It is clever marketing. Prince is giving away a free CD…

“The eagerly awaited new album by Prince is being launched as a free CD with a national Sunday newspaper in a move that has drawn widespread criticism from music retailers.

The Mail on Sunday revealed yesterday that the 10-track Planet Earth CD will be available with an “imminent” edition, making it the first place in the world to get the album. Planet Earth will go on sale on July 24.”

link: Music industry attacks Sunday newspaper’s free Prince CD

The plan certainly will increase newspaper sales for that day. Prince will gain from a marketing plan with the newspaper - plus it creates free publicity for his music. And the music industry is hoping that other artists do not attempt self promotion. It eliminates the record companies from the profit picture.

Catherine Forsythe

[tags]prince, cd, free, newspapers, publicity, record companies, profit[/tags]