Prince is giving away a free CD in a national British newspaper, The Mail. The music retail industry executives are viewing this as an attack and are threatening to 'retaliate'. 'The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores. And I say that to all the other artists who may be tempted to dally with the Mail on Sunday,' said Entertainment Retailers Association spokesman Paul Quirk. Mr Quirk also said it would be 'an insult' to record stores. Obviously the music industry views anything that doesn't result in a sale to be subversive or unfair. I say it's Prince's music and he can bloody well give it away if he wants to.link to article in the Guardian
The issue is not Prince's music, but about control. This situation reminds me of some (too many) churches which are (over)protective of "their" ministries. The official leadership has to control & micromanage everything. There is little sense of sharing resources for the sake of the kingdom of God... it's more about building our own little empire.
If Prince has paid for the distribution then why can't he distribute the CD anyway he wants. Or - horrors - is the music distribution industry not really about the artist!?
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