Prince angers British music retailers with a promotional distribution deal that will make his latest album, “Planet Earth”, worthless for traditional CD stores in the UK, a sector in the music industry already facing rapidly declining CD sales.
Last Sunday, The Mail on Sunday, a British tabloid with an estimated 2.9 million copies sold, packaged “Planet Earth” with its newspaper as an unprecedented promotional giveaway.
Sunday papers are a British gem and often include various added-value magazines, digests, CDs and other eye-catching purchase incentives at a premium price point. This, however, is the first time we see an artist release an entire album in exclusive association with a newspaper as opposed to the traditional or even modern, digital means.
It is not yet clear how much Prince was paid for this campaign and how he intends to milk it (i.e. UK tour, merchandising). This controversial step appears to mirror Paul McCartney’s alliance with Starbucks earlier in the year. I think that while record companies are scrambling for marketing ideas and music retailers fighting for dear life, artists – and a new breed of artist managers – are crossing over to alternative media for mass, public penetration and leaving a weeping music infrastructure for dust.
To the determent of music retailers, the potential for something like this is obvious and exponential. Let’s face it, Prince is not where he used to be – neither is Paul McCartney – so a massive push by a media giant to blitz its readership with a new product may generate some very satisfying, financial returns for all. All except the music retailers, that is.
Is the album any good? It doesn’t matter. When 2.9 million people receive the same CD, on the same day, around the same time, the artist formerly known as.. is, now, the artist at the very fore.
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