Planet Earth

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Lore & Background

Initially, Prince came to an agreement with Columbia Records to distribute the record worldwide. Prince and Columbia had previously teamed up for the release of his Musicology album in 2004. However, Prince's management struck a deal with The Mail on Sunday to release Planet Earth as a free covermount CD with the July 15, 2007, edition of the paper. This move brought much criticism from UK record stores, which resulted in Columbia refusing to distribute the album in the UK, though its release in the rest of the world remained unaffected. Giving away albums for free was not new for Prince. In 2004, he gave free copies of Musicology to all concert goers during the tour of the same name. Similarly, the Planet Earth album was given away with tickets to his 2007 concerts in London. As a result of the decision by Sony BMG to not distribute the album in the UK, record store chain HMV announced it would stock the July 15, 2007, edition of The Mail on Sunday in lieu of the CD, admitting that 'selling the Mail on Sunday next week will be the only way to make the Prince album available to our customers, which, ultimately, has to be our overriding concern'. Prince forwent $4.6 million in licensing fees, but the promotion paid off with his subsequent sold out 21-show concert run at London's O2 Arena, earning him a gross of $23.4 million, and thus an $18.8 million profit.

In Their Own Story

On June 27, 2007, 'Future Baby Mama' was leaked to the Internet via an American online radio station. The first single, 'Guitar', was distributed in partnership with Verizon Wireless. During the week of September 3, 2007, Prince flew to Prague, and then Spain to film a music video for 'Somewhere Here on Earth'. The clip was released but it has only been played on the TV channel BET. On July 10, 2007, several days before the official UK release through The Mail on Sunday, a low quality version (recorded from a stream) of Planet Earth was leaked onto the Internet.

Reader's Guide

The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number three with 96,000 units sold in its first week, less than half of both Musicology and 3121. As of April 2015, the album has sold about 278,000 copies in the US, with almost no promotion, with the exception of the Verizon Wireless ad for 'Guitar'. Although not released as a single, 'Future Baby Mama' gathered radio airplay on American R&B radio and charted within the top 40 of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The song won Prince his last Grammy Award, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Planet Earth received generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, it holds an average score of 65 out of 100, based on reviews by professional critics. Veteran critic Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honorable mention, indicating 'an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure'. Writing for MSN Music, he cited 'Guitar' and 'The One U Wanna C' as highlights and summarized the album with the remark, 'Viva Las Vegas and later for Viagra – but not never'.

Did You Know?

• The album was given away as a free covermount with the July 15, 2007 edition of The Mail on Sunday newspaper in the UK.
• Prince forwent $4.6 million in licensing fees for the free distribution, but the promotion led to a sold-out 21-show run at London's O2 Arena earning $23.4 million gross.
• 'Future Baby Mama' won Prince his last Grammy Award, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
• The album debuted at number 3 on the US Billboard 200, selling 96,000 copies in its first week.
• Columbia Records refused to distribute the album in the UK after Prince's deal with The Mail on Sunday, though worldwide distribution remained unaffected.