Prince To Release 3-CD Set… Exclusively at Target?
Prince is sticking to his guns when it comes to not releasing his upcoming album through a major label, but that doesn’t mean he’s averse to letting corporate America help him do it. Beginning March 29th, a three disc set which includes two albums of new material (Lotusflow3er and MPLSound) and an album none of us would have spent money on otherwise (Elixir, the debut album from protégé Bria Valente) will be available exclusively at Target department stores for $11.99. It’s a strange move, but damn if that isn’t a recession friendly price.
Exclusive deals with retailers are certainly nothing new. A handful of prominent artists have tried it in recent years, with mixed results. AC/DC’s Black Ice was available exclusively through Wal-Mart, and really, where better to sell an AC/DC album than Wal-Mart? That move had “core demographic” written all over it and was for all intents and purposes a resounding success, giving AC/DC their best selling album in years. Not everyone has been so lucky though.
Guns ‘N Roses oft delayed Chinese Democracy was released exclusively through Best Buy and didn’t fare nearly as well as had been hoped (possibly because it sucked) and a recent greatest hits package from Bruce Springsteen resulted in sellout cries when it was released exclusively at Wal-Mart.
As weird as the pairing of Prince and Target may seem, it’s hard to imagine that this won’t be a successful venture. For starters, at $11.99, the price is far less than what you would pay for most single disc major label albums. Cutting the bigs out of the picture undoubtedly had a lot to do with that. At a time when the economy is tanking and money is a concern for most everybody except Prince, releasing a three disc package at a budget price makes him appear to at least be somewhat in touch with us common folk. After recent forays into suing fans for making tribute albums and unleashing Web Sheriff on just about every site to ever post a photo of him, he could use the good publicity. If the albums end up being awesome, which early reports and a few leaked songs indicate they may very well be, all will be forgiven. Again. At least for a little while.
It is certainly disappointing that, after months of talk about Prince releasing three albums this year, it turns out one of them is actually just another in the endless parade of female disciples that he’s rolled out over the past few decades. But it’s great marketing. Who was going to hear that album otherwise? At least it has a fighting chance now. Imagine the possibilities if he had thought to try this with that shitty Carmen Electra album he was responsible for back in the day.
Ok, maybe we shouldn’t imagine those possibilities. Anyway, despite all of his anti-corporate talk of days past, this deal with Target seems to be a good move for Prince. It gets word of his new album out there by way of being the first major artist to distribute a record exclusively through Target, the price is right, and he gets to inflict another forgettable female protégé on us except on a much larger scale than usual. And if Target seems like an odd choice, just remember, they were founded and still keep their headquarters in Minneapolis. The man does love his hometown.