Interesting new concept.
Only a handful of people have bought any Prince product this century.
So he's using the Mail as a distributor.
That's the area of massive change - not just for msic but for papers (circulation of physical product declining fast; online taking over).
The Mail is delighted HMV is carrying their paper.
And Prince is delighted millions are being force fed his music (and you can bet he's been paid far more than he's earned in recent royalties).
Everyone wins... for now.

but will anyone actually play the CD?

From Prince's point of view who cares. There will be approximately 20,000 new fans generated from this exercise and possibly 200,000 casual listeners. But the real coup for Prince was the PR generated by this. I have asked my brother to reserve a copy for me and send it to me considering i could easily listen to it on the net.
Prince's number 1 business is now live performances so 20,000 new fans will be another show for him and another million pounds for him.

This is not only a fantastic concept, it is the future. Like i said many times before. Music will be FREE to the consumer but there will be options for fans to buy premium copies. Artists will be paid by adverts, sponsors etc. Many don't like it but hey who cares about them. Adapt or fade away it is that simple.

Prince has something that an act like Kelly Clarkson for instance, will never have.........a fanbase that believes in him, has the need to see him, and will pay a great deal of money to see him live. He was born the old way, coming from the underground and exploding with real talent developed over time.

The problem now is how do we present brilliant young acts that develop a fanbase based on belief in the act and the fever to see them, and not acts built on unsustainable drivers from a dumbed-down music industry with two feet in the grave.

The minute I heard about the Prince give-away I said he did the right thing.

Its going to get worse before it gets better, then the phoenix will rise. Question is, who will have the balls to do it. The answer is outside the box of every major label executive and A&R manager's thinking that I know and know of.

I am going to be writing more on this in the near future and I will post it here.

Interesting comments here. The final word: I'll pick up the Mail.

I heard an interview on the BBC World Service from someone from the Mail. They (and I presume Prince) are very lucid. They know Prince is piggy-backing them to reach their readers and picking up a substantial cash bonus to do so. Why? Because he has a tour coming up, and that is where Prince has always made his money. Remember all those apr