Prince released his new studio album as a free CD with The Mail on Sunday. I wanted to buy this as it was a first, bypassing majors. I couldn't get a copy. I'm glad in the end.
The thing is, Prince cut out the majors who are in uproar about it (as it cheapens music). But also, there is no way that developing artists could secure this deal. For major musicians like Prince, the money is in the tour, not the album. So it makes sense. What does not make sense is the Mail on Sunday trying to convince the BPI that the album should get a chart placing. IT IS A FREE ALBUM! I'll just give away millions of my album shall I? I think we should have radio play style charts. Or do away with charts altogether!
I know they are trying to audit the increase in sales (much of which would be down to curiosity). But I don't think this should be allowed. The album is only available for one day. And it is free. Unless they claim the newspaper is free. In which case it hits their newspaper circulation audit.
The album is now available free on the internet (not sure about the legality of it).
So no wonder the music industry are annoyed.
The labels are annoyed because they are not getting their way and an artist is experimenting with different ways of distributing music.
The labels freak out around the word free.
The labels can either get more inventive and more progressive, or shove right off.