Music Industry Attacks Free Prince CD

Mike writes "You might not like Prince, but he's planning on giving away a free CD in a national British newspaper. Harmless publicity, right? The music industry disagrees. Executives are practically going insane over the idea and are threatening to 'retaliate'. 'The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores. And I say that to all the other artists who may be tempted to dally with the Mail on Sunday,' said Entertainment Retailers Association spokesman Paul Quirk, who also said it would be 'an insult' to record stores. Shouldn't an artist be able to give away his own music if he wants to without fear of industry retaliation?"

Comments

Record Stores??

[Bayoudegradeable]

Records? Who the hell wants to buy Prince's records??? I mean, what, oh look! he went to the doctor in 1983... and this record says he was given a traffic ticket. And this record is the one Asscroft and Co. made when they heard he was going to be on the Super Bowl show... Records... sheesh... And as for record stores... people buy records? I want CDs, MP3s and iTunes :) And I don't need no stinkin' store for that... Let the RIAA hacks crap themselves... the floodgate has burst and there is nothing they can ever do to get back the manipulation known as radio/video play that they once had. I would love to see what "retaliate" means for them.

As a record store owner

[Anonymous Coward]

My business faces ruin. CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening.

I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them. I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market. My store specialised in family music - stuff that the whole family could listen to. I don't sell sick stuff like Prince, and I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian rock sections that I know of.

The business strategy worked. People flocked to my store, knowing that they (and their children) could safely purchase records without profanity or violent lyrics. Over the years I expanded the business and took on more clean-cut and friendly employees. It took hard work and long hours but I had achieved my dream - owning a profitable business that I had built with my own hands, from the ground up. But now, this dream is turning into a nightmare.

Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer CDs. Why is no one buying CDs? Are people not interested in music? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Prince is mostly to blame. The statistics speak for themselves - one in three discs world wide is given away by Prince. In the newspaper, you can find and listen to hundreds of dollars worth of music in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the newspaper store just across from my store is doing great business.

A week ago, an unpleasant experience with Prince fans gave me an idea. In my store, I overheard a teenage patron talking to his friend.

"Dude, I'm going to buy a newspaper to get the Prince CD."

"Yeah, dude, that's really lete [sic], you'll get lots of respect."

I was fuming. So they were out to destroy the record industry from right under my nose? Fat chance. When they came to the counter to make their purchase, I grabbed the little shit by his shirt. "So...you're going listen to Purple Rain, punk?" I asked him in my best Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry voice.

"Uh y-yeh." He mumbled, shocked.

"That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off.

So that's my idea - a national newspaper blacklist of Prince fans. If somebody cannot obey the basic rules of society, then they should be excluded from society. If Prince fans get their music for free, then the music industry should exclude them. It's that simple. One strike, and you're out - no reputable newspaper store will allow you to buy another newspaper. If the Prince fans can't buy the newspapers to begin with, then they won't be able to get their free CDs, will they? It's no different to doctors blacklisting drug dealers from buying prescription medicine.

I have just written a letter to the RIAA outlining my proposal. Suing Prince fans one by one isn't going far enough. Not to mention Prince fans use the fact that they're being sued to unfairly portray themselves as victims. A national register of Prince fans would make the problem far easier to deal with. People would be encouraged to give the names of suspected Prince fans to a hotline, similar to TIPS. Once we know the size of the problem, the police and other law enforcement agencies will be forced to take the Prince fans seriously. They have fought the War on Drugs with skill, so why not the War on Prince fans?

This evening, my daughters asked me. "Why do the other kids laugh at us?"

I wanted