U.S. rock star Prince is to give away his new album for free with a U.K. 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. Read the rest of this entry »