Paul McCartney has had a mixed last few years, having been married to Heather Mills, and then going through a very messy, very public divorce.

While all of this was going on, he was still writing and recording music, and released Memory Almost Full in 2007.

The album has already sold 100,000 copies in the UK, but now everyone who wants a copy can do so for free, as it’s being given away with every copy of The Mail On Sunday tomorrow, May 18th.

The give-away was announced a couple of weeks ago, and I first read the news on fellow b5 blog The Beatles Invasion. I decided to wait until now to tell of my readers so that they wouldn’t forget about it and miss out on their copy.

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On Monday Radiohead announced the details of their new album ‘In Rainbows’ and sent shockwaves through an already anguished record industry by telling fans “You can pay what you want!”

The album will be released for download on October 10th and you, the loyal and fair minded Radiohead fan, will be able to choose how much you pay for the privilege of the long awaited release.

What this means is that in effect you could have the new Radiohead masterpiece on your PC a week today for as little as 1 penny (2 cents). In reality most fans, at least the ones who would have gone out and bought the album through more traditional means in the first place, will choose to pay considerably more for the pleasure.

A special edition box set of the album with a vinyl version and other extra goodies is also going to be available for £40 ($81). And if I know Radiohead fans as well as I think I do, these will be snapped up whatever the cost.

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Last month Prince gave his brand new album ‘Planet Earth’ away with a British newspaper. To celebrate this, I held a contest where one lucky reader of Brit Music Scene could win a copy of the album.

The lucky winner was JM from that little country they call Australia, and I dispatched the album to her forthwith. She’s now had the opportunity to listen to the album and has kindly written a short review of it for us…

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Last Monday, I announced a week long contest where you could win the new Prince CD Planet Earth. I only had 5 entries, and 3 of them were one person! Is Prince’s popularity dropped that low, or have I just got very few readers? Anyway, I put the entries in to a big hat and drew the winner today. And the winner is JM for this linked entry on The New Australian. Well done JM, and thanks to everyone who did enter.

I’ll be dispatching the CD to the winner tomorrow, after obtaining her address, and I promise not to add her name to loads of spam companies databases, unless they offer me a fortune of course.

I’m hopefully going to be holding contests often here on Brit Music Scene, so be sure to keep coming back for more chances to win some nice stuff.

Prince is American, always has been, always will be, I know this, you don’t need to tell me. So why then am I reviewing his new album Planet Earth on a British Music blog? Well, although I’ll be mainly covering British bands and singers, I reserve the right to occasionally review or talk about bands from other countries, especially if something they are doing has had a big impact on the British Music Scene. That is exactly what this album has done, causing debate around the world about the free give away of it with a Sunday newspaper. So let’s see if it’s actually worth paying for or is actually only fit as a freebie.

I’ve never really been a fan Of Prince although I respect him as a musician immensely. I thought the decision to break with the normal record business and give his album away free with a newspaper was a brave and bold move, which could result in a evolution of the music industry. I certianly don’t think he’ll be the last artist to do such a thing.

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As I mentioned yesterday, Prince took the controversial decision to give his new album ‘Planet Earth’ away with a Sunday newspaper in the UK. I of course picked up a copy, and I have it here waiting for one of readers to win.

Whether you live in the UK and missed out on the Mail On Sunday, or found it sold out, or whether you are from a country where the album isn’t available for another week, here is your chance to get your hands on the album before most of the rest of the world.

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You’ve probably all heard about this by now, as Prince’s decision to release his album in full for free in a Sunday newspaper in the UK has been debated and argued over worldwide. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of Prince, I duly went out and bought a copy of The Mail On Sunday today for a number of reasons. One, I wanted to be a part of this world first, never has an artist agreed to give away a brand new album in full as a freebie. I also wanted to see what all the fuss was about and whether Prince is any more my cup of tea now than he used to be. And lastly, because I wanted a copy of the CD to offer as a prize in a competition I will be starting tomorrow!

For those who aren’t aware of what’s taken place, let’s remind ourselves of the story. Prince decided to give away his new album in the Mail On Sunday newspaper, a move which lead to the album not now being given a proper release. The Mail paid $500,000 to the star for the privilege and 3,000,000 copies of the newspaper went on sale today, each with a full 10 track, never before heard album of new material inside.

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