Prince’s new album 20TEN comes out Saturday, but the only place you’ll be able to get it is as a free CD included in newspapers in Europe, including London’s Daily Mirror. US fans are apparently out of luck, at least for the time being. It’s not being sold in stores at present, nor will it be available as a download. Confusingly, the Daily Mirror says that Prince “has shunned selling his eagerly anticipated CD 20TEN in the shops or releasing it online because he wants as many people as possible to hear his music.”
Umm, wouldn’t more people be able to hear it if it were released online? The real issue seems to be Prince’s disdain for all things digital. In an interview with a reporter from the Mirror, he issued a proclamation that’s been burning up interwebs ever since:
“The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it. 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 At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated.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.”
Prince, I’d like to introduce you to Erik Qualman. Here is a nifty video Mr. Qualman created, called Social Media Revolution. I know, I know, it’s full of those awful numbers, but bear with me here:
Doesn’t look like the Internet’s going anywhere to me. But I guess if you don’t take those darn numbers into account, I could see how you might think so. As Fast Company points out, Prince’s refusal to allow his videos on YouTube contrasts sharply with the approach of Lady Gaga, who has become quite successful by using YouTube and Facebook to market herself. And of course, there’s Justin Bieber’s Twitter army of breathless teenybopper followers. And Trent Reznor, who has distributed both Nine Inch Nails albums and the first EP from his new band, How to Destroy Angels, as free downloads.
So, as much of a musical genius as Prince is, it seems like he just doesn’t get the potential of the Internet and viral marketing the way many of his colleagues seem to. Or does he? After all, we ARE talking about him, aren’t we? Although Fast Company notes that “you are more likely to find a rainbow-farting unicorn in your cutlery drawer than a Prince music video on YouTube,” he did become a trending topic on Twitter yesterday.
Still, I don’t see how making it harder for your fans to get to your music (unless you’re in Europe and can buy one of the newspapers that has it) is going to help his career. And I don’t see how the temporary buzz his crazy-talk has created can possibly compare with the direct, long-term and in many cases permanent connections that Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber have built with their fans via social networking.
And how many people actually carry around portable CD players any more? So, if you get the CD and you want to take it with you to listen to on the go, you have to go through the extra step of converting it to MP3s? I’m glad I’m not really a huge Prince fan, although he was an important part of my childhood. I would be more than a little irked if a musician I actually cared about were trying to make it harder for me to play their music even after I paid for it.
So, what do you think of Prince’s marketing and distribution strategy? Genius or fail? Let us know in the comments!
