HMV Reverses Stance, Will Sell Newspaper with Free Prince CD

[The One]

HMV Reverses Stance, Will Sell Newspaper with Free Prince CD
By Eliot Van Buskirk
http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/09/hmv.jpg The controversy over Prince's UK album giveaway (http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/commentary/listeningpost/2007/07/listeningpost_0709) has taken a turn for the weird, as music retailer HMV has announced that it will stock the issue of the Mail on Sunday containing a free copy of Prince's Planet Earth.
The chain's chief executive, Simon Fox, had previously joined other retailers in denouncing the giveaway as "'devaluing music" and "absolute madness," but HMV will carry the newspaper issue nonetheless -- a move that rival store Virgin Megastores called (http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ibd4edd86c815e4a0ea807758fd02facb) "opportunistic."



A spokesperson for HMV said,"HMV does not condone the use of covermounts as a primary channel for distributing music and film content, and we understand and acknowledge the issues that they raise. Clearly, we would have much preferred to have stocked the new Prince album, but his decision to effectively release it in this way means that this will, unfortunately, not be possible."If you can't beat them, join them.
(billboard (http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ibd4edd86c815e4a0ea807758fd02facb))

[The One]

Buy a newspaper, get the new Prince CD

Posted by Matt Rosoff (http://news.com.com/8300-10784_3-7.html?authorId=9728713&tag=author)
Next Sunday, Prince fans in the United Kingdom will be able to get a new 10-song CD, Planet Earth, simply by buying a newspaper (http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/prince/prince4.html).
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20070710/prince.jpg(Credit: Columbia)
The Mail on Sunday has bundled CDs several times before (http://advertising.mailonsunday.co.uk/market/promos.html), and they usually have sold about 2.5 million papers with these promotions. By way of comparison, the top-selling album this year reached sales of only 1.7 million copies in the U.S. as of July 4 (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/04/business/NA-FIN-US-Music-Sales.php). So this is a no-brainer for Prince: he immediately gets his music into the hands of 2.5 million people, some of whom might then buy concert tickets, which earn far more money for artists than record sales. (Prince is also giving Planet Earth away to anybody who buys a ticket to his current tour.)
But physical music stores, already hurt by the decline of the CD (http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-07-04-album-sales_N.htm), are not pleased. (http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSL2944140720070630) The CEO of one music retailer, HMV, said it would be "absolutely nuts" to carry the CD for free. Then HMV changed course (http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ibd4edd86c815e4a0ea807758fd02facb), and was promptly denounced by rival Virgin Megastores. But I wouldn't be surprised if Virgin decides to sell the paper as well--how can you fight the rising tide? At least it would get Prince fans into the store, where they might buy something else.
Those who miss the newspaper promo--including those of us living outside the U.K.--will have to wait until July 24 to buy the record.

source: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9741522-7.html

[The One]

HMV 'joins forces' with Mail on Sunday

Source: Guardian Unlimited

http://www.scenta.co.uk/_db/_images/Prince-purplerain140.jpg


Music retailer HMV has completed a swift U-turn on its opposition to the Mail on Sunday's giveaway of Prince's new album and will now sell the paper in its shops.

The music chain, which originally called the Mail on Sunday's unprecedented covermount of Prince's brand new album Planet Earth "absolute madness", will now sell the paper this Sunday.

HMV's move was attacked today by rival Virgin Megastores, which "expressed disbelief" at the company's decision.
"We're stunned that HMV has decided to take what appears to be a complete U-turn on their stance towards covermounts and particularly in this case, as only a week ago they were so vocal about the damage it will cause," said Simon Douglas, Virgin Retail managing director. "Simon Fox [HMV chief executive] labelled the Mail on Sunday deal as 'devaluing music' and 'absolute madness', now they appear to have joined forces to sell more copies of the very same paper," Mr Douglas added.

"It's not only retailers that suffer; the public will suffer in the long term by restricting choice on the high street. Of course people will take a free CD by a platinum-selling artist like Prince but you only need to look at what's happened to Fopp going into administration to get an idea of the potential long-term impact."

Last month, speaking before rumours of a giveaway were confirmed, Mr Fox said: "I think it would be absolutely nuts. I can't believe the music industry would do it to itself. I simply can't believe it would happen; it would be absolute madness."
Prince, whose Purple Rain sold more than 11m copies, also plans to give away a free copy of his latest album with tickets for his forthcoming concerts in London.

The singer had signed a global deal for the promotion and distribution of Planet Earth in partnership with Columbia Records, a division of music company Sony BMG.
Sony BMG UK subsequently withdrew from Prince's global deal and will not distribute the album to UK stores.

source: http://www.scenta.co.uk/Music/1700988/hmv-joins-forces-with-mail-on-sunday-over-prince-giveaway.htm

[The One]

HMV 'free CD' U-turn puts Virgin in a spin

By Dominic White


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2007/07/10/cnhmv110.jpg
Royal giveaway: HMV plans to sell the Mail on Sunday along with the free Prince album


Virgin Megastores has attacked arch rival HMV over its plans to sell a Sunday newspaper that will include the first free covermount of a new studio album, Prince's Planet Earth.
Less than two weeks ago HMV chief executive Simon Fox said it would be ''absolutely nuts'' for the music industry to give away new CDs through papers, saying such moves would ''devalue music''.
However, in a move that analysts said reveals the desperate times facing music retailers, HMV has now backtracked and agreed to sell this week's Mail on Sunday in its stores.

Virgin Retail's managing director, Simon Douglas, said: ''We're stunned that HMV has decided to take what appears to be a complete U-turn on their stance towards covermounts and particularly in this case, as only a week ago they were so vocal about the damage it will cause. It's not only retailers that suffer; the public will suffer in the long term by restricting choice on the high street. Of course people will take a free CD by a platinum-selling artist like Prince, but you only need to look at what's happened to [music retailer] Fopp going into administration to get an idea of the potential long-term impact."
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Prince is the first artist to give away a new studio album, a move which caused his record company Sony BMG to scrap the UK element of its distribution agreement.
A spokesman for HMV defended the chain's apparent volte-face, saying: "We don't in general terms condone covermounts as a channel for distributing DVDs and CDs and we fully acknowledge the issues that it raises.

''In this instance Simon [Fox] has been critical of the artist and his policy. We haven't changed our mind but, like it or not, selling [the newspaper] next week is the only way to make the Prince album available to our customers.
''Given that it will be launching in a blaze of publicity, why should we leave it to our biggest competitor, which are the supermarkets, to sell the album through newspaper stands in their stores?
''This is not to say we would do the same on every occasion.''

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/07/10/cnhmv110.xml