It was already announced that the Purple One, Prince, was going to release three albums in 2009--one called LotusFlow3r, a guitar-based album, MPLSound, a pop-oriented album, and an album from his protege Bria Valente. But today comes news that the three albums will be out by the end of March, and that Target, a chain based in Prince's homebase of Minneapolis, will be releasing all three albums as a $11.98 package, available only at Target stores.

Those exclusive deals have tended to only work really well when they're done through Wal-Mart, but since Prince wants to keep his title as the unofficial king of Minneapolis, that would be betraying the hometown super-store. Keeping the price tag as low as it would normally cost to buy one album will likely give these albums a bump as well.

Prince has also announced that there was a reason for him yanking down every YouTube videos starring himself--he's set to launch LotusFlow3r, a subscription site that will give you access (for a fee) to just about every Prince concert since 1984 ever recorded, plus music videos. That should launch sometime this month. [Idolator]