i think the web site should have offered a take-away product that amounted to more than just one exclusive song, as opposed to the 11.99 product people could buy at target. in other words, maybe a 4th disc, even if it was an e.p., with either more exclusive songs, or remixes, or vault tracks, or SOMEthing that people could burn to a CD or load on their iPods.

i mean, we don't even have an option to look at the lyrics unless we have the site pulled up. can we haz liner notes PDF plz???

but to answer the original question: how should prince sell his records?

well, i think the way he sold his latest one, via target, was pretty slick. i am not in the least bit mad at him about how he handled that. good show.

the web site, however, i'm inclined to think is a big FAIL. how could it have worked? well, i offered one idea above. and if that's unrealistic, then i'd say the price could have been brought down significantly. they could have made a year's membership $31.21 and still made a tidy profit. give away the t-shirts for free the first week, then offer them at an additional price after that, along with other lotusflow3r swag. fans love swag.

i think for the general public that probably doesn't give a damn about prince's web site but would probably plunk down 12 bucks for three CDs of his new music, the way he's selling his new album is kinda phenomenal. and i'd be inclined to agree with them.

i think for the diehard fans who have been waiting for an official fan site presence for a few years now, to pay $77 for a rarely-updated site with precious little exclusive content and one song's worth of exclusive downloadable music could be considered a frustration at best. and i'd be inclined to agree with that too.

I disagree with this. This almost twists the arm of folks who are "diehards" to purchase from the website, rather than getting it at Target. One exclusive song if fine, but a whole disk? That would kind of suck for those who didn't want to join the website for whatever the reason. Sure you don't have to have it but most would want it. I think adding a 4th disk to the web-set would have just added to the theme of him "forcing fans to join the web-site.

Sign back up with WB and let them do it.

why not offer a little extra incentive to the diehards, rather than just an album download of something we're going to buy at target anyway? he knows his fans well enough to know that we're going to want the physical version as well as what would be on the official site. it would have been cool to have a remixed/re-edited version on the site, so there'd be two different versions of the music to plow through. SOMEthing that would give the site something unique to offer. right now, there's next to nothing.

What have they done in this field other than trying to shut everything down too?

I think a bootleg section would make everything just fine.

it'd be dreamy, but it's less than probable considering who we're talking about here.

Yeah dreamy, but considering who we are talking about here is known to change his mind a lot and might be interested in the money there could be involved, it's not improbable either.

i went to a show recently where they were selling CD singles for a dollar a pop from a modified gumball machine at the merch table.

i'm just sayin'.

That some tough shit to chew on.

That would be solution #1 for every record to come.

The Musicology store was the top of the releasing of Prince's music..

I think he should let me sell them for him.

Would you also like a website with downloads and CD's of his work since Emancipation as well as unreleased material?

So how would you go about then?

prince could count on me to sell them undercover from my trenchcoat, like inspector gadget

I disagree with this. This almost twists the arm of folks who are "diehards" to purchase from the website, rather than getting it at Target. One exclusive song if fine, but a whole disk? That would kind of suck for those who didn't want to join the website for whatever the reason. Sure you don't have to have it but most would want it. I think adding a 4th disk to the web-set would have just added to the theme of him "forcing fans to join the web-site.