[digitaldave]

Prince has announced that he's giving away his latest album for free in a British newspaper - more details here.

Apparently the music distribution and retail industry isn't too pleased:

Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said the decision "beggars belief". "The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores," said Mr Quirk, referring to a period in the 1990s when Prince famously stopped using his name in favour of a symbol

I guess they feel threatened by new methods of distributing music. Anyone got any ideas about Prince's moties for doing this? Is it his way of sticking it to the music industry, or is it just that he's got so much cash that he can pull stunts like this?

As a long time fan of Prince (at least during The Revolution era), I'll certainly be picking up a copy, even if it does mean I need to buy a copy of the Mail on Sunday - hey, it gives the wife something to read .