http://www.usatoday.com/l...ting_x.htm

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
After years of self-exile, he's back with a hit album and a blockbuster tour. The crowning glory? Prince is getting royal treatment from the same industry he once accused of slavery and oppression. (Related story: For Prince, it's good to be king)

In a unique deal with Nielsen SoundScan, every Musicology disc Prince gives away with a concert ticket is counted as a sold CD, helping him sustain a top 10 presence in Billboard. Since opening that door with the April 20 release of Musicology, SoundScan has rethought its policy and now requires acts to offer two-tiered pricing so consumers can opt for tickets with or without the bonus CD. But Prince has been grandfathered in, securing the remaining dates of a tour expected to draw 1.5 million concertgoers by mid-September. So far, it has grossed $37.3 million from 40 shows attended by 599,444 fans.

The CD, No. 6 this week, has sold 953,000 copies in nine weeks. Adding units SoundScan doesn't tabulate (arena box seats, CDs given at shows before April 20, online club sales), U.S. sales of Musicology exceed 2 million copies.

"The cool thing is there is no manager or record executive pulling my strings," says Prince, 46. "I make my decisions based on what's right as opposed to what's traditional."

Observers questioned the wisdom of the giveaway, until they saw the lucrative results.

"Prince saw it as a creative marketing tool," says L. Londell McMillan, Prince's lawyer/business partner, "to share his music with the widest audience possible. People would reconnect with his music and spread the message. What better place to sell music than the live venue? We have a captive audience."

Sustaining a high chart position can drive sales by generating airplay, media attention and prominent store displays. The tour memento, in a simple sleeve, also serves as a spark to drive fans toward other Prince discs or the fancier retail version of Musicology with the added sizzle of enhanced audio/visual components and elaborate packaging.

"Another breakthrough was our ability to convince Columbia to join in, with the caveat that we'd also sell the record on tour and online," McMillan says.

The label agreed to handle U.S. distribution and license sales overseas while taking no cut of separate transactions. Prince owns the master recording, and the label risked no investment.

"Prince is not compromising his artistic and commercial freedom," McMillan says. "Columbia is profitable from the first record sold because it didn't have to recoup untold sums. We made a smart deal."

I don't get it. Through giving out his Musicology CD at concerts and factoring in the price does he get more cash? Is it cash he could get through the ticket price or does it ensure that only him and Sony get a cut? whereas if it was just for the concert other people would get a cut? Or is it about putting it in the chart and getting the exposure?

COMON said:

I don't think Sony gets a cut of the concert cds.

He is skipping the middlemen who would get a part of the profit for moving the album.

Musicology costs about $.25 to make .It sells for $15.99.
If it is sold through regular venues then the profit Prince receives is smaller just because of normal costs,not to mention the regular promotion costs that the record company makes.

Now Prince charges you $75.00 for a seat and $10.00 of that is the CD then he is making much more than the $.50 cents per album that he woul make on a normal record deal.

Picture this.Billboard and all the rest of these so called bean counter people now are out of a job if this happens.The record industry fears this because now jobs are going to be lost because a lot of these folks do nothing but cash in on someone else's work.

Then whatever one hit wonder they serve up as the "next big thing" will not have fake stats to bolster superstar status.
Dig This:
Stevie Wonder goes on a greatest hits tour and sells out and gives out a new album and now he's back on top instead of DJ Nonrapper of Madonna wannabes.


These so called companies would shit a brick.

COMON said:

Since record companies rarely get any cut on touring (except when there are merchandising deals tied in, or in the rare case of Robbie Williams' record deal), that money goes directly to the artist, without the prospect cross collacterialization (that's the recouping of recording costs involved with making a record from two differing sources: record sales and touring). AS such, that money is certainly going all to Prince (less expenses of course). By handing it out at concerts, it gets chart exposure, which just ensures that buyers for record stores will buy larger quantities in the hopes that consumers will come in and purchase it. Whether or not Sony is getting a big cut of the physical record sales (in the stores) is irrelevant: they don't have to worry about recouping any costs associated with the album so they'll make money just for shipping the album out to the stores (thanks to their extensive distrubution networks) and Prince makes his money via the tour, which is where all artists make their money (contrary to anything else that is said or seen in videos)

muleFunk said:

Wow, studio costs have certainly come way down these days, haven't they? Instruments, mics, cables, soundboards, equipment, engineers, etc. Only $.25, eh?

Snap!

Duh !

Those costs are going to come out of the artist's pockets.Sony did not put any money into the cd.To press and distribute the cd it cost about 25 cents to 35 cents per cd.

A lot of people think that the company pays for studio rental ,ect. The company may "front" those expenses but they will come out of any money given to the artists.

muleFunk said:

Oh yeah,just ask TLC or TONI BRAXTON about that! P has been in a proccess of doing this since Emancipation came out. He's making more$$$ by cutting out the middleman!