Prince's ‘innovative’ model for music distribution

Prince won’t release his newest album ‘20Ten’ through physical stores. Internet distribution is also a thing of the past for Prince. Instead Prince prefers to distribute his latest album through paper (ie non-digital) journals and magazines.

To realize this, Prince has signed deals with several European magazines. In England, his CD will be sold with an edition of the Daily Mirror, at the day as his first concert . In Germany, the CD will appear in the German edition of Rolling Stone, also on the same day of his first concert. In Belgium, Prince signed a deal with Het Nieuwsblad. The CD will be distributed on the same day Prince performs on the Werchter festival.

Yes this distribution model is not so very new to Prince. In 2007, a free copy of his (at that time) new album 'Planet Earth' was released on the cover of the British news magazine Mail on Sunday. The publication of that edition coincided with his first concert in London. Not suprisingly, UK CD retailers were not amused. Distributor Columbia then refused to distribute the CD at all. Until today, Prince’s CD Planet Earth is not sold in England, not in the physical shops and not on iTunes.

Perhaps distributing CD’s through magazines is not so much ‘the next best thing’ for Prince, but rather a forced choice ...?