Prince Gives Away His New Album Free With A Sunday Paper (funk, instrumental)

Urban Hat€monger ? · 06-30-2007, 10:17 PM

Quote:

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. rock star Prince is to give away his new album for free with a UK tabloid newspaper, weeks before its official launch, in a move that has caused dismay among music retailers.

Prince's new 10-track CD "Planet Earth" will be included with this weekend's Mail on Sunday, the newspaper's managing director, Stephen Miron, told Reuters on Friday.

The album is not scheduled to go on sale until July 24.

"No one has done this before. We have always given away CDs and DVDs, but this is just setting a new level," Miron said.

Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said Prince's decision "beggars belief".

"The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores," he said, referring to a period in the 1990s when the funk star, born Prince Rogers Nelson, famously stopped using his name.

"It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career. It is yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music," Quirk told a music conference in London on Thursday.

The practice of "covermounts", where newspapers strive to lure readers with DVDs and CDs, is used widely in the industry at a time when many newspapers are struggling to keep readers amid the distractions of online news and entertainment.

Miron declined to say how many additional copies were planned by the newspaper, whose circulation is normally around 2.3 million copies, or how much the Mail on Sunday had paid to secure the deal with Prince.

Prince's new album comes before a run of 21 concerts he will play in London this autumn.

The concerts by the innovative funk artist, who created such groundbreaking works as 1984's "Purple Rain" and 1987's "Sign O' The Times" and has sold an estimated 80 million albums, will be the only shows he performs in Europe this year.

GLOBAL DEAL

Prince has signed a global distribution and marketing deal with Columbia, a unit of Sony BMG, but the UK arm of the business has pulled out of the distribution agreement.

"Given the sheer number of copies we are talking about here it seemed the right thing to do for retailers to become exempt from the deal in the UK," said a spokesman for Sony BMG, the world's second-biggest music company.

HMV Chief Executive Simon Fox told reporters following the music and books retailer's annual results he thought it would be "absolutely nuts" to give the album away for free before its commercial release. HMV saw its profit more than halve as it battled cut-price supermarket and online sales.

The Mail's Miron said the newspaper, whose recent CD giveaways include Peter Gabriel, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran and UB40, was not out to put retailers out of business.

"They are living in the old days and haven't developed their businesses sufficiently. We can enhance their business. They are being incredibly insular and need to move their business on," he said.

Best be off to a newsagents later today then

sleepy jack · 06-30-2007, 11:09 PM

Prince>>>>>>>>>>>Smashing Pumpkins

Bane of your existence · 07-01-2007, 01:51 AM

He'll make more than enough money touring. Awesome move by Prince.

TheBig3 · 07-01-2007, 01:55 AM

its how you know Price really give a **** about the music. Good for him. I hope the record gets the respect it probably deserves.

MURDER JUNKIE · 07-01-2007, 09:57 AM

Prince is second only to Gene Simmons in marketing savvy, this is why he has been an artist that consistantly moves units for twenty-five years.

jackhammer · 07-01-2007, 07:06 PM

Popped into my local for this, alas;all sold out.

Urban Hat€monger ? · 07-01-2007, 07:23 PM

According to the Sunday Mail's website it's not for another 2 weeks they're giving it away.

joyboyo53 · 07-02-2007, 08:59 AM

anyone heard it yet? is it worth a d/l? i will agree that guy cares about music. this guy is a multi instrumental playing fool.

DontRunMeOver · 07-02-2007, 09:54 AM

Why did he do it through The Mail though???

What are the odds that the very next day they run a headline like

Can funk give your children AIDS?
Government minister admits link between gypsy music and terrorism 'not impossible'.

right-track · 07-02-2007, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

Best be off to a newsagents later today then

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

Popped into my local for this, alas;all sold out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

According to the Sunday Mail's website it's not for another 2 weeks they're giving it away.

Don't fret jackhammer.

Urban did this to me with the new White Stripes album not so long ago.
Twice I went!

He's either avin' a larf, or he's a time lord.

07-01-2007, 01:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
TheBig3 killedmyraindog Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 11,172	its how you know Price really give a **** about the music. Good for him. I hope the record gets the respect it probably deserves. __________________ I've moved to a new address

07-01-2007, 07:06 PM	#6 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	Popped into my local for this, alas;all sold out. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

07-01-2007, 07:23 PM	#7 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	According to the Sunday Mail's website it's not for another 2 weeks they're giving it away. __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.

07-01-2007, 01:51 AM	#3 (permalink)
Bane of your existence Such That Join Date: May 2007 Location: Austin, Tx Posts: 1,197	He'll make more than enough money touring. Awesome move by Prince.

07-01-2007, 09:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
MURDER JUNKIE The Wetter The Better!! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: SH1TTY London Ontario Canada Posts: 2,504	Prince is second only to Gene Simmons in marketing savvy, this is why he has been an artist that consistantly moves units for twenty-five years.

07-02-2007, 08:59 AM	#8 (permalink)
joyboyo53 down the rabbit hole Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: the mountain called monkey Posts: 764	anyone heard it yet? is it worth a d/l? i will agree that guy cares about music. this guy is a multi instrumental playing fool.