Prince Giving Away CDs
Well, you can probably tell by the title that this is not going to make music retailers happy. Prince, ever the trendsetter, gave away three million copies of his latest CD “Planet Earth” last Sunday. The album isn’t do to go on sale to consumers until July 24th, but Prince is giving the album away to people who purchase tickets to one of his 21 concerts scheduled for London in August and September. The 10-track CD giveaway comes to a cost of about 250,000 pounds or $508,000 dollars.
Prince said he was giving away the CD as a form of direct marketing because the record industry is going through such a turbulent time due to Internet downloading. He hopes giving away the CD to concert goers will help boost the sales of it once it is released. The Entertainment Retailers Association however, is not happy about this giveaway. They said it is like a slap in the face to retailers who have previously supported Prince.
Dave Matthews Band Fighting for Our Troops
Singer Dave Matthews is urging Congress to help traumatized combat veterans get the help they need. The band has a petition on their web site that has 23,000 signatures of those concerned about vets coming home from the war, only to suffer post traumatic stress disorder.
There has been a lot of talk about the lack of healthcare for our veterans, but much of that has focused on physical health, not mental health. Matthews and the band want to see that the almost one-third of troops that return suffering from a psychological disorder due to the war is treated to the healthcare they deserve. As Matthews said “It’s only about how we treat people who have give their, essentially, their lives, put their lives in the hands of our country.”