an 'insult' to record shops

Katie Allen, media business correspondent
Thursday June 28, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


The Mail on Sunday's plan to give away Prince's new album for free has drawn harsh complaints from CD retailers with one executive describing it as "madness".


Music industry insiders say the newspaper is in talks with the pop star to issue his latest album as a free covermount.


The plan follows the Mail on Sunday's giveaway of Mike Oldfield's album Tubular Bells, which sparked a row with the musician over the effect on sales. Oldfield attacked music company EMI for agreeing to give away Tubular Bells in the paper, but the Mail on Sunday responded by saying it actually lifted the album's sales in the shops.


The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) made no secret today of its anger over the Prince plans, saying the rumour of a giveaway "beggars belief".


"It would be an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career," ERA co-chairman Paul Quirk told a music conference. "It would be yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music."


"If it turns out to be the case - and we're still trying to get to the bottom of it - The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores. And I say that to all the other artists who may be tempted to dally with the Mail on Sunday."


He went on to warn the music industry not to take record stores for granted.


"How can you expect record stores to support you if you then do deals which threaten the very basis of UK record retailing."


High street music giant HMV was similarly scathing about the plans.


"I think it would be absolutely nuts if Prince's album was given away by the Mail on Sunday," said HMV chief executive Simon Fox. "I can't believe the music industry would do it to itself. I simply can't believe it would happen, it would be absolute madness."


Prince also plans to give away a free copy of his new album with each ticket sold for his upcoming string of concerts in London. The singer had signed a global deal as well for the promotion and distribution of his new album in partnership with Columbia Records, a division of music company Sony BMG. A spokesman for the group said today that the UK arm of Sony BMG had withdrawn from Prince's global deal fearing damage to its relationship with retailers.


"We think it the right thing to do in the difficult retail market," he said. "We are delighted Prince has come back to a major label but this makes sense for the UK."


The Mail on Sunday could not immediately be reached for comment. The Associated Newspaper title has maintained in the past that its covermount CDs of artists such as Simply Red, Madness and Dolly Parton stimulates interest in music.







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Source: http://media.guardian.co....79,00.html

by the way i think they sound a bit arrogant, look at HMV's recent figures, record stores are really heading the same way as the vdeo recorder. Just wish that P would pick 1 or 2 simple , clear cut channels to market. Oh well, strap yourselves in, it's THAT time again!.

Record shops supporting Prince?!
Greedy fuckers, they supporting themselves.

May they burn.

'Madness'? why? cos they can't get a piece of the action, that's why!
He aint stupid, this is a very interesting idea.

This is a stance they should have taken against music downloading a few years ago.

Artists now have 2 find other ways 2 get the music in2 people's hands...a solid copy...not a digital 1.

seems a little cheap imo

Let the fun begin.....

drcoldchoke said:

well said thats what i was thinking!!!

Se7enkisses said:

Seriously, who on earth would be possibly side with them on this BS. All this is going to do is create publicity and respect for Prince. What jackasses.

HMV supporting Prince?

In fact, any UK retail supporting Prince is a fucking joke.

What a bunch of bastards!

It'll be fascinating to see where Prince/SonyBMG go from here. This is, in microcosm, the fight for survival of music retailers in the post-millenium vs. artists' struggle to utilize new distribution streams. Wonder who'll blink.

drcoldchoke said:

and they jack up the prices of everything they sell



Long live the internet!!!

This article is just a retail chain bitching how they are gonna lose out on the sales.

This "how dare he do this to us after supporting him all these years" is laughable.


I bet Prince is really shaking in his boots now.


Good for him...I was getting worried . He was starting to play their game agian
[Edited 6/28/07 7:38am]

Now he can hit them bitches where it hurts, it must be great to be in that kind of position. They need the sales more than he does, right now

hay so if they are not going to sell PE then we all should pop into the local wrecka stow and ask for it, just to show them what they are missing out on !!!!!

Interesting that two places which are dying because of the internet, the printed newspaper and the cd, would team up but I'm at a loss as to how this would help Prince. I've no doubt, if the first two tracks are any indication, that giving it away might the only way to get it in people's hands, but other than that -- why? He seems to have a higher profile in the UK than he has since the early 90's, why not at least try to sell a cd? I could understand it if he was trying to build up some hype to sell tickets for his shows, but they've all sold out, haven't they?

Short term thinking will NOT help u see the future.

Graycap23 said:

Enlighten me. Can you imagine how many copies will be floating around if it comes with the Daily Mail? And after his shows are over, good luck selling a copy. Short term is the name of the game in selling a cd. I don't think Planet Earth will be a back catalog masterpiece that British fans will clamour for in a year, esp since Prince will likely be onto something new by then.

I'm not that familiar with The Mail, being from the states, but if I am reading correctly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Mail, this would put the album in over 2 million hands.

The UK charts are modified to disallow those numbers correct? If not that is instant Platinum status.

BTW, I think the headline is a bit alarmist. I would eat my hat if PE was not in stores on launch day. I do have an edible hat though, just in case.

Wall said:

FANS don't have ALL the tickets that have been sold, and no, they are not ALL sold yet. Like I already said somewhere, If he was already giving up to 400,000 cds away, he probably come to the conclusion that he wouldn't actually sell many more in the shops, given the current climate. It will do him better in the 'long-run' to get his music to people who would never have even considered buying a Prince record, just for them to realise he still makes music, and good music too, then possibly he will build his market up and sales may increase elsewhere.

I dont think Prince is concerned on how many copies he could sell .


For him , the money maker is doing live shows. Why try to push a CD , sell 500,000 and make $7 a cd. at the same time making money for record compnies and record chains.


He can tour for a summer and make 90 million.

bonedaddy said:

I guess I'm out of the loop, I didn't know he was giving them away at the shows too. It reeks of desperation to me, I'd think he would move a good number of cds, but what you say about building his market up could be the angle they are hoping for.

"Desperate"? Why choose this word? It's just a way to let many people here it. If anything, this shows that he wants to let many people here it and does NOT care about chart positions, as neither of those give-aways would be counted.

calldapplwondery83 said:

If I was in the music business and the only way I could get people to listen to my new cd was by giving it away, I think I'd have to accept the adjective "desperate" being applied to me.

Wall said:

Maybe the 'penny' has finally dropped. He has deserted a generation or two and has a gap in the market to bridge. IF he wants to pull back some interest, outside his fan-base, which it seems he does, going on previous months, then he needs to make people aware he's there and making great music, because, believe it or not, many aint got a clue he's still doing his thing. And people aint gonna run to him any more, those days are long gone.

bonedaddy said:

I agree but given his ticket sales in the UK, I'd say, as I think I already did, this has got to be his best chance of actually selling a cd since the early 90's. His name will be in the papers during the shows and he's going to be there for a long spell -- surely he would have sold cd's as a result, but instead, they'll be on everyone's coffee table, underneath the cream (with tea).

Wall said:

Your posts are flame bait, and you said the same things about 3121. Guitar and Future Baby Mama are so bad that nobody wants to buy the album? You must be kidding me. The first two tracks released are great songs. Don't make me laugh, and move along to some other music.

Wall said:

Still don't understand that logic. Besides, let's say he loses money over this and the concert give-away compared to an ordinary distribution. Then I would support the "desperation" to be heard over the "desperation" to make money. Or say he actually gets more money through this then ordinary distribution - even more power to him. I don't think Prince gives a crap that from the couple of millions that buy the newspaper, most will throw it away. It's out there and more people than usually will listen to it.
He will propably have more problems with record companies after this, but we all know the business is changing anyway.

Wait,what? Don't tell me I'll never hear this album!