MUSIC Prince's concert CD giveaway raises questions

Some think the giveaway of the plain-wrap CD will hurt sales.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Will pop music fans buy the cow if they can get the milk free?
Prince is raising that question with an unusual campaign in which everyone who buys a ticket to his current concert tour gets a promotional copy of his upcoming album, "Musicology," upon entering the arena.
Technically the milk isn't free. Tickets, which range from $47 to $75 in most cities, are priced to include the cost of the CD, although it's not considered a formal sale of the album. Thus, the CDs will not be tallied by Nielsen SoundScan, whose figures determine the national album sales chart.
The big question is whether the plain-wrap CD handed out to as many as 400,000 fans over the next few months will hurt sales of the full package that Columbia Records will release April 20.
"I tend to think it could cannibalize sales," says Geoff Mayfield, charts editor for Billboard. "If the only difference is that [the concert CD] didn't have finished artwork, I think it's only the really serious fan that's going to purchase it again."
Being open-minded
Dave Alder, vice president of product and marketing for the Virgin record store chain, says, "Anything that breaks the mold of the traditional music business model is worth trying at this stage in the game," alluding to the troubled climate for record sales. "I don't think we can afford to be close-minded."
Tower Records Southwest region director Bob Feterl sees some merit in the strategy of handing out CDs to build word of mouth, especially since Prince has been largely out of the pop spotlight for years.
"I don't think it's going to be a trend," Feterl says.