Prince Gets it, the Record Labels Do Not

Always ahead of the curve, Prince gave away 3 million copies of his new album Planet Earth via a British newspaper.Sony/BMG have now refused to distribute the album in Great Britain and Paul Quirk, co-chairman of Britain’s Entertainment Retailers Association says, “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores.”But that’s just it, Prince couldn’t care less if he’s sold in record stores. He doesn’t need to be. He just gave away 3 million records, sold out 15 shows in London (million$!), and earned an undisclosed chunk of change (more million$!) from the newspaper that distributed the albums.As usual, the recording industry just doesn’t understand what’s going on.