Giveaway by Prince angers label
Prince has angered the music industry and stirred up trouble among British retailers by giving away his new album with a tabloid newspaper this weekend.
“Planet Earth” will be packaged with the Mail on Sunday at a price of $2.80.
The giveaway has been roundly criticized as a major blow for an industry already facing rapidly declining CD sales. It has led Sony BMG U.K., Prince’s local label, to pull the plug on its own sales release of the CD in Britain.
International sales launch for “Planet Earth” is July 16; the U.S. launch is July 24.
“The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores,” said Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Assn., referring to a period in the 1990s when the singer famously stopped using his name to protest a binding record deal.
“It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career,” Quirk added.
A publicist for Prince’s record label said he wasn’t doing interviews.
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