In the July ‘09 issue, Spin magazine writer, Brian Raftery has put together an excellent oral history of Prince’s iconic 1984 movie and Top 40s soundtrack, Purple Rain, in honor of its 25th anniversary. With interviews from pretty much everybody with in-the-know insight (besides Prince, unfortunately, but whatever), the 12-page feature gives you a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at one of the classic music experiences of the modern era.
To top off their Prince-centric edition, Spin produced an excellent Prince tribute album, Purplish Rain, featuring an eclectic variety of musicians, from Of Montreal to the Riverboat Gamblers, which they’re giving away for free on Spin.com. But “free” has one little catch: In order to access the album, readers must first answer a question, the answer to which can only be found by having a physical copy of the magazine* (it’s the last word on page 61).
This is actually a fairly clever ploy to get you to buy the magazine, offering readers a valuable, interactive experience between Spin’s print and online properties. That said, it’s still only a ploy, nothing close to shutting down the Internet the massive monetary defibrillator needed to zap life back into the print industry. (more…)