CD Giveaways on the cover of magazines have been around for decades – I remember having my Adam and the Ants 7” flexi-disc in the 80’s (A.N.T.S. to the tune of YMCA) all the way through to Q Magazine introducing new up and coming acts of the new decade (1990s) a new band called Pearl Jam , back then each disc was created to either to demonstrate another side of your favourite band or introduce new music – and always had some journalistic editorial and money off coupon to go to your local record store. This was of course back in the days before the internet, and recommendations were either from friends or magazines that featured the genre of music that you were interested in.
Now cover mounts on newspapers has also been prevalent throughout the years from DVDs of Great Expectations & Big, through to CDs of Hits of The 80s & Christmas Classics – each time giving the consumer a taste and sample of music and artists from a bygone age.
The turning point for retailers was a few weeks ago when again the Mail on Sunday, decided to giveaway the entire Tubular Bells album – without Mike Oldfield’s approval. Mail on Sunday hit back saying that it was a 20+ year old album that wasn’t selling much anyway and that sales had jumped 800% on the back of the paper issuing the CD. OK but 800% increase of an album that may have sold 50 copies a week is only 400 extra units – (not really the same impact as a headline of “SALES OF TUBULAR BELLS UP 800%!!!!!) Retailers, although shocked, were not too bothered as it was a classic album and was in most 5 for £30 CD promotions anyway – but let’s face it if it weren’t for Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells, Virgin would not be where it is today – so there is always an emotional engagement and argument about giving music away for free and devaluing the price. I’m sure both Richard Branson and Mike Oldfield would understand this when they (MoS) gave away the cornerstone to the Virgin Empire – but it was the menace that if they can giveaway this album what was next for these music charlatans - The Beatles & Sgt Pepper?
Nope.... PRINCE & Planet Earth!
Now almost 50 and back from his "
"days and has decided to have stopped fighting record companies (by signing to Sony) after realising that actually he does need them, and that his e-store on his own NPG site only served up some sales – but nowhere near the 13 million copies of Purple Rain sold back in the 80’s!
And here lies the real story – in an age where comeback tours are all the rage (The Police, Genesis, The Who, Rolling Stones....) due to the fact that this is where the real money is and in your back catalogue (would he or Warners be willing to let Purple Rain go for free?) – new music isn’t really worth the hassle anymore for these artists.
So let’s take a quick look at Princes last “comeback” album in the UK – 3121 vs Planet Earth
· 3121 – sold less than 50,000 copies (so not even a Silver Award) vs Planet Earth – sold 0 copies (but the Mail on Sunday said that they printed approx 3 million issues of the paper) that is an impressive 5000% bigger penetration than his last album – this album WILL NOT (and SHOULD NOT) CHART as it is not eligible for chart qualification!
· 3121 - 50,000 x £2.50 per album (let's say that this is what Prince received per copy sold of his last album) = £125,000 vs Planet Earth - Mail on Sunday reportedly paid £250,000 for the licence + % of paper sale – that is nice +100% increase on his last album
· 21 nights at O2 – seemingly SOLD OUT – but I went on there before the album was given away free – and could get tickets for nearly all 21 Nights! – now well what publicity he has received from all this- I’m sure those 21 nights will all sell out!
But anyway once the dust has settled what really has been achieved Stephen Miron and Mail on Sunday will just have realised that they have just overpaid by over 100% for an artist that is nowhere as good as 2 decades ago, helped SonyBMG from having to market a s substandard album and look after the pint size prim donna, they also helped eBay as the thousands of profiteering eBayer’s try to make a quick buck by selling to the rest of the world 1 full week early (not released until the 23rd July) an album that other Prince fans will have to fork out real cash for, but I guess that the increase in Mail on Sunday circulation to the Prince fans and the coverage that TV, Radio and Blogs like this have given to the coverage they will be happy with that level of marketing penetration.
So what impact has this on retail – not much actually - Much respect to Virgin and others for not going down the path that HMV did (and I’m sure the additional margin from the 50,000 issues sold will go somewhere to fill that ever widening HMV sales gap!) and hopefully Virgin and the other retailers that decided not to start selling papers will stand up to Prince by deciding to make him the Artist formally sold by Virgin (add your own record store in here..!)
So in the end no real harm done – what is worrying is just what will record companies and desperate fading stars and newspapers do to make a few extra bucks and circulation figures – maybe next time they may want to consider how your album can be in the hands of 2.6million people and not enter the charts – Mr Miron & Co. giving a CD free with your paper that already sells 2.3million units a week is NOT a genuine consumer purchase – people who buy the paper for the news and will end up putting the CD straight in the bin! – but if they want to do this again it would give them extra kudos to go to another fading act and tell them that they “can guarantee a number 1 album” – now how much is that worth to a fading star??