Prince Proclaims the Internet Over

The musician is rebelling against the world wide web. But is walking away from iTunes, Facebook, and Youtube really a smart business move?

The artist now known as Prince decided to stir things up this past week. He shut down his website, is pulling his music from iTunes, and is releasing a new album that no one can access online (except through illegal file sharing). The only way to get a legit copy of it is though European newspapers in England, Scotland, and Germany. Nice ... if you happen to buy one of those newspapers.

He boldly – and dramatically – proclaimed that the "internet is over." By stating this in an exclusive print (and strangely enough, online) story in the Daily Mirror, he made media headlines in newspapers around the world, all over Twitter, and in countless blogs.

But his call to remove his music from iTunes? In a word ... dumb. Let's take a look at the stats; in 2010, overall LP sales were down 11 per cent over the year before. Physical sales are down 17.9 per cent but digital sales are up 12.7 per cent. Apple isn't going away; iPad sales are through the roof, and the new 4G iPhone is all about listening to music. The reality is, if you want to sell albums, removing yourself from the world's most popular download application is sheer lunacy. Remember, Prince's last top ten hit was in 1993, so you have to think this is his creative way to get a lot of attention.

Artists now interact directly with their fans through the internet. Look at Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. They embrace technology. Lady Gaga has more than ten million friends on Facebook. Who can compete with that kind of marketing power? She then builds on that audience by extending her brand by making video productions for YouTube (with product placement ads), live internet broadcasts, and tweeting daily – Gaga is fully a 2.0 artist. It is now all about developing “intimate” relationships with your fans ... not distancing yourself from them.

So, if Prince’s retreat from the web is not a PR stunt and his goal is to make a point on revenue sharing with iTunes, this is not the right way to do it. This tactic will lead to more illegal swapping of his music. He'll only succeed in becoming a niche artist with a limited cult audience. But even more worrisome is that, by excluding technology, he is shunning future generations who may never know his new music at all.