DO YOU THINK PRINCE SOLD OUT BY APPEARING ON AMERICAN IDOL. I HAVE HEARD OVER AND OVER ABOUT HOW HE HATES COMMERCIALISATION AND MANAGERS EXPLOITING THE TALENTS OF OTHERS AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN TO SELL A FEW MORE RECORDS AND BOOST HIS OWN POPULARITY HE GOES ON A SHOW THAT DOES JUST THAT!!!

IT HAS BEEN PLAYING ON MY MIND SINCE I SAW THE SHOW AND THOUGHT I WOULD ASK YOUR OPINIONS.

PEACE AND LOVE

DAZ01204 said:

Ive always thought that Prince has wanted to be commercial. His career needed a boost at that point, so he got it that way...

Lets face it, without the massive commercial successes of 1999 and Purple Rain, he wouldnt have the same quantity of fans he has today, and possibly he wouldnt be seen as such a genius by the general public. Commerciality sometimes goes hand in hand with being noticed - and this is what prince wants.

He'd prob say that he was still doing what he wants to do so 'nothing changed' but appearing on a show that stands for the opposite to what you believe in does seem odd, but then hes very clever when it comes to his publicity.

nope.....and the performance was HOT .....

babooshleeky said:

I second this!

Soooo Hot.....

KidaDynamite said:

"Commercialisation of the music is what brought it down"!!
"Sell a million records make a dollar a pop"
To quote but a few!!!

Prince is only interested in his artistic freedom.

babooshleeky said:

that was one of his worst moves ever if not the worst.

embarrasing.

prince, the superstar unreachable unaprochable weird mysterious not for kids etc etc in that shit commercial corny show?

no thanx

No way, man, haha

I could never accuse him of such a thing unless he did something I really don't approve of musically. Can't think of anything right now...

but with that particular situation, I'd say he made the right move.
Haha, for me, he sure did. I've watched every season of that show and seeing him show up resparked my fascination of him. And led to the other events following that I caught.

I heard on imdb.com a few months earlier that they were trying to get Prince to come to the show. I'm not exactly sure what I read. Negoiations were in the works. And I think I had already had this idea of him and what he would and would not do. That was a year ago and I can't even remember what my thoughts were, haha. But I was dumbstruck and my jaw dropped when I saw him come out.

I did my "fangirl" scream and was just in AWE... you guys know the feeling

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

yeah pretty disgusting for us like in purple rain tour

electrorock said:

You know that's not what I mean. Hate it when people twist my words around to make the exact opposite point.

I'm talking about seeing him on stage, performing in general... being in awe of him... admiring his talents, etc. That's what I'm talking 'bout.

REALLY? well living in England i have not seen it yet. But if he was a guest mentor then better him do it than some other 'latest fashion'

Id like to look out for it, anyone know what season/cycle/series (or whatever you cats are calling it now) is being shown in the US?

jontp said:

I think we're gonna start our 7th season of American Idol in January.

Prince appeared on the finale of season 5, May 2006.

As for being a mentor, haha, I'm not sure if he'd agreed to that or not. It doesn't seem like something he'd typically do, especially given the circumstances of the show. And the fact he wanted to be on his own onstage for that says that he doesn't want the contestants singing his music.

But what do I know?

Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I'd want any of the less talented singers on that show butchering his beautiful songs

Ok, maybe I shouldnt say this in public because Ill get my head lobbed off, but I live in the UK and think that American Idol is a fun show to watch, I thoroughly enjoy it. Maybe Prince does too, maybe its nothing to do with the commercialisation, but he just liked the show.?? Ok, there. I said it.

You cant argue with the shows concept. Taking people off the streets and giving them a music career is a good thing. Its a shame that the material most winners release afterwards is usually poor.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

YEAH sure...pretty disgusting

Yes, but that wasn't as bad as the Super Bowl Halftime sell-out (and the Verizon commercial to a lesser extent).

Oh let's not forget the private birthday gigs for that Texas millionaire and the Russian guy (in Monaco & Russia) plus the Hamptons concert for $15k/ticket.

AI & the Superbowl were the worst, though. Talk about reducing yourself to the lowest common denominator of popular culture. :shudders:

DevotedPuppy said:

Are you serious that you think the Super Bowl performance was him selling out? (btw...selling out usually means you're paid to do something, all reports I've read said that SB acts are not paid for the halftime show.)

The point of being an entertainer is to ENTERTAIN as many folks as possible and share your talents. Or do you think he should stay holed up in Paisley like a hermit?

As for the Hamptons, it wasn't $15k to see Prince, that amount covered all 5 concerts that were held there. Sheesh, I'd rather pay $3k to see Prince than boring old Dave Mathews, who was one of the other acts.
[Edited 10/16/07 13:32pm]

Serena said:

I agree. I've accused him selling out in regards to 3121 because it sounds like he's using some of the techniques current artists use in their music... but that's a whole other story and I don't think that anymore.

No way was the SuperBowl selling out. After the Janet Jackson incident, the people in charge of the entertainment have only hired the seasoned acts who've been around, legends if you will. As far as I'm concerned, Prince was the perfect choice and it's the biggest audience he had ever performed for in his LIFE... that's pretty big. And with the whole set-up and even with him being perfect in rainy weather, it was THE MOMENT when he truly stood as one of the greatest artists that ever lived.

Plus, it got me here, didn't it? I'm a football fan first and foremost (or at the time, I was). If he didn't do that show, I wouldn't have thought to look for him here and become a member here. It's never selling out if it affected my becoming a faithful listener of his.

Now the Verizon commerical... that's another story ...cuz other artists, the bottom of the food chain in my mind, have done some of those commericals. Thank God Planet Earth wasn't exclusively Verizon cuz I love the album.

Serena said:

It's not about "selling out", it's about cashing in!--haha

People used to complain when Prince DIDN'T get out and promote his music. I think that since he didn't tour for 3121, he did a lot of TV appearances instead: Idol, Superbowl, SNL, Today Show, etc. 3121 eventually went at least gold (over 1/2 million copies) from all this and people went and bought the older CDs, too.

...and he got paid from the Verizon and UK newspaper (I forgot the paper's name) deals--even though the music was free to the public. Record co's don't promote like they used to, and getting a deal with companies outside of the music biz is another way to get the word out about a new release.

wow, is it may 2006 already?

Why are certain things considered "sell out"? Why is American Idol or Batman worse then the Superbowl or Jay Leno?

It's a business and he needs to sell his music. If he didn't there would be a 1000 threads asking "why isn't he promoting"... Maybe he is running out of programs to promote his stuff...he has done every morning show, CNN, Late night (still has O' Brian since he cancled in 1997), American Idol, Superbowl, Award shows ... whats left?


I am only aking why some feel this way regarding certain career moves...

Peace

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

what is the verizon commercial?

It was a good thing that P did the show so the world could C a real American idol. It's what the contestants should strive for. Plus he was promoting his new CD (getting new fans & making the old 1s tune in). He didn't perform songs that aren't Prince songs, so I don't understand where Ur getting sell out in all of this

ummmmm, thats a dificult one!

Promotion,,,..Selling Out....are they the same thing?

violetblues said:

Yeah--you hope to get promotion so you can sell out every seat in the house when you go on tour!

But, really--This is a business and the point is to try to make money....and if you make money playing music you like to do, it's all the better (as far as I'm concerned).

I never got the idea with some people where they think it's bad if someone they like gets too popular. It's not just with Prince...you can go on other musicians' fan sites and see the same thing.

Can you think of any other business where people think it's bad to actually be financially successful?