Prince in second free album deal with newspapers

Other artists have since copied the Prince newspaper giveaway

Pop star Prince is to repeat a deal giving his latest album away free with two national newspapers, it has been announced.

More than 2.5m copies of 20Ten will appear inside copies of the Daily Mirror and Daily Record on 10 July.

The star's spokeswoman Kiran Sharma said the deal shows "it is still possible for artists to work in an independent and innovative capacity".

In 2007, Prince gave away copies of Planet Earth with the Mail On Sunday.

The giveaway angered retailers, who called it "an insult" to high street record stores.

But the offer was deemed a huge success after the papers quickly sold out.

Chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, Paul Quirk, said the music star securing a second deal was "no great surprise".

He added: "I'm not sure anyone regards the freebie he did with the Mail on Sunday as being the highlight of his musical career.

"If he doesn't think his new album is worth paying for, presumably he doesn't think it is worth listening to."

The pop veteran also gave away copies to fans who attended his record-breaking 21 concerts at London's O2 the same year.

Since then, a number of other artists - including McFly and The Kinks' Ray Davies, have also given their new albums away with newspapers.