Prince giving away new album with today's Mail on Sunday!

[Pip Madeley]

Anger at Prince free CD giveaway

The music industry has reacted angrily at a decision to give away the new album by US musician Prince with a tabloid newspaper. Planet Earth will be given free with a future edition of the Mail on Sunday. The 10-track CD from Prince - whose hits include Purple Rain, Sign O' The Times and Cream - is not due to be released until 24 July.

Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said the 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," said Mr Quirk, referring to a period in the 1990s when Prince famously stopped using his name in favour of a symbol.

"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."

The practice of "covermounts" - where newspapers attempt to lure readers with DVDs and CDs - is used widely in the industry. The Mail on Sunday's recent CD giveaways include Peter Gabriel, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, UB40 and Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

Stephen Miron, the newspaper's managing director, said: "No one has done this before. We have always given away CDs and DVDs, but this is just setting a new level." Mr Miron declined how much the newspaper had paid to secure the deal. He added that the newspaper was not out to put music 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.

But HMV chief executive Simon Fox has said it would be "absolutely nuts" to give the album away for free. The company revealed on Thursday that its profits had more than halved in the face of cut-price competition from supermarkets and online retailers. The deal has also led to the UK arm of Sony BMG pulling 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.

Prince is due to play 21 concert dates in London later this year.

"Hey, when you go for petrol on Sunday afternoon, pick up the Daily Mail" says Prince.

[Fatso the wombat]

"Planet Earth will be given free with a future edition of the Mail on Sunday."

A future edition...? Exactly how far in the future...? A week? A month? Six months? A year...?

[Milky Tears]

I'll be getting it.

[Dave Tudor]

If he has to resort to giving away his new album, how the hell does he expect to sell out 21 concerts in London!?

[Rob McCow]

"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."

Buzzcocks!

I've never heard such a piece of garbage in my life! (except as a post under the words 'Milky Tears' )

Recorded music hasn't had any value since Napster. Or since stores started sticking 5 stickers on albums three months after release. If bands like the Pidgeon Detectives and The Rumble Strips can be promoted as the next big thing and get into the top 10 album chart, then recorded music has been devalued not by artists, but by the promo people.

Besides, Prince records approximately 30 songs a day, so it's no big loss. He could produce a triple album a week if the music companies would let him!

[Simon R]

Didn't he give away a recent album with his concert tickets a couple of years ago? I'm sure there was a copy of the album on every seat at every gig or somesuch.

It's his loss anyway and he clearly doesn't give a fig.

[WhiteCrow]

Who would think in the old Prince-Michael Jackson rivalry that Prince would turn out to be the saner of the two ...

[Pip Madeley]

It's available today by the way, incase anyone was wondering. The Mail on Sunday.

[Si Hunt]

I'll get it when he pays me to take it.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

He's probably giving it away because it's not very good.

[Milky Tears]

Pip does not speak the truth.

[Ralph]

I'll get it when he pays me to take it.

Si.

Sounds a good plan!

[Pip Madeley]

Pip does not speak the truth.

Good! We get the papers here at work, so I had first dibs on it. My dad will be pleased.

[Perry Vale]

It's not bad, his best for a while, probably because Wendy & Lisa are on it.

School report still reads "Could do better" though.

[Pip Madeley]

I like "Guitar".

[Milky Tears]

I'd rate it somewhere between '3121' and 'Musicology'. Probably about 7/10

Favourite tracks so far are 'Guitar', 'The One U Wanna C', 'All The Midnights In The World', 'Chelsea Rodgers' and 'Lion of Judah'.

Three of the remaining tracks are a bag o w*nk!

[Dino]

I was unimpressed. Am never buying The Mail On Sunday again, but Planet Earth sounds like a tribute to the giveaway CD's in the Sunday Papers. Track one sounds like Scissor Sisters, Track two sounds a bit U2ish. Perhaps I should just buy Around The World In A Day and have done with it?