funkomatic said:

After more than 2 decades of mostly mediocrity there's really no hope for a great Prince record anymore.

spoken like a true orger....smh..

donnyenglish said:

I thought part of the reason why he left Warners was so he could music and release it without having to ask them? I thought that they were slowing down his output and that getting out of the contract would enable him to release more music?

In six years he has released 3121, Planet Earth and LotusFlower/MPLSound in the USA and I guess that we can count 20ten. I absolutely love all of those albums except for 20ten, so I have no complaints there.

But, if he is going to reduce his output to ensure quality over quantity, then he might as well have stayed with Warners. At the end of the day, his emancipation seems to be more about the fact that he gets a bigger cut rather than his artistic control.

I'm good because it seems like we are getting some good boots every month or so, but the quantity of Prince's output has been disappointing the past 6 years or so.

[Edited 3/16/12 11:31am]

Nice thread and replies.

I think that getting out of the contract was first and foremost to free himself from the shock and disgust that he didn't really own his own music and wouldn't for a long time. In the middle of the rise to stardom I doubt he thought about any contracts ins and outs. He was young, naive and focussed on the music not the business side of things.

5 Albums in 6 years is not bad at all. I like them all except Planet Earth with the exception of a few tracks. Of course, I would always like more. But I understand that it's the princ(ipl)e of losing out, first to Warners and now piracy that stops Prince from perhaps more output. Once bitten, twice shy.

Nothing was worth staying for at Warners. When you 'feel you've been tricked by the future you've picked' there is no going back. Game over.

Doesn't everyone go for money nowdays? I think both factors you mention were the driving force behind getting out of Warners but with both matters, it was still the underlying principle of Corporate greed I think that got to him.

Now in 2012, the global masses are still reeling from the impact of Corporate greed. It ain't pretty.

Let's back up for a second. Warner Bros is not the same record company it was when they signed Prince in 1978 and released Purple Rain to the masses in 1984. After MTV took over, then iTunes, illegal downloads and the rest, he wouldn't be any better off with WB now and we know it.

At the same time it seems it was more about getting his masters back then doing what he wanted, when he wanted, with his music.

The NPGMC made it easier for him to send a new song out directly to his fans, when he wanted but that didn't work out- so now he has to go thru the same distribution channels that he used to use with WB(unless he does it thru a newspaper), but... he gets to keep the master copy.

Or maybe he's like me... he's getting a little older, he worked his ass off for 30+ years and now just wants to take a fucking vacation...

IstenSzek said:

i don't think it's about how much 'good' material he has at all. he's bound to have

numerous songs, both old and new, that would have us foaming at the mount and

he knows it.

he hasn't released anything in a while because he feels that he should get some

decent money for releasing an album. and since he doesn't, or at least since he

feels like people are ripping him off by downloading his music for free, he's just

waiting and trying to see what will happen in the future.

same way he's been shopping albums around to newspapers and then talking in

interviews about how he gets his paycheck before the album is even released,

thus the album being "a success" before anyone even heard it.

i think it's safe to assume that prince feels an album isn't worth releasing if he's

not gonna get anything over 5 million for it.

the one and only reason his lotusflower website folded was that there were not

enough people signing up. thus, he'd have to release new music for only a few

hardcore fans who dished out 77 dollars.

when new subscriptions dwindled to a stop, he just pulled the plug on the whole

project. if he'd had 2 million people sign up, we'd still be getting a steady flow

of new and old stuff to this day, from that very site.

my guess is that if rolling stone US called him tomorrow and said "would you

consider releasing an album through our magazine as a covermount if we'd

pay you 5 million for the rights to do so?" we'd have a new album by the end

of may.

the 'new album' is already finished and he's probably got 2 more in the tube

right now. he's just thinking about a way to make a maximum amount of $$

before he releases it.

The total irony is that he created such a horrid atmosphere with his battle against the fans (AGAIN) and that equalled a loss of the base that would have fueled the subscriptions needed to keep Lotus alive. Personally I will never spend another dime on Prince and his music. I'm totally OK with that.

TrevorAyer said:

wb was a pretty great record label .. i totally side with prince in terms of owning your "masters"

on the other hand prince was like 18 and had numerous chances to suceed before he finally broke thru in a big way .. they gave him freedom to produce his own way and take chances like releasing what was essentially a demo tape with dirty mind .. all of those early records had plenty of clunkers with a few good songs

there was a team behind promoting and performing those records and touring and videos and all that .. crystal ball would have been epic .. prince was right .. but emancipation was rubbish .. so prince was wrong

it was the right team at the right time that made prince the product that stood the test of time

prince on his own is just pushing out drivel .. maybe warnerbrothers rejected enough to push prince harder and without them he is just ego and technical skill with no passion .. seems that way to me

warners these days is just as bad tho .. not the same record co .. just like prince isnt the same musician .. just a big mess .. like prince records

it would be great to hear the prince team back together again but likely wont happen with the same cast of characters as before .. prince only releases music to pad his wallet these days, knowing a certain group will always shell out .. he hasnt made a grand artistic statement in a solid 20 years or more .. prince would be better off just releasing live records and outtakes from his prime than trying to push out anything new .. the well dried up a long time ago .. the fact that his releases come in newspapers instead of from an actual record label is a good sign of the level of delusion in prince and his fams ..

prince has too much money .. he would do well to give up some authority and let someone help shape his sound like his old revolution bandmates used to .. hes just not broke enough to let any critique in and all the girls drop their panties for renatos horrible jazz interludes as tho it was wendy tearing up computer blue ..

so prince i guess just keep on shopping for newspapers to sign u and give out ur records for free .. thats where ur music is at on the integrity scale .. still waiting for u to drop that masterpiece that shuts me up

this part, no offense, is flat out wrong. Even his own bandmembers admitted they were stunned at just how brilliant prince was. (including your beloved wendy).

You don't seem to be complaining about other artists not matching their peak, like the Stones, Wonder, Bowie etc? what makes prince so unique? Why is he still supposed to match his peak but not other artists who have been in the music industry for over three decades? I have asked you this question before but you always avoid giving an answer.