Free Prince album causes retail storm

By Gavin Haycock

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. rock star Prince is to give away his new album for free with a UK tabloid newspaper, weeks before its official launch, in a move that has caused dismay among music retailers.

Prince's new 10-track CD "Planet Earth" will be included with this weekend's Mail on Sunday, the newspaper's managing director, Stephen Miron, told Reuters on Friday.

The album is not scheduled to go on sale until July 24.

"No one has done this before. We have always given away CDs and DVDs, but this is just setting a new level," Miron said.

Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said Prince's 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," he said, referring to a period in the 1990s when the funk star, born Prince Rogers Nelson, famously stopped using his name.

"It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career. It is yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music," Quirk told a music conference in London on Thursday.

The practice of "covermounts", where newspapers strive to lure readers with DVDs and CDs, is used widely in the industry at a time when many newspapers are struggling to keep readers amid the distractions of online news and entertainment.