Prince just gave away copies of his latest CD with every copy of the London newspaper, the Mail, which of course resulted in it being available all over the Internet that same day. He also promises to give away copies at his concerts; 21 concerts in a row in London alone, each different, each priced so anyone can attend. Record stores go ballistic:

Kim Bayley, director general of the Entertainment Retailers’ Association, said the move devalued music.

“The losers will be new artists who are trying to come through who won’t have any support from recording companies because established artists are chucking out their music for free,” she said.

— Prince album set free on internet, BBC, 16 July 2007

Well, let’s see. Continue reading →