Mail on Sunday Prince giveaway

Transpontine

history is made at night
Did you buy the Mail on Sunday today in order to get the free copy of the new Prince album? I did, hiding behind my copy of the Observer as I came out of the shop in case any of the neighbours saw me. Perhaps it is another nail in the coffin of the record industry (see BBC article here), but it does raise some other questions. Generally I am in favour of the free distribution of music and indeed everything, but what is happening with some music is not a sidestepping of commercial circuits but its integration into other circuits as a form of window dressing for other products. So record labels plot that they may officially release music for free, but we will be only be able to access it if we agree to subject ourselves to advertising. Or in today's example, to get the Prince album we have to buy the loathsome 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts' Mail.
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
I don't read newspapers much but that sounds like an odd choice for the Prince fellow?

If that's the type of paper it is I'll feel OK about downloading this album to check it out, although I probably won't remember to. And Prince used to mean so much. :(
 
I've never bought that tory rag in my life, but luckily my nan gets it every day, and she always keeps the cds for me in case there's anything i like. so no doubt i'll be taking home the prince album when i go over to visit her next week.

its a bit of a weird move for the purple one, eh? but regardless of rights, wrongs and such, i can't bring myself to give a damn.
 

bassnation

the abyss
I've never bought that tory rag in my life, but luckily my nan gets it every day, and she always keeps the cds for me in case there's anything i like. so no doubt i'll be taking home the prince album when i go over to visit her next week.

its a bit of a weird move for the purple one, eh? but regardless of rights, wrongs and such, i can't bring myself to give a damn.

its a massive two fingers fuck you from prince to the labels - thought it was hilarious. they must be going nuts.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
just makes the album look worse IMO, even if it is lucrative for prince and yet another episode in his 'fuck the industry over' tirade. the cd has the mails logo on it, and its impossible (for me at least) to listen to the thing without thinking of the MOS (would any artist want that association?). the albums okay, not bad, better and more focused than the other recent ones, but theres still something a bit naff about it. just feels pointless. like he did it out for the sake of it, just to go with the tour.
 

mms

sometimes
just makes the album look worse IMO, even if it is lucrative for prince and yet another episode in his 'fuck the industry over' tirade. the cd has the mails logo on it, and its impossible (for me at least) to listen to the thing without thinking of the MOS (would any artist want that association?). the albums okay, not bad, better and more focused than the other recent ones, but theres still something a bit naff about it. just feels pointless. like he did it out for the sake of it, just to go with the tour.

i went hunting for some prince bootlegs on ebay and there are literally hundreds for sale there. no bootleg stuff though really.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
i tried to sell my prince bootlegs a few years back - they got taken off as NPG records complained to ebay.
 

dHarry

Well-known member
I heard an amusing radio "entertainment news" feature on this the other day, where a spokesperson for some music retail group said that they felt "betrayed and saddened" by this "slap in the face" from Prince, who they had been "supporting for all these years"... :slanted:

Is it a desperate ploy for publicity and concert ticket sales, or a response to downloading and the corporate record industy? It would be an interesting idea, releasing albums for free purely to promote touring, in the light of the "imminent death of music sales" debate. He should really have made it available it online, or via all the major newspapers or something, or free with every concert ticket... it's just a pity it was the Mail On Sunday.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
the MOS is apaprently pissed off the sales of the paper arent eligible for the chart. not sure why it matters though - its not like theyre giving away the album every week are they? and they sell a paper, not the cd. shrewd/ahead of its time though this move might be, i cant help but feel it really does cheapen the album. giving away OLD albums is one thing, but brand new ones, shit or not, seems to render the music worthless and probably just another annoying freebie like 90% of all covermount CDs. cant imagine that many mail readers being into prince. they probably just chucked it away.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
do you still have any?

yeah, theyre just sitting at home collecting dust... not got loads and loads but got quite a few. some nice ones. wanna buy some? ;)

i dont get the chart eligibility thing either - they said they paid a lot to get the cd so want it to be eligible for the album chart, but its a paper being sold, not an album. plus, if they were that worried, you think they would have found it if it qualified early on, not the week before its being printed.
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
I heard an amusing radio "entertainment news" feature on this the other day, where a spokesperson for some music retail group said that they felt "betrayed and saddened" by this "slap in the face" from Prince, who they had been "supporting for all these years"... :slanted:

I read or heard that too. Was it someone from Fopp? ;)

Seems like a rather self-deluded viewpoint.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
prince is a bit hypocritical though - if it wasnt for the machine and the industry he would never be in the position he is in now. warners even built paisley park for him. obviously they profited from him as well, no doubt more than he did, but thats the nature of the business. hes lucky he was with a company that were in his corner for so many years and did so much for him. he wouldnt be anywhere near the position hes in today to make amazingly profitable deals with majors for shitty new albums if it wasnt for warners.

edit - looks like the mos sold an extra 600,000 copies cos of the giveaway. the retailers have a right to be annoyed then...
http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,,2128388,00.html
 
Last edited:

dHarry

Well-known member
the position hes in today to make amazingly profitable deals with majors for shitty new albums
Is he in that position? I somehow thought he was selling practically no records, sorry CDs, in recent years (based vaguely on the fact that he was creatively washed up and never in the charts any more)?
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
in the states hes been one of the biggest live earners of the last few years. hes been raking it in. the albums i dont think have been big sellers (which is why i was surprised retailers cared so much about the new album) but his clout - somehow - with labels has been pretty impressive. the deals hes managed to strike with sony or whoever have really been overwhelmingly in his favour.
 
I heard an amusing radio "entertainment news" feature on this the other day, where a spokesperson for some music retail group said that they felt "betrayed and saddened" by this "slap in the face" from Prince, who they had been "supporting for all these years"..

Yeah all those people who bought Prince albums didn't do it cos Prince made good music, they did it cos Warner Bros is so great. So kind of them to selflessly support him without getting anything at all for themselves out of it.
Surely it's obvious that record company employees and managers make money off artists and not the other way around?

warners even built paisley park for him
do you think the money used might possibly have come from Prince's record sales?

he wouldnt be anywhere near the position hes in today to make amazingly profitable deals with majors for shitty new albums if it wasnt for warners.
yes you're right of course, but that was then and this is now. in the 70s/80s he had no choice but to sign to a major if he wanted people to hear his album. It doesn't mean he has to like it or stick with it now things have changed, both for him and in the music scene in general.

Good for Prince, shame he chose the Mail but then all newspapers are shit and giving it away with the Economist wouldn't have made much of a splash.
I think it's a really punk thing to have done.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Did anyone pay for the M**l, rip the CD off and then give the paper back? Would seem the sensible thing to do.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
yeah, of course, warners profited hugely from him. i dont know about it being a punk thing though. if he really wanted it to be a slap in the face of the industry he should have just let it be a free download on the web (and as various other people have said on the net, if he really cared about the environment - which is what the title is about - he would have just made it a download only thing).
 
Top