“The internet’s like MTV,” according to Prince. “At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”
Prince has a new album, 20Ten, which was released exclusively as a CD giveaway with select European magazines and newspapers. Prince has bypassed the record stores. And because he thinks that the internet is just a fad, he refuses to sell via iTunes.
Way to battle piracy.
Normally the economic concept of supply and demand would lead one to think that by releasing a limited number of CD’s and by not making his album available on the internet, it might make the music more valuable. But with the inevitability of file sharing and the lack of album availability, this strategy will probably fail. Aside from hindering potential popularity of the album, his move would most likely push people to just download it off Torrent if they really wanted a copy. By restricting the release of his album this way, he only makes his music more prone to being pirated.
The internet is here to stay and best Prince can do is just to harness the situation to his advantage. If Prince wanted to stay relevant, protect his work and earn more from it, he should have taken a hint from Radiohead’s release of In Rainbows.
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