http://www.mtv.com/news/a...lines=true

Prince's recent Musicology has quickly become his best-selling album in years, moving more than 632,000 copies in five weeks thanks to a combination of traditional record sales and copies whose purchase price is included with every ticket to his mostly sold-out arena shows.

Other artists looking to follow in the Purple One's footsteps toward inflated album sales had better think twice, however. Both SoundScan, the company that tracks record sales, and music industry trade Billboard are putting their foot down and revising their policy of allowing album sales to be piggybacked with concert tickets.

Discussions about the novel approach to selling records began when Musicology was released April 20. Tickets sold for concerts taking place prior to the release of the album didn't count toward the album's total, since a pre-existing policy dictates that Billboard doesn't recognize albums sold in an "exclusive window," such as Internet presales, but after April 20, all tickets sold for the handful of shows Prince had scheduled in a given week, each with attendance around 10,000, counted toward his album-sales total.

And with around three or four shows scheduled per week through September 9, Musicology doesn't look like it'll be disappearing from the chart anytime soon.

Billboard chart editor Geoff Mayfield claims that 25 percent, or 158,000 copies, of Musicology's total sales were through concert tickets, priced at $75-$85.

While Prince's initiative may seem like a good way to introduce fans of "Purple Rain," "1999" or "Diamonds and Pearls" to his new material, it may put unwanted multiple copies in the hands of his followers. For instance, if a married couple attended a show, they'd come home with two copies in hand. Should they attend multiple shows, even more copies would clutter their CD collection.

And should these Prince fans be completists, they may prefer having the CD packaged in a jewel case with the complete artwork, instead of the cardboard sleeves the concert copies come in — warranting yet another copy brought home.

Protected by a grandfather clause, Musicology will be allowed to continue counting albums sold through concert tickets toward its total, since Mayfield said it would be unfair to "change horses in the middle of the stream," but other artists who may have been eyeing Prince's strategy might be impeded.

The Cure, who were reportedly considering a similar practice for their first album in four years, a self-titled effort due June 29, might have to rethink their tactics, though the British quintet Gomez may be fine to proceed as planned — the difference being that purchasing a copy of Gomez's Split the Difference won't be mandatory. Concertgoers would be given a choice.

"The new policy states that customers 'must be given an option to either add the CD to the ticket purchase or forgo the CD for a reduced ticket-only price,' with the CD price 'comparable to reasonable and customary retail pricing,' " wrote Billboard's Mayfied, announcing the revised rule in the magazine's June 5 edition.

"We're not going to let them sell the album for two bucks," Mayfield clarified. "If someone was trying to pass off an album that sells for $18.98 in stores for a two-buck premium ... No, I don't think so.

"If it's a new artist, and their album sells for five bucks," he added, considering the lower price tags some labels give to emerging artists, often under $10, "then I could see that."

It's not likely that new artists would make such a move, however. Prince was able to do it because he recorded Musicology with his own money before he struck a major-label distribution deal, and he owns the copyright. "This is his puppy," Mayfield said. "It was already produced clean on his credit before he signed with Sony."

So if anyone were to follow in Prince's footsteps, it would be older "heritage artists," such as the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett and Phish. With a massive and loyal fanbase, these artists theoretically do not need the marketing benefits a major label affords, and their shows are routinely well-attended.

While Buffett, for example, moved only 21,000 copies of the recently re-released soundtrack to the 1975 cult flick "Rancho Deluxe," his annual summer treks are among the best attended of the season.

And should Phish, who could easily pack in up to 70,000 fans at a festival show, decide to take a Prince-like approach, they may actually score their first #1 album with the upcoming swan song Undermind (see "Phish To Split — For Good This Time").



—Joe D'Angelo

Did anyone really not see this coming? This was a mistake on Billboard's part. Still, even if the concert CDs hadn't been counted, you can bet they're contributing to the good word of mouth that's keeping the album selling without a single.

My wife and I enjoyed the concert, then stopped for a bite to eat on the way home. Our waitress was bummed that she couldn't go to the show, so we left her our extra copy of the CD as part of her tip.

My wife and I enjoyed the concert, then stopped for a bite to eat on the way home. Our waitress was bummed that she couldn't go to the show, so we left her our extra copy of the CD as part of her tip.

screw Billboard and Soundscan..what's their rule on record company's buying copies of their artists albums to pad album sales? Musicology is selling well without thw added concert cd's so if i were Prince i would just tell them don't do me any favors and quit counting the concert cd's u jags

crenshaw said:

Thats cool - my wife & I left our extra copy
as part of the tip for the chambermaid
at the hotel in Phoenix.
I wonder how many copies are given away as tips??

good!! you know how good an artist is when the industry changes because of them. like when college outlawwed dunking because of wilt chamberlain. I love stuff like this

I say GO PRINCE! Finally he got them at their own game. They made the game with all these crazy loophloes and he's showing them that one can not only beat the system, but expose it for what it is. If anyone needed to show the industry a thing or two, it's him. He may not get this chance again.

Mazerati said:

Really! Why should these loozers determine how those artists distribute their music? The Cure should go ahead with their plan and not give a damn how it charts.If they dont want to count them , F*** them.

Way to go, Prince!

superspaceboy said:

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It does't matter if it counts or not the money will go to the artist directly and fans can obtain the new music. I think this was Prince 's point in the first place.

Billboard thinks that sales should be determined by radio play and whatever company spends the most money and kisses the most ass to get their records played (or in some cases, inflates sales by buying the CDs themselves!).

VinnyM27 said:

remember when chart watching was fun? i think its sucked ever since 1991 when they started using soundscan and got even worse when they allowed airplay only songs to chart

I gave my (2) extra copies to a 21 year old suburbian girl who never owned any PRINCE records and a 17 year old boy whose favorite artist is Mary J. Blige!
They both Love the cd and The girl told me that she has been listening to it everyday for 2 weeks since I gave her a copy and that shes now the biggest prince fan! and wants more music by him!

the 17 year says he loves the album and he doesn't even like male vocalist...plus he made his grandma and mother go out and buy their own copy, because he's against burning music and doesn't want to share his with them, in fear he won't get it back lol

so this is a great stradegy by PRINCE, because friends of his can give the extras away to those who aren't gonna go out and buy his music and if they like, they;ll go buy the next or maybe even come to a future show!

GO PRINCE!

www.newpowerdetroit.com
Join us 6/4/04 for PRINCE MUSIC NIGHT and a special Pre-Concert Dance Party on 6/19/04!

I still don't understand the big debate here. Does anybody really think that someone would pay $40-$50 for a concert ticket, but wouldn't pay $10 for a fucking CD from Wal Mart from that same artist, if it weren't included with the concert ticket?

aries4ever said:

no they wouldn't...and prince's high concert turnouts the past decade are proof of that....

sosgemini said:

True, with alot of "heritage artists" the casual fans are just going to see "the hits" and aren't all that interested in buying the new music.
[This message was edited Sat May 29 10:13:12 2004 by Universaluv]