prince to give away new album 'planet earth' away with the mail on sunday

guardian article -
http://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/story/0,,2114672,00.html

Surely he couldn't do this without the record company's agreement?

thats what i thought but maybe he has some clause in his contract that allows him to. he does seem to be signing unusually generous artist-favouring contracts with the majors these days.

A spokesman for the group said last night that the UK arm of Sony BMG had withdrawn from Prince's global deal and would not distribute the album to UK stores.

Seems a bit strange. The Guardian article also says he's giving the album away to anyone who buys a ticket for his London gigs.

i think i read about this in yesterday's daily express.

he is giving it away with the tickets but thats not quite the same as giving it away with a paper (which costs much less and will mean the album gets given away to people who didnt even want it to begin with).

ha! i would not have bought this otherwise but for £1 or whatever i may as well. i will feel a twinge of guilt b/c i hate the mail but whatevs, really.

maybe prince is a bit littlejohn fan which is why he chose the mail. cant imagine prince being the type of artist mail readers would like though.

the albums almost definitely going to be shit though, so this will save me having to buy it.

One label executive said that in the U.K., in particular, there's been strong pushback against cover mounts.

Wishful Thinking dude.

Yeah, the "Tubular Bells" one, the 2 punk comps, the various Simple Minds/Peter Gabriel, etc.

one thing i dont get though - how many people would even buy a new prince album? its not like hes that big of a draw anymore.

He's a big draw, gigwise.

hes only doing this cos its a 'first' id imagine.

John Otway to thread.

I'm seeing this as selling your album for a pound with a Mail on Sunday thrown in for nothing. Oh dear, poor Prince, not desperate at all.

lol 'local newspaper'

On a point of principle, music reviewers should perhaps review this week's Mail On Sunday rather than the new Prince album.

"It's the same old stuff, surprising in it's predictability of point of view. And now for the Mail on Sunday"

I'm not so sure he isn't a big selling act. "Musicology" has apparently sold 2.5 million worldwide and "3121" has sold 1.5 million. By todays anemic numbers, those are pretty huge sales.

To be honest, I think he's rich and likes trying to stir things up. He's got enough money that he couldn't really care less about actual money gained from album sales I would suppose. Plus, as discussed here: The Record Industry's Decline , maybe he's just the first to accept that folks are gonna be getting music free anyway soon enough (with some form of blanket fee or something divvied up). Or something.

surely one point is that the newspaper (ha!) will pay Prince a nice big fat sum for this (over £250,K as per Mike Oldfield you'd think).
a sum of money that will actually come through a lot quicker and easier, then via the usual sales channels of a new release.
perhaps this is a nice and easy quick way to get a sizable chunk o'money.
also - Prince has hours of tracks in the archives.
whats not to say these are just offcuts, and not a genuine proper new album as such ? i can see Prince easily doing this - easy money, easy tracks, lots of press/exposure, and the First factor.
its a Win-Win from Prince's POV ..

SONYBMG

I keep reading this as ZOMG

I'm hoping for some drum machine tracks and maybe another Michael Bland cameo, his new band doesn't seem all that stunning.

matt2 otm on the "I think he's rich and likes trying to stir things up" theory. I think ever since he wrote "slave" on his cheek (in reference to a label he'd had a very profitable relationship with for 15 years, no less), he's been trying to upend the whole traditional major label system, on at least his end, with all these one-album deals and giving albums away with concert tickets and stuff. Basically, he's living the dream of every musician, having enough of an audience that he can pay his own way and do things the way he wants, using labels only really for distribution. I don't think he'll stumble on a workable career model with all this stuff, though, mainly because it helps to have a 20 year back catalog of hits to even start to do it. The only thing I think is odd about this is that it's a UK paper. Maybe he wants/wanted to do it in the US but it didn't work out with the New York Times or USA Today so they decided to try it in a smaller country instead.

Also he's doing that big British tour first, right?

so, I bought 4 tickets, does that mean I get 4 albums? Or will my pals need to buy 3 Mail On Sundays? no, I WONT LET THEM, i will let them hear mine.

There's no reason to automatically assume Planet Earth is going to suck. I wasn't a big fan of Musicology, but 3121 was divided about 50/50 between good and better.

"Oh, Monseur le MailonSunday, you spoil us"

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dri800/i865/i86596hvrkp.jpg

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg100/g114/g11427r9k0d.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/prince/prince3.html

That advert seems to imply it's not a cover-mount?

exactly.
are we going to have to buy the fucking newspaper for next few months collecting vouchers ?
dear god i hope not.
also - what about the packaging.
bet it has 'Free With Mail on Sunday' plastered all over it ..

You mightn't have to buy a week's worth of the Voelkischer Beobachter to get the album, but frankly even cutting out 1 coupon and then rolling up to the shop to be told they've got no copies left/sending off for it and waiting a month seems like too much work, especially if it means increasing the circulation of that scumsheet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6256732.stm

http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/character2.article.jpg

"The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores"

Yeah, my heart really bleeds for the Entertainment Retailers Association. "all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career" - I never realised HMV was a charitable foundation.

so anyone buy this weeks for the rules on this giveaway - they were all sold out in my local supermarket ?

ah ha .. spoke too soon :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/prince/prince4.html

well, let's be honest, he's reached the daily mail age, hasn't he? i've even caught my mum occasionally purchasing one ("for the horoscopes!"). slippery slope and all that. he doesn't even realise what he's become...

he's conservative on crime, liberal on prostitution

these young whippersnappers like jamiroquai don't know what real music is

It probably makes absolute sense for an 'artist' of this scale to do this...

do the sums...

Artist royalty for CD sales - maximum 1 quid for someone like Prince.

last album sales around 1.5 million - (my rough estimate for UK sales - 200,000 copies) = 200,000 squids.

The Mail on Sunday offer Prince 10 shiny new pennies (my guess) for every copy of the 3 millions copies printed (current circulation 2.275 million copies) = 300,000 squids

yes please thank you mr mail on sunday - says prince.

absolutely jack.
thats what i kind of realised when i read how much Oldfield supposedly got.
its a very easy option, gets him a lot of exposure, and his (new) music back into the mitts of a whole new audience as well as his hardcore followers.
wil be interesting to see if any other big names follow this lead once they too figure out the sums.

Too late for The Darkness tho.

So, it's this sunday!

You gettin?

i'm getting, 696 is stealing

To my eternal shame, I have reserved a copy at my local newsagent's.

papers going straight in the bin.

cd will probably follow soon after.

the tv advert/'guitar' is really shit

"I love you all! And fuck you!"

Probably because everyone was tired of paying for a bunch of sorta half-assed songs with the occasional gem thrown in?

agree re overkill.

upon hearing of this album, a friend asked re shows and whether he and i would be going along as per last time (night #20).
can't believe i answered : 'doubt it'

of course, there is a chance that in a few weeks i will regret this post.

i dont feel the urge to go and see him live anymore.
especially the aftershows.
they are more like endurance tests these days.
but im prob in the minority there.

“The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

otfm

Man, that interview:

So why did you decide to call the album 20TEN? I ask. "I just think it's a year that really matters," he says. These are very trying times." To emphasise the point he chivvies me into another room, switches on the TV and shows me clips from an evangelical TV documentary blaming corporate America for a range of woes from Hurricane Katrina to asthmatic children.

He says one problem is that "people, especially young people, don't have enough God in their lives".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOGUqXRXPts

A new Prince album but with the added bonus of not having to buy the Mail On Sunday to get one, sounds good to me

That BET award show tribute with him there in the front row has probably encouraged his egomania.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/07/07/prince-20ten-the-first-review-this-is-his-best-album-for-23-years-says-tony-parsons-115875-22386952/

20TEN is a comeback on a par with Elvis reinventing himself in Las Vegas in 1968. 20TEN is as good as anything Prince has done – which means it is as good as anything that anyone has done.

From the heart of Minnesota – here come the purple Yoda.

this is going to be an amazing return to form, i can tell.

LOL Tony Parsons

WHAT...as good as 'Rave To The Joy Fantastic'...but it can't be better than MPLsound...so many grate albums in 20 years...

...genius does not fade. And genius does not go out of style. And genius – the kind of musical genius owned by Prince Rogers Nelson of Minneapolis – is forever fresh. Now Prince is back with his best record since Sign o’ the Times 23 years ago.

COMPASSION
... Prince at his most socially conscious...

BEGINNING ENDLESSLY
... Prince at his most funky...

FUTURE SOUL SONG
... Prince at his most soulful, and most romantic...

SEA OF EVERYTHING
... Prince at his most spiritual, and his most romantic...

EVERYBODY LOVES ME
... Prince at his most light-hearted...

Parsons at his most "Right, that's 400 words, will that do?"

He dressed like Mozart - ON ACID!
Ah, the old ones are the best...

omg i havent seen "... ON ACID" in too long

Possibly since the last time Tony Parsons wrote about music - 20 odd years ago?

So is everybody's stony silence on this down to the fact that actually it's not the carcrash we were all expecting or it's just too underwhelming to make any value judgement on it...

Hasn't been released in the States yet. Not to mention, I'll wait to find it for $3 or less, I'll be damned if I'm paying full price for a new Prince album with 2-3 "good" songs that has been given away in the UK.

You can stream the whole album here. First impressions: it's not bad at all.

http://www.jushustle.com/blog/2010/07/prince-20ten-leak-listen-to-the-album/

Whoa, you're right, this sounds much better than expected! The beats and synths on the first two songs are really cool, not the sort of trying-to-recreate-the-past stuff MPLSound had.

I really like Lavaux and Sticky like Glue sans rapping.

I wonder if he was sitting on a couple of those songs for 25 years. I mean, they're not as good as anything on Purple Rain or Around the World... but they're not the fusion-y crap he's dumped on us for the last few years either. Still, it's probably best this album is being given away.

I dunno, the compositions themselves aren't quite as memorable as his 80s/early 90s stuff, but it feels like his found a nice new sound that's neither about trying to appeal to his 80s fans nor being hip with the kids. I'm really liking the grooves and drum programming here.

TBH, based on the first listen I'd be actually willing to pay money for this album. (Which I probably have to do, I don't think his giveaway deal extends to as far as Finland.)

Think the internet gets that far occasionally.

its a decent album. doesnt sound tossed off like it might have done, and it all hangs quite well together. the lyrics are prince in messagey mode, but not really hectoring like hes had an unfortunate tendency to do in the past decade or so. not really amazing songs though, or that memorable melodically but respectable enough. my main prob with the album is that its quite 80s retro, which is cool, that IS princes sound of course, but makes him seem a bit retro/nostalgia-y.

Well, at least it's the Mirror this time!!!!!!! And my Daily Mail Reading friend Mavis ("You know, I read the other day that asylum seekers on mobile phone masts can give your mortgage cancer!!!!!!") won't assault my earholes with complaints about the music not being "the right sort of thing" for "this paper"!!!!! And I won't have to point out that the "right sort of thing" for the Daily Mail to apply copious amounts of petroleum, light a match, and retire!!!!!!!

Umm guys . . . I'm halfway through this album and I'm grinning from ear to ear. If he didn't pull the bulk of this material out of the fabled Vault then he's somehow found his one-man-band flow again. Lyrically nothing that will change lives but musically pretty stripped down and funky. WOW.

i dont think its vault material, but yeah, it sounds like hes comfortable working in the old one man band mould again. or at least it sounds more like one man band prince used to sound. just without the songs.

Got this @ the weekend. Only played it once yet but the first few songs sounded good, interest wandered by the end of the album but perked up again with the hidden track

xpost a bunch of these read as songs to me.

So except for a few folks was this completely slept on? Shame if it was. It still holds up for me in a big way. "Beginning Endlessly" is till wOw.

"still wOw".

Planet Earth sucked. and I love Prince, but.....

this was a huge disappointment after 3121

the thread reviver is talking about the new album, 20Ten, not Planet Earth. I was waiting for it to get a U.S. release, but maybe it won't get one at this point?

tbh i didn't even read the revive post lol......

i dunno i thought ilx was talking about some supposed terrible new single of his a few months ago?

Finally got round to playing this after having it for a few weeks. First impressions are that this is a really good album. The first two tracks are especially brilliant. The only thing that I didn't really enjoy were the two ballads near the end, I think that's where his real weakness is these days, he just can't do good ballads anymore. There was an albums worth of really good songs split over Musicology, 3121 and Planet Earth but they were the more upbeat tracks like Black Sweat, Cinnamon Girl, Fury and Chelsea Rodgers, the slower songs all sound overly slushy and throwaway.

"Call My Name," the slow jam single off Musicology, might be my favorite Prince song of the last decade or so

the vikings song he did was indisputably the worst piece of music he ever released

xpost Yeah that wasn't a bad song it just sounded a bit close too Slow Love from Sign 'O' the Times. Flicking through Musicology I had totally forgotten A Million Days that's actually a really great song.

I feel like I should've started a new thread for "20Ten" instead of posting about it here. Anyways, that record seems to have faded into oblivion by now and it deserved a better release/reception.

Yeah, I was holding out for a release here, but it doesn't look good... according to wiki:

"As of September 2010, no plans for a U.S. release had been announced, configured, or confirmed."

The import version in a paper/cardstock sleeve arrived in Austin last week. Price: $19.99 new.

decided not to listen to new prince anymore. the only songs i seem to like of his these days are the throwaway bubblegum pop-rock type tracks like no more candy for you or a similar one on the most recent one that sounded like ronnie talk to russia or delirious or something. i liked modern soul song or whatever it was called til the clunky chorus came in.

Got this @ the weekend. Only played it once yet but the first few songs sounded good, interest wandered by the end of the album but perked up again with the hidden track

― Oracle Crackers (Tom D.), Monday, July 12, 2010 9:59 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark

Ashamed to say I'd completely forgotten about this album (20Ten that is).

And yet the Mail is the only paper to not even mention Prince on the front page. Which is nice.