Original link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...sic_prince

Prince CD giveaway angers music industry
By JANE WARDELL, 7/12/2007

LONDON - Prince has angered the music industry and stirred up trouble among British retailers by giving away his new album with a tabloid newspaper this weekend.

"Planet Earth" will be packaged with the Mail on Sunday at a price of $2.80.

The giveaway has been roundly criticized as a major blow for an industry already facing rapidly declining CD sales. It has led Sony BMG U.K., Prince's local label, to pull the plug on its own sales release of the CD in Britain.

International sales launch for "Planet Earth" is July 16; the U.S. launch is July 24.

"The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores," said Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, referring to a period in the 1990s when the singer famously stopped using his name to protest a binding record deal.

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

A publicist for Prince's record label said the 49-year-old singer-songwriter wasn't doing interviews.

Also fueling retailers' ire is what they see as a traitorous move by one of their own. After initially harshly criticizing Prince and the deal, music and books retailer HMV, which doesn't normally sell newspapers, decided to sell the Mail on Sunday in its 400-plus stores across the country.

"Like it or not, selling the newspaper is the only way to make the Prince album available to our customers," HMV said.

Rival retailers were outraged.

"We're stunned that HMV has decided to take what appears to be a complete U-turn on their stance," said Simon Douglas, managing director of retail at Virgin Megastores. "It's not only retailers that suffer; the public will suffer in the long term by restricting choice on the high street."

The use of so-called "covermounts," where free CDs or DVDs are attached to the front of a newspaper to catch the buyer's eye, is widespread in Britain where many newspapers are struggling to retain readers who are turning to online news and entertainment.

Most of the giveaways are compilations of archive recordings or older films. Past giveaways by the Mail on Sunday include CDs by Duran Duran, Peter Gabriel and Dolly Parton. Prince's CD contains new tracks along with old hits such as "Purple Rain."

Sony BMG U.K. said it decided it was "ridiculous" to go ahead with its own sales launch in light of the newspaper deal, but stood by its star singer, adding it remained "delighted" to be working with Prince.

The Mail on Sunday declined to say how much it paid to secure the deal or how many copies of "Planet Earth" it planned to sell. Its average circulation is 2.3 million copies.

Quirk said the deal was "yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music."

Beyond the covermounts, the value of recorded music is already under widespread threat from the rapid rise of digital downloads. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimated that overall music sales worldwide fell around 3 percent last year as a doubling in digital sales failed to compensate for falls in physical CD sales and digital piracy.

Prince also plans to give away a copy of "Planet Earth" with each ticket sold for his 21-date London concert later this summer.

Prince's CD contains new tracks along with old hits such as "Purple Rain."

I was just reading this also. What's up with the Purple Rain quote??

When HASN'T Prince angered the music industry?

Sure sounds like he's doing something right to me.

The music industry needs to . As I said on another thread, it's Prince's music, and he can do whatever he wants with it. The music industry can go themselves.

As Prince once said himself in one of his songs (the title of which escapes me now): Mind your own motherfucker...let a man be a man!

He stole my idea

http://www.prince.org/msg/3/226286

I have already heard the CD. I am not that impressed with at all. He is better off giving it away in the paper. It reminds me of C&D.

Brian

Prince is showing the record industry and distribution industry that he really doesn't need them. He has such a large fan base that will purchase his music, irrespective of whether or not it is placed in a Best Buy or a Circuit City. I say horray to Prince and all other artist that follow the footsteps of this visionary. The tables have been turned, and Emancipation has begun.

BrianM said:

Brian i have to agree but i loved Chaos and Disorder!!

wha???? Purple Rain that seems a bit odd?
maby a live bonus track? or maby Prince playing it on his own at the piano?
(the second idea is just wishfull thinking!)

the music industry never thought of this marketing strategy, did they?
and i bet it ain't costing Prince a dime
he's almost certainly making money from the deal
and getting his CD in the hands of millions!
which one of us musicians wouldn't want the same?
no matter the CD isn't being sold
but your getting your product out into the hands of millions
and at no cost!!
maybe just maybe ppl will unlock the key to 3121
that's when we'll see a return of prophets [sic]


btw, r u keeping count?
this is the 3rd time in a row Prince has beat the industry at their own game!
good for you, P!

[Edited 7/12/07 17:29pm]

Prince is smart. The real money is in performing, at least they way he does it.

I do not see the fuss; Prince has always been a revolutionary man with revolutionary ideas. Had the folks not bought the newspaper with Planet Earth in it, they would have burned the CD somewhere. The sales of CD's and the like have been on the downside for many years, and if Prince is willing to try something unorthodox then the industry should take note.

Tough Shit!

...The industry? Has been screwing the public for decades..


...Payback






[b]

psychodelicide said:

That would be Days of Wild

RE: Mind your own motherfucker...let a man be a man![/quote]

Spanky said:

[/quote]

Thanks! I knew somebody would know the title of the song.

He has to give this new one away. With only 2 good tracks, nobody is gonna be interested in paying for it.

A friend of mine gave me her advance copy. I enjoyed 3121 and musicology even though I wasn't thrilled about them. This new one, though, is really bad.

does the site owner look at the front page before creating a duplicate news thread?

i think its a shame that record companies get such bad press, without their support and money prince would not have been able to start his career

of course, now he can afford to give away his music but unfortunately alot of people will not buy music if they can get it for free

i know some people whose entire collection consists of free newspaper giveaway cds

if people dont buy music then new artists will find it harder to break through and for established artists concert prices will continue to go up making concerts only affordable for the rich ie the hamptons gigs

music for free! music for everyone! im not sure.....

"The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores,"

Whatever he does his fams will still be here to support

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

And they are complaining why? they have probably made huge profits from supporting his career and now they are throwing the toys out of the pram and making out they have done him some kind of favour.

We all know that the music \ film industry has not a lot to do with the art anymore and its all about the $$$..has been for years.

As has already been pointed out, HMV has been stocking a prince compilation DVD of a highly dubious nature for some time now. More than that, the availability and stock of Princes (and other artists) backcatalogue is very poor. Apart from the highly commercial records, backcatalogue albums retail for extortionate prices, and they simply dont bother to stock half of them.

High street music chains are looking desperate nowadays. They cannot compete with online retailers, and specialist vinyl outlets, so they respond with supposed outrage. I have no pity whatsoever for them. prince knows they aren't the future of music sales, and so do they. This is just a landmark case in the demise of high street music retail.

While as a fan i feel this covermount stuff is cheap, tacky and benneath Prince....it does adhere to a line he's been following for a decade. Music should be freely available, and not lining the pockets of fat cat execs. Musicians can no longer be held to ransom by retailers and record compnaies, and Prince has been a pioneer in helping acheive this.

ben said:

funny how they don't mention how he sold a demo of one of the songs on this album for 99 cents like a year ago. We probably paid for prince to record the album...no $ out of pocket for him. We bank Rolled Planet Earth...talk about recycling.

BobGeorge909 said:

and for hte US...we'll payfor it again when it hits the stores.

Interesting that retail outlets get upset because Prince is distributing his music in a way that doesn't include them, like this newspaper promotion. But, when he chooses to release music through OTHER means that don't include them (like internet-only releases), mum's the word. It shows me that

a. Reporters are stoking fires by approaching people with leading questions like "Does it upset you that Prince is giving away his new CD through The Mail and not in retail stores?" -- most likely, retail outlets wouldn't have really even noticed if not approached on this.

b. Retail outlets are completely naive to other means of music distribution (like artist-to-listener approaches like the NPG Music Club was).

If one single manager/owner of a retail music chain ANYWHERE on earth can recite the names of Prince's last five albums, THEN they can have a beef with this. Otherwise, shut the hell up...Prince doesn't owe you the opportunity to sell his music any more than I owe the Salvation Army the opportunity to sell items I own at my own garage sale.

So let me get this straight, Prince probably made close to 2-5 million off this deal and the music industry might have surrendered maybe 1-3 million.

We all know that Prince is no longer the commericial juggernaunt he once was in the 80's. Not to mention his only need for the industry now is distribution of his music, which still gives him the lion's share of his profits for HIS music.

If the "Mail" sells 2.1 million copies and it goes for 2.80 Euros, where looking at close to $5 million in sales.

Not to mention the success of the album in the U.S. is bound to give Prince a turn around profit of at least $10 million.

The industry is upset because a man that can now make it so that he takes the largest share of his profits for his goods is doing just that is appualing to me.

I say screw the industry... they screwed him first!

It's crazy to know that Prince knows exactly what he is doing. He planned all this....remember that thread about princes intelligence...lol....

Steadwood said:

That's right. And they are closing down wrecka stows all over town.

Just this week, FOPP closed down ALL their stores here in London because sales of CDs plummetted and they can no longer cope with people downloading all their music instead of paying for their CDs in stores.

FOPP closed down because the overstretched themselves buying up Music Zone. It is a real shame because they were like a REAL record shop, and their prices were pretty reasonable. HMV can cry until they close, I hate them.

Prince is going to set the tone here giving away Planet Earth, the CD not the globe! Bon Jovi have given away digital versions of their album with ticket sales recently. Thank God Prince is giving away an actual CD and not some low quality download iCrap.

live4lust said:

To be fair, Prince could have played half the London concerts at £60 per ticket and we'd have thought that reasonable and he'd have made more money.