Music industry angry at Prince CD album giveaway

[Hardrock69]

Up until now, one of the music industry's worst problems has been dealing with music piracy, both physical and online. Now, the UK industry has reacted angrily with the decision by the US musician Prince to give away its new album with The Mail newspaper. The Sunday newspaper has been reported to have paid £500,000 (~US$1 million) to distribute the album.

So far, many newspapers have been giving away free CDs and DVDs with its papers to lure readers. The Mail itself has already included CDs from well known artists such as UB40, Peter Gabriel, Dolly Parton and so on. However, according to The Mail's managing director, no one has ever done this with an album before its official release, as the Planet Earth 10-track CD is not due to be released until the 24th July. As this is the artist's 24th studio album, the co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association sees this as an insult to all the record stores who supported Prince throughout this career.

The main thing the music industry fears now is that this could become a trend for artists, since they get a large sum upfront without the cost of marketing their music. In this case, Prince gets its lump sum, The Mail readers get a free CD album, the newspaper hopefully sells enough copies to make up for this cost, but the music industry gets little, if anything out of it. After piracy, the music industry sees this as yet another example of damaging the perceived value of music.

It is quite clever to see how Prince is able to make a large sum of money without its fans paying more than the price of the Sunday paper to get the CD. On the other hand, it would be interesting to see just how much prince would have made had it just relied on music store sales to sell its new album! As prince is due to play on 21 concert dates in London later this year, this give away will help get its music heard and thus help bring more fans into its concerts.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Music-industry-angry-at-Prince-CD-album-giveaway.html

[binnie]

Prince is also charging a reasonable price on the gig's he's playing at the Millenium Dome in London.

Good to see that not all artists/bands are interested soley in $$$$ and actually give a shit about their fans....

[Nickdfresh]

The gigs are where artists make the money anyways...

[Mr. Vengeance]

Prince ( a musical genius) actually cares about the fans? How refreshing.....

He gave away a free copy of his last album Musicology to every fan who attended his concert. I already had it, so I gave my free copy to someone who didn't have it! Karma!!!!

[fe_lung]

Is he going to get credit for units sold like he did with the Musicology thing? There was a big stink about that too because he gave them away with the purchase of a ticket and yet they were counted as units sold, so he got a #1 record out of the deal.

Don't think for a second that Prince hasn't got an angle to work on this.

[Seshmeister]

i would be mildly annoyed that he was doing this after offering a free CD for people who bought tickets to his show if it wasn't for the fact that he's charging us 1/2 or even a 1/4 of what every other artist charges for gigs.

Fuck the music industry cunts who give us Simon Cowell's manufactured bullshit. I hope they all go bankrupt.

[Seshmeister]

Originally posted by fe_lung

Don't think for a second that Prince hasn't got an angle to work on this.

He does but it's an angle I totally support.

Remove the pointless record companies from the equation, they serve no purpose.

Make some cash from the newspaper rather than it getting stolen from via the interweb, get the music out there without having to rely on the increasingly non independant radio stations and make your money from people that want to pay to see you.

Cool!

[Diamondjimi]

I call it taking back the music.

Kudos to Prince.
:cool:

[Terry]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
The gigs are where artists make the money anyways...

Course now record labels are trying to make one of the conditions to new band signings one that said band must cut the record label in on a certain percentage of the gross concert profits.

Greedy fucks. Got no sympathy for them, mostly because so little has come out of any of 'em in the last decade that I have any use for. Am glad there is an industry-wide sales slump. Serves 'em right for serving up American Idol-style pop from one talentless pretty face after another.

[Mr. Vengeance]

Originally posted by fe_lung
Is he going to get credit for units sold like he did with the Musicology thing? There was a big stink about that too because he gave them away with the purchase of a ticket and yet they were counted as units sold, so he got a #1 record out of the deal.

Don't think for a second that Prince hasn't got an angle to work on this.

Who the fuck cares? If people get to hear music for free and the artist is GIVING it to them for free, why do you care how it affects the charts??? Why? because it might have knocked the lastest Beyonce album back one spot???

Honest to fuck!

[LstLkly2Succeed]

Originally posted by Terry
Course now record labels are trying to make one of the conditions to new band signings one that said band must cut the record label in on a certain percentage of the gross concert profits.

Greedy fucks. Got no sympathy for them, mostly because so little has come out of any of 'em in the last decade that I have any use for. Am glad there is an industry-wide sales slump. Serves 'em right for serving up American Idol-style pop from one talentless pretty face after another.

Ugh, record companies make me sick. They let Paris Hilton record her skanky little voice on a cd, for that alone they shouldn't see a penny for the next 10 years.

[binnie]

Originally posted by Terry


Greedy fucks. Got no sympathy for them, mostly because so little has come out of any of 'em in the last decade that I have any use for. Am glad there is an industry-wide sales slump. Serves 'em right for serving up American Idol-style pop from one talentless pretty face after another.

Hopefully the record company bosses will wake up beofre the whole thing goes belly up...

[Hardrock69]

Originally posted by Terry
Course now record labels are trying to make one of the conditions to new band signings one that said band must cut the record label in on a certain percentage of the gross concert profits.


Fuck that fucking shit. Those fucking bastards sole purpose is to sell records. They can recoup advances through record sales.

Concert grosses are seperate, and the fucking labels have no right to make such a demand.

Fucking scumbag fuck motherfuckers!!
:mad:

[katie]

A lot of record companies know that the game is up.
That is why Simon Cowell Head A&R Sony/BMG has gone into worldwide TV, as just selling plastic units is not a viable business plan for the 21st century.

Prince = Brilliant idea, take the money and run.

Cool!

[Seshmeister]

The fact Cowell is head of A&R says it all...

[perilousepete]

so THAT'S why I never hear good new music on the radio anymore....unless it's by an already established band, of course
no wonder a lot of the rock groups are seeking new labels such as megadeth going to roadrunner, they don't fuck you out of money for everything you do. i couldn't imagine paying someone for my own concert who had absolutely nothing to with it...fuckin robbin em in broad daylight. but again, yeah who gives a shit about album sales you get your money from the real fans who come to see you. unless you're like justin timberlake or some bullshit.

[binnie]

Originally posted by perilousepete
so THAT'S why I never hear good new music on the radio anymore....unless it's by an already established band, of course
no wonder a lot of the rock groups are seeking new labels such as megadeth going to roadrunner, they don't fuck you out of money for everything you do. i couldn't imagine paying someone for my own concert who had absolutely nothing to with it...fuckin robbin em in broad daylight. but again, yeah who gives a shit about album sales you get your money from the real fans who come to see you. unless you're like justin timberlake or some bullshit.


I agree with you entirely.

However, with regard to Roadrunner: they may not fuck the band out of money but they do fuck the fans. They release 2, maybe 3 editions of an album months appart to get more $$$$

[Steve Savicki]

Originally posted by Mr. Vengeance
Prince ( a musical genius) actually cares about the fans?
Does he care more or less than Van Halen?:p

[fe_lung]

Originally posted by Mr. Vengeance
Who the fuck cares? If people get to hear music for free and the artist is GIVING it to them for free, why do you care how it affects the charts??? Why? because it might have knocked the lastest Beyonce album back one spot???

Honest to fuck!

Not saying that I'm all about protecting the so-called integrity of the soundscan charts - I couldn't give a fuck about them. But they do have an impact on the industry - think of how many people buy a record just because it's a top 10 record.

I'm just saying that Prince is getting something out of this too. I support him too, if he can use the corporate system against him then more power to him - especially in the current music market where established acts like Prince get shit on while shitty pop acts get the full court marketing press.

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

Originally posted by binnie
I agree with you entirely.

However, with regard to Roadrunner: they may not fuck the band out of money but they do fuck the fans. They release 2, maybe 3 editions of an album months appart to get more $$$$

Don't forget the special edition "making of" DVD!

Look at what happened to Ghost Reveries... special edition with "Soldier of Fortune" cover (beautiful song), Making of dvd, etc...


Same thing with United Abominations. There is the American version, then there is the version with Black Swan, Out on The Tiles, the Bodies Left Behind, and a special "live track".


I can't wait to see if a DVD will be coming out in August.

[Seshmeister]

So today I bought the newspaper and got my new Prince album.

No packaging at all. No track list, nothing apart from some warnings about stealing it.:)

I had to Google to find out it was called Planet Earth.:)

It's basically the same as stealing it online, you end up with a CD and then have to go and find out what the tracks are, who played on them etc etc. So why not just download it? Well I guess the tiny Jehovah Witness guy gets his $1m so you have a clean conscience.

As far as the music goes, I've only listened to it once so far but it seemed a bit 'easy listening' and not too exciting. Not as good as 3121.

Anyhoo I still support the general idea.

Cheers!

:gulp:

[Wawazat]

Is it 10 tracks only, total playing time is rather short ?

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by binnie
Hopefully the record company bosses will wake up beofre the whole thing goes belly up...

Unless you own stock in them let them fail. We don't need them anymore with downloadable music and home recording studios. It used to be the labels controlled the industry because recording studios were prohibitedly expensive and they controlled the distribution chain. They would give the artists advances to record and tour charging them outragiouse intrest. One hit wonders never made any money by the time they paid the record company back.

The whole recording process and distribution of music has changed. The thuggish brutes are losing. They are in the buggy whip age.

[Seshmeister]

One example is Bros a 3 piece English boy band. Between 1987 and 1990 they had 8 top 10 singles including a #1 and 4 #2s and two top 5 albums. They were everywhere.

They did arena tours TV specials the works. At the end of their time in the spotlight they had 0 money. Squat. The record company lends you money and then takes it back without you ever seeing it. This is the way record companies work. There is a cool chapter in Roths book on this.

[katie]

Originally posted by Seshmeister
One example is Bros a 3 piece English boy band. Between 1987 and 1990 they had 8 top 10 singles including a #1 and 4 #2s and two top 5 albums. They were everywhere.

They did arena tours TV specials the works. At the end of their time in the spotlight they had 0 money. Squat. The record company lends you money and then takes it back without you ever seeing it. This is the way record companies work. There is a cool chapter in Roths book on this.

Bros paid off their bass player for £1 milllion pounds,
this was right before the band went tits up.

So he did OK! (LOL)

[Hardrock69]

Heck...I saw an interview with the guys in the Foo Fighters....they were talking about their first album and how it sold 2 million copies, but when they got their platinum award for it, they still owed their record label half a million bucks!!!

The record labels are staffed with scum who are nothing more than corporate white-collar criminals.

[DLR'sCock]

The major labels are nothing but a bunch of criminals.