http://www.wired.com/ente...gpost_0709

Prince Points the Way to a Brighter Future for Music
07.09.07 | 2:00 AM

In his autobiography, Miles Davis wrote that Prince was the only musician in the world capable of moving music forward. Davis was referring to musical prowess, but he may as well have been talking about Prince's business acumen, as evidenced by his recent album giveaway -- the latest in a long series of innovative maneuvers, including his escape from a Warner Music Group contract in 1994, early support for P2P trading and status as one of the first major artists to sell music from his website.

Davis' last, best hope for the future of music most recently outraged the music establishment by giving away CDs of his Planet Earth album to British fans who purchased last week's Mail on Sunday newspaper. In light of the giveaway, Sony/BMG refused to distribute the album in Great Britain, provoking outbursts from music retailers who had been cut out of the action.

Paul Quirk, co-chairman of Britain's Entertainment Retailers Association, threatened: "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores."

Part of the problem, according to retailers, is that Prince's move helped solidify a growing perception on the part of consumers that music is free.

Jack Horner, creative and joint managing director for Frukt, a music-marketing agency, said that while "people like (Prince) play a key part in helping figure out what the models may be in the music business of tomorrow, by giving away a whole album on the front of a newspaper, there is a very clear devaluing of music, which is not a positive message to send out right now."

Neither the Mail on Sunday or Prince's camp would divulge how much the newspaper paid Prince for the right to give his album away, but it's clear Prince was paid upfront, and that nearly 3 million Mail on Sunday readers -- plus everyone who bought tickets to one of his shows -- received the CD for free. The giveaway almost certainly contributed to Prince selling out 15 of his 21 shows at London's O2 Arena within the first hour of ticket sales. The venue (formerly the Millennium Dome) holds around 20,000 people. If the remaining six shows sell out, the series will gross over $26 million.

Combined with the undisclosed fee paid by the Mail on Sunday, it's not a bad take for someone who's involved in a "very clear devaluing of music."

Prince's latest gambit also succeeded by acknowledging that copies, not songs, are just about worthless in the digital age. The longer an album is on sale, the more likely it is that people can find somewhere to make a copy from a friend's CD or a stranger's shared-files folder. When copies approach worthlessness, only the original has value, and that's what Prince sold to the Mail on Sunday: the right to be Patient Zero in the copying game.

As with blogging and so many other things digital, music distribution could become a competition to see who posts things first. In a sense, music distribution would no longer be about space -- it would be about time.

More bands and labels are likely to explore the idea of squeezing extra value out of their music by selling off the right to be first, as traditional sources of revenue continue to dry up. Universal's recent insistence on an "at will" contract with Apple music store, for instance, is thought to be part of a plan for the world's largest record label to start selling the exclusive rights to debut certain albums. And nowhere is it written in stone that music stores are the only candidates for buying those rights.

Artists have licensed music to advertisers for decades, of course, but this goes a step further: allowing the licensee to function as the music's distributor (at least initially). If this idea catches on, artists and labels looking to duplicate Prince's success will have to proceed with caution if they want to avoid accusations of selling out.

In the '90s, a popular slogan for posters and graffiti in and around my college radio station was "Corporate Rock Sucks," and although that attitude no longer seems prevalent, fans still routinely revolt when they hear one of their favorite songs used in a car ad.

Prince ensured that the Mail on Sunday version of his album looks identical to the one sold in stores, giving it the clear appearance of coming with the paper, rather than being of the paper. Companies that want to make a business out of music sponsorships, like RCRD LBL (an upcoming collaboration between Engadget's Pete Rojas and Downtown Records), will have to negotiate sponsorships with similar care. If they do, brands, fans and bands large and small stand to benefit.

Eliot Van Buskirk has covered digital music since 1998, after seeing the world's first MP3 player sitting on a colleague's desk. He plays bass and rides a bicycle.

yep, he's definitely a pioneer
in this way, he totally gets my respect

hey, if the industry ain't gonna figure out a solution
someone's got to!

oh yeah, and there's something about planet earth that no one seems to be mentioning
i'm surprised the industry hasn't figured it out yet
[Edited 7/9/07 3:10am]

Yeah, everybody loves a winner.

Yay, someone gets it!

Sign of the Times.

The giveaway almost certainly contributed to Prince selling out 15 of his 21 shows at London's O2 Arena within the first hour of ticket sales.

I doubt this...was it even announced at the time of ticket sales?

call me crazy but letting your music be a marketing gimmick for a right wing rag is not the future of music. It devalues your music. Prince is telling us that his new stuff isnt really all that good and that the live show is the only thing would spending money for.

This is the future of music for a select few performers who can still pack stadiums or a the few who's live presence is so great that a buzz will be created by live music alone. This is not the way a new artist will be able to make a living writing tunes and recording music.

Just think, the Beatles today would not have a chance. They were not a live band.

emesem said:

Who of today's generation IS a live band? Who of today's generation could dare to appear on the same stage that hosted just about ANY rock band from the '70's?

RodeoSchro said:

Mint Condition
Raphael Saddiq

emesem said:

Enough Said.

RodeoSchro said:

Who of today's generation IS a live band? Who of today's generation could dare to appear on the same stage that hosted just about ANY rock band from the '70's?[/quote]

That my point. This "giveaway and make money on live shows" will only work with Prince, Bruce, Madonna and Dave Matthews (although his following has moved on). There are some great rock bands that put on good live shows (Sloan, Belle and Sebastian, My Morning Jacket, Ryan Adams, Dashboard, Polyphonic Spree just to name a few that I've like in the last decade) but in this "music is free" culture they never get build a following.

emesem said:

That my point. This "giveaway and make money on live shows" will only work with Prince, Bruce, Madonna and Dave Matthews (although his following has moved on). There are some great rock bands that put on good live shows (Sloan, Belle and Sebastian, My Morning Jacket, Ryan Adams, Dashboard, Polyphonic Spree just to name a few that I've like in the last decade) but in this "music is free" culture they never get build a following.[/quote]
Exactly. While, underground lesser known acts aren't giving any notice by the masses.