Ok, I’ve got to hand it to Prince. I’m a HUGE fan of his anyways but the fact that he keeps sticking it to the industry makes me love him even more.

On his Musicology tour he gave out copies of the CD to everyone who bought a ticket. Made his sales numbers go through the roof and it completely went around the way the industry wants to work. Now, he is going to give away copies in the Sunday Papers and the industry is pissed again.

I’m sorry but I have to laugh out loud at the music industry because it’s great to see artists taking control of their music and distributing it the way THEY want to do it. Indie artists have been doing this out of the back of their vans, at shows and now through new media (see Virtual Hot Wings for an example) .

I use to say in all my talks about artists rights, “The labels need the artists more then the artists need the labels” and here is further proof. Prince is still going to sell millions of copies of his album if it is good. His fan base will step up and do that and if it is a good CD so will lots of other people. He’s giving away the single through Verizon and now the whole album with newspapers. He’s doing a mash-up of media formats and that is exciting.

Perhaps instead of complaining, bitching and crying over spilt milk the music industry will start working with people and artists to find out how they can morph and embrace new media. The rules HAVE changed. They are going to continue to change and every day that the big labels and record industry of old lose money because they refuse to change I don’t care. I think it’s funny that they are losing money. I applaud those trying to change and to help artists. They will win in the end. Not the dinosaurs of old.

There I feel better!