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The Mail on Sunday has threatened legal action against a ruling that means Prince’s new album Planet Earth, which will be given away in this Sunday’s (July 16) paper, will not be chart eligible.
The paper shelled out around £250,000 for licencing rights to the CD, which will be included with 2.9 million copies this weekend, and wants to see it in the charts.
MediaGuardian reports that Mail On Sunday managing director Stephen Miron sent a letter to the Official UK Charts Company.
It said: "Given our belief that this album should still be included on the official UK album charts and having responded to your issues, I would urge you to reconsider your previous position as a matter of urgency, before we engage our lawyers for legal advice to force a challenge to this restraint on our trade."
The Official UK Charts Company has explained its decision, quite reasonably one might have supposed, saying it could not prove that newspaper sales were "genuine consumer purchases" and that it could not audit sales accurately.
But oh no, Miron was having none of it, saying: "It's denying Prince his rights. It will be Number One in the UK chart and we think that's something that he should be able to do.
"The fact that they are referring back to rules put in place ages ago doesn't seem to fit with the way the music industry is now. I think they are mad."
According to Miron the paper is "considering its position" with regards to potential legal action.
