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Reply #60 posted 07/11/16 12:50pm

BillieBalloon

1725topp said:



BartVanHemelen said:



"he did it successfully"



.


He did? So that's why he couldn't find a distributor for HNR for months? That's why he had to more or less force WBR to release the 3rdEyeGirl record? That's why most of his post-WBR records were out of print for years and even decades? That's why he failed to set up his own ongoing organisation and instead relied on on deals he acquired thanks to his celebrity status?



*


So, when Prince was alive, you spent the bulk of your time on this site discussing how terrible he and his career were. Now, that he's dead, you are still spending the bulk of your time on this site discussing how terrible he and his career were....I'm starting to think that there's something seriously wrong with you. Even in death, you are following the "career" and "career choices" of someone who displeased you so much that you rarely had anything postive to say about him. Given the fact that Prince is dead, is there any chance that you will finally find something or someone that pleases you enough that you don't have to spend so much of your time discussing something that displeases you as much as Prince, his career, and his career choices? If I hated Prince and his work as much as you do for as long as you have, I would have found something that pleases me a long time ago rather than spend a good amount of my time wasting it with something that displeases me. But, alas, that's just the sanity in me talking.




I think prince stepped on his toe once.
Baby, you're a star.

Meet me in another world, space and joy
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Reply #61 posted 07/13/16 4:42am

LBrent

Ever since artists of each type figured out that by financing, marketing, producing and distributing their art, it's only been a matter of time...

The old movie studio system would discover, groom and train talent, then sometimes "loan" them to other studio while paying minimal amounts. Studios owned theatres and when they felt a talent was ready/capable to be profitable the studio would insert that talent into a project that would be shown in their theatres. Studio had relationships with newspapers and TV and marketed both the stars and movies as well.

As film was expensive to uh, use and waste, studios were careful about giving some unknown a project that might not make back the initial investment.

This story is similar with the old NY book publishing houses.

It's also similar in the music industry.

The difference is that movies and books are successfully created independently, and have been even more successfully produced independently since the Internet.

Music, not so much. I think it's because although a pioneer like Prince tried, his stubbornness didn't grasp that in order to succeed at independent music publishing on a fiscally sustainable level long-term, his distribution needed to be on point. Period. End of story.

I am a huge Prince fan. Huge. And when I realized that he wasn't appreciative of fans getting his music from the Internet, I vaguely remember but so many other things were going on in my life that it didn't affect me.

When I later found a very short period of time for indulging in whatever kookyness he was up to, I registered for whatever site he was preordering Crystal Ball at online. I lost track of the site, never got my complicated ball shaped thingamajig.

No big deal. Life got busy again, I still heard his music, still went to concerts.

I tried not to take it personally that he was making it so damned difficult to get his music on my timetable instead of the incredibly/often unnecessarily complicated timeline that was P's.

I chose to respect whatever the f*ck his agenda was and what he wanted in regards to his music out of sheer fanatical masochism. I still rolled my eyes. I just wanted the damned music. Lol

He's gone now and I no longer feel an obligation to jump through any further hoops in my goal to what even he'd be lying if he denied...he wanted fans to appreciate his music.

I'm not going to waste any more time longing to hear/see/appreciate whatever pieces of his music that I've missed in whatever lifetime I have left.

If it can be obtained...Well, let's just say that while I won't be encouraging anyone else to follow me down any slippery slopes, if P has anything to tell me about my decision regarding his music, he can save it until I boogie through The Dawn.
[Edited 7/13/16 5:05am]
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Reply #62 posted 07/13/16 5:45am

1725topp

BillieBalloon said:

1725topp said:

*

So, when Prince was alive, you spent the bulk of your time on this site discussing how terrible he and his career were. Now, that he's dead, you are still spending the bulk of your time on this site discussing how terrible he and his career were....I'm starting to think that there's something seriously wrong with you. Even in death, you are following the "career" and "career choices" of someone who displeased you so much that you rarely had anything postive to say about him. Given the fact that Prince is dead, is there any chance that you will finally find something or someone that pleases you enough that you don't have to spend so much of your time discussing something that displeases you as much as Prince, his career, and his career choices? If I hated Prince and his work as much as you do for as long as you have, I would have found something that pleases me a long time ago rather than spend a good amount of my time wasting it with something that displeases me. But, alas, that's just the sanity in me talking.

I think prince stepped on his toe once.

biggrin

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Reply #63 posted 07/13/16 7:13am

PURPLEIZED3121

1725topp said:

BillieBalloon said:

1725topp said: I think prince stepped on his toe once.

biggrin

still reeling from the "fluke" comment re TMBGITW !

Anyways..the only people I care to list to with an opinion are those both young & old who are from the music biz & therefore truly know what a gaint of the industry he was. Stevie Wonder, Sheila E, Janelle Monae, Maxwell, Paul McCartney, Santana, Lianne Le Havas, Kendrick Lamar & an endless list of others.

Back on topic though...love the fact that P mentored so many.

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Reply #64 posted 07/13/16 10:53am

OldFriends4Sal
e

DETROIT FREE PRESS * December 26, 1997

Detroit asks the questions,
and the artist reveals himself as a prince of mystery

BY BRIAN MCCOLLUM Free Press Pop Music Writer

Q: I'm 13 years old and would love to be a singer. Everybody I talk to says I have talent. What advice would you give a hopeful?

A: Stay out of the music business. Retain ownership of your work and as well your life, if u r a serious artist.

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Reply #65 posted 07/13/16 1:19pm

purplethunder3
121

avatar

OldFriends4Sale said:

DETROIT FREE PRESS * December 26, 1997

Detroit asks the questions,
and the artist reveals himself as a prince of mystery

BY BRIAN MCCOLLUM Free Press Pop Music Writer

Q: I'm 13 years old and would love to be a singer. Everybody I talk to says I have talent. What advice would you give a hopeful?

A: Stay out of the music business. Retain ownership of your work and as well your life, if u r a serious artist.

lol

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #66 posted 07/13/16 4:07pm

mediumdry

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

1725topp said:

biggrin

still reeling from the "fluke" comment re TMBGITW !

.

I don't understand why Bart is viewed so negative just because he doesn't gush about everything Prince did. I certainly feel the same way too.

.

Being a Prince "fan" was like being in an abusive relationship. I couldn't quite let go, because the love was so strong, but ever since 1988 it has been a painful road, watching an artist who could do it all make self destructive decision after self destructive decision. Sure, Prince still had a certain level of success, but the airs he put on did not match the real world reach he had.

.

Residuals from his heyday and money from concerts certainly gave Prince the cash flow he desperately needed to continue to live in his "prince-world" where he could pretend to be the world's number one that he wasn't anymore. All those albums engineered to be million sellers they never became. Always with the same pattern of songs to show his versatility, but not his ability to focus on something properly or show that he matured and changed over the years. (with some exceptions of course, the whole Rainbow Children album and era were a nice surprise in maturity (somewhat) and focus) And the proof was in the pudding, during live shows, he hardly ever played all songs from the then current albums, and mostly none from the couple of albums before. Always going back to the days of yore, that the biggest number of people wanted to hear. The people coming for Purple Rain or Kiss were the people he couldn't afford to lose, as they were his meal ticket.

.

All this plus the careless way he treated the fans. Sure, Prince loved his fans and understood they kept his lights on, but he hardly ever followed through on projects. He started something and then got bored. Sure, his prerogative, but would it kill him to put some people on closing things properly?

.

Not to mention his legacy. His pride seemed more important than taking care of his music. If you look at how other artists take care in releasing items to put albums in context: remastered and expanded editions, live albums from the era (full concerts, no overdubs), sometimes even with separate discs with demos and other unreleased tracks. None of that with Prince. CDs that were never properly mastered were never updated, as he blocked it.

.

Or his hypocrisy. He wanted to own his masters and be free. But he never granted that right to others he played with. His bands never shared in proceeds or owned any of the work they did. They were paid a salary and basically were "work for hire", much like his Warner Brothers contract. And they shouldn't get any ideas.. The Time, in his mind, was him, not the people that worked hard to make it a (moderate) success along with him. Same for the Family. I'm surprised he allow Sheila Escovedo to keep performing as Sheila E. I guess it wasn't possible for him to "own" that name.

.

Anyway, being interested in Prince is a mixed blessing for sure. He had some insights in the business side of things, but the way he conducted business seemed to close to the way he handled his music, feeling entitled and expecting everyone to do as he wanted, wether it made sense to them or not.

.

So to all those saying Bart is a hater and negative... to me, he is the one showing true love. He is following the artist he loves, without putting on blinders and covering all warts with a blanket of love. Prince was far from perfect and it is just fine to say that. Prince made some bad music and bad decisions. But he also made some out of this world great music and was a stellar performer and he had a work ethic and prolific ideas matched by none. And Bart is likely to be the first to acknowledge that. He has deep knowledge about what Prince did and comes here to share that knowledge. That not only shows his love for Prince, but also his appreciation of this forum. He stays here. In spite of some really misguided people who equate liking somebody's music with having to agree with everything they do or liking all art put out by that person.

.

Please stop all that hate towards Bart and start enjoying informed debate. Please.

Paisley Park is in your heart - Love Is Here!
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Reply #67 posted 07/13/16 6:36pm

Purplestar88

mediumdry said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

still reeling from the "fluke" comment re TMBGITW !

.

I don't understand why Bart is viewed so negative just because he doesn't gush about everything Prince did. I certainly feel the same way too.

.

Being a Prince "fan" was like being in an abusive relationship. I couldn't quite let go, because the love was so strong, but ever since 1988 it has been a painful road, watching an artist who could do it all make self destructive decision after self destructive decision. Sure, Prince still had a certain level of success, but the airs he put on did not match the real world reach he had.

.

Residuals from his heyday and money from concerts certainly gave Prince the cash flow he desperately needed to continue to live in his "prince-world" where he could pretend to be the world's number one that he wasn't anymore. All those albums engineered to be million sellers they never became. Always with the same pattern of songs to show his versatility, but not his ability to focus on something properly or show that he matured and changed over the years. (with some exceptions of course, the whole Rainbow Children album and era were a nice surprise in maturity (somewhat) and focus) And the proof was in the pudding, during live shows, he hardly ever played all songs from the then current albums, and mostly none from the couple of albums before. Always going back to the days of yore, that the biggest number of people wanted to hear. The people coming for Purple Rain or Kiss were the people he couldn't afford to lose, as they were his meal ticket.

.

All this plus the careless way he treated the fans. Sure, Prince loved his fans and understood they kept his lights on, but he hardly ever followed through on projects. He started something and then got bored. Sure, his prerogative, but would it kill him to put some people on closing things properly?

.

Not to mention his legacy. His pride seemed more important than taking care of his music. If you look at how other artists take care in releasing items to put albums in context: remastered and expanded editions, live albums from the era (full concerts, no overdubs), sometimes even with separate discs with demos and other unreleased tracks. None of that with Prince. CDs that were never properly mastered were never updated, as he blocked it.

.

Or his hypocrisy. He wanted to own his masters and be free. But he never granted that right to others he played with. His bands never shared in proceeds or owned any of the work they did. They were paid a salary and basically were "work for hire", much like his Warner Brothers contract. And they shouldn't get any ideas.. The Time, in his mind, was him, not the people that worked hard to make it a (moderate) success along with him. Same for the Family. I'm surprised he allow Sheila Escovedo to keep performing as Sheila E. I guess it wasn't possible for him to "own" that name.

.

Anyway, being interested in Prince is a mixed blessing for sure. He had some insights in the business side of things, but the way he conducted business seemed to close to the way he handled his music, feeling entitled and expecting everyone to do as he wanted, wether it made sense to them or not.

.

So to all those saying Bart is a hater and negative... to me, he is the one showing true love. He is following the artist he loves, without putting on blinders and covering all warts with a blanket of love. Prince was far from perfect and it is just fine to say that. Prince made some bad music and bad decisions. But he also made some out of this world great music and was a stellar performer and he had a work ethic and prolific ideas matched by none. And Bart is likely to be the first to acknowledge that. He has deep knowledge about what Prince did and comes here to share that knowledge. That not only shows his love for Prince, but also his appreciation of this forum. He stays here. In spite of some really misguided people who equate liking somebody's music with having to agree with everything they do or liking all art put out by that person.

.

Please stop all that hate towards Bart and start enjoying informed debate. Please.

Bart does not want an informed debate. Bart has an opinion just like everybody else. Bart does not have some great knowlege over others. I never saw Bart post a single positive thing about Prince. True love of what? Most or all that is posted for 14 years is negative and condescending. Then you have people who defend and encourage this kind of behavior for 14, going on 15 years. This kind of behavior kills the site for some people. Sometimes in the past and even now, the way people talked about Prince you would think he was this evil monster and not a human being with faults and foibles. Prince was a human being not a puppet or a rebot man for people to tell him how to handle his art and business. Prince earned his "celebrity status" by working hard, so I don't understand why people feel that they need to throw it up in his face if he used that to get deals. In this world any advantage you have, you must used because trust and believe others won't hesitate to use theirs.

From the very beinging Prince took the z route instead of A route. That how he was. He told took the hard road. He had no issues shutting down or moving on from a project if he was tired of it or it did not suit his vision and that upset people. I feel this was the case with his journey going independent. I feel he was searching for the perfect model but didn't like what he was seeing or maybe he had a hard time sticking to somthing long enough to see if work for him.

The music industry has changed and some people don't want to accept that although they claim to. Independent or not, people are not buying music like they used. Now people go to different websites and youtube to get the music for free. People like freebies and if you are making any penny from music thank your lucky stars because if you can get music for free, why would you pay for it? This is some people thinking and not just a young thing.

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Reply #68 posted 07/13/16 6:42pm

luvsexy4all

larksanders said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

He did? So that's why he couldn't find a distributor for HNR for months? That's why he had to more or less force WBR to release the 3rdEyeGirl record? That's why most of his post-WBR records were out of print for years and even decades? That's why he failed to set up his own ongoing organisation and instead relied on on deals he acquired thanks to his celebrity status?

Yet the HNR albums came out, yet the 3rdEyeGirl Album came out. Say what you want about how he acheived it, but let's not forget he essentially got what he wanted. The man has passed away and you're still butthurt. You must be really miserable.

how did he get "butthurt"???

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Reply #69 posted 07/14/16 8:20am

LBrent

Medium, they were employees. They weren't "collaborators".

He paid them to bring HIS artistic vision to life.

They were artists, too, but they weren't there to work on their art. They were paid to work on HIS art.

They weren't entitled to own the work they did with him. His vision was those names, songs, performances. Those came from HIS vision.

There's a visually impaired glass artist named Chilhuly. He creates huge art installations. He EMPLOYS glassblowers, etc to do much of the physical labor, but they don't own any of it. They are his employees.

Seamstresses who do the sewing for Versace are bringing the designer's vision into a tangible product. They don't own the designs.

Prince designed the music and visual concepets for his music. The employees that worked on those things were there to work for him.

Along the way, there were friendships, but the musicians, etc, their purpose (and what they were getting paid for) was to assist him in creating HIS vision.

Over the course of his career, they may have felt that they were more connected to the work, but they were EMPLOYED to do whatever they were doing.

He was entitled to be free from Warner Brothers once HE was paying for the things they had paid for. Otherwise it was simply indentured servitude or slavery. That was his struggle. WB wasn't paying him to bring their artistic vision to life, they were paying him to bring his artistic vision to life, but pay him part of the profits as though he was their employee.

That's why moviemakers like Tyler Perry or Robert Rodriguez are rare. They don't need a movie studio's permission to make whatever they want because they don't need studio money to do it.

Prince was able to be free from WB in that same way. It took a toll on him, too.

He needed more time, but he still blazed that path so now other musicians know how the system works. It doesn't work the way it looks from the outside.
[Edited 7/14/16 8:27am]
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Reply #70 posted 07/14/16 8:44am

OldFriends4Sal
e

LBrent said:

Medium, they were employees. They weren't "collaborators". He paid them to bring HIS artistic vision to life. They were artists, too, but they weren't there to work on their art. They were paid to work on HIS art. They weren't entitled to own the work they did with him. His vision was those names, songs, performances. Those came from HIS vision. There's a visually impaired glass artist named Chilhuly. He creates huge art installations. He EMPLOYS glassblowers, etc to do much of the physical labor, but they don't own any of it. They are his employees. Seamstresses who do the sewing for Versace are bringing the designer's vision into a tangible product. They don't own the designs. Prince designed the music and visual concepets for his music. The employees that worked on those things were there to work for him. Along the way, there were friendships, but the musicians, etc, their purpose (and what they were getting paid for) was to assist him in creating HIS vision. Over the course of his career, they may have felt that they were more connected to the work, but they were EMPLOYED to do whatever they were doing. He was entitled to be free from Warner Brothers once HE was paying for the things they had paid for. Otherwise it was simply indentured servitude or slavery. That was his struggle. WB wasn't paying him to bring their artistic vision to life, they were paying him to bring his artistic vision to life, but pay him part of the profits as though he was their employee. That's why moviemakers like Tyler Perry or Robert Rodriguez are rare. They don't need a movie studio's permission to make whatever they want because they don't need studio money to do it. Prince was able to be free from WB in that same way. It took a toll on him, too. He needed more time, but he still blazed that path so now other musicians know how the system works. It doesn't work the way it looks from the outside. [Edited 7/14/16 8:27am]

Your post mostly seems to be about something else?
You seem to be talking about Prince & band.
not his advice to Shanice? or being free as an artist

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Reply #71 posted 07/14/16 8:57am

LBrent

OldFriends4Sale said:



LBrent said:


Medium, they were employees. They weren't "collaborators". He paid them to bring HIS artistic vision to life. They were artists, too, but they weren't there to work on their art. They were paid to work on HIS art. They weren't entitled to own the work they did with him. His vision was those names, songs, performances. Those came from HIS vision. There's a visually impaired glass artist named Chilhuly. He creates huge art installations. He EMPLOYS glassblowers, etc to do much of the physical labor, but they don't own any of it. They are his employees. Seamstresses who do the sewing for Versace are bringing the designer's vision into a tangible product. They don't own the designs. Prince designed the music and visual concepets for his music. The employees that worked on those things were there to work for him. Along the way, there were friendships, but the musicians, etc, their purpose (and what they were getting paid for) was to assist him in creating HIS vision. Over the course of his career, they may have felt that they were more connected to the work, but they were EMPLOYED to do whatever they were doing. He was entitled to be free from Warner Brothers once HE was paying for the things they had paid for. Otherwise it was simply indentured servitude or slavery. That was his struggle. WB wasn't paying him to bring their artistic vision to life, they were paying him to bring his artistic vision to life, but pay him part of the profits as though he was their employee. That's why moviemakers like Tyler Perry or Robert Rodriguez are rare. They don't need a movie studio's permission to make whatever they want because they don't need studio money to do it. Prince was able to be free from WB in that same way. It took a toll on him, too. He needed more time, but he still blazed that path so now other musicians know how the system works. It doesn't work the way it looks from the outside. [Edited 7/14/16 8:27am]


Your post mostly seems to be about something else?
You seem to be talking about Prince & band.
not his advice to Shanice? or being free as an artist




I was responding to mediumdry's post about the fallacy of Prince's advice to Shanice because mediumdry felt that Prince had not been fair to his band as though THEY owned master's or performance names simply by being Prince's employees. I was trying to let him her see the difference between the two sides.

I tried use examples to illustrate that using other artists.

smile
[Edited 7/14/16 8:59am]
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Reply #72 posted 07/14/16 8:59am

OldFriends4Sal
e

LBrent said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Your post mostly seems to be about something else?
You seem to be talking about Prince & band.
not his advice to Shanice? or being free as an artist

I was responding to mediumdry's post about the fallacy of Prince's advice to Shanice because mediumdry felt that Prince had not been fair to his band as though THEY owned master's or performance names simply by being Prince's employees. I was trying to let him her see the difference between the two sides.

oh ok

I tried to quickly scan through the other posts to see who you were responding to
thanks

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Reply #73 posted 07/14/16 1:12pm

LBrent

OldFriends4Sale said:



LBrent said:


OldFriends4Sale said:



Your post mostly seems to be about something else?
You seem to be talking about Prince & band.
not his advice to Shanice? or being free as an artist




I was responding to mediumdry's post about the fallacy of Prince's advice to Shanice because mediumdry felt that Prince had not been fair to his band as though THEY owned master's or performance names simply by being Prince's employees. I was trying to let him her see the difference between the two sides.


oh ok


I tried to quickly scan through the other posts to see who you were responding to
thanks




No problem.

There was an interview I can't find on YouTube, but it's a jazz guy who played with P for awhile and his wife was burning CDs of this guy's work while he played with P in the other room.

P asked what they were doing and the guy showed P the homemade CD packaging and explained that bootleggers had stolen his stuff so he bought their high quality bootleg to use as a master to burn his stuff and now he could sell direct to his fans.

He said P screamed and got so excited and told the guy to keep it up and be free and that he'd do just fine.

The guy admits he's not rich, but he's happy and comfortable and he's in control of his art.

That's what P was advising to Shanice and Anita Baker and Toni Braxton and others.

If you keep your masters you won't have to cowtow to the record studios.

Problem is, lots of people would rather embrace the qlitz and glamour which is really just on loan from the studio system. They play "big baller" to the outside world so people think their rich when in reality, many are in debt up their eyeballs TO THE STUDIO who treat them like sharecroppers buying at the "company store".

It's all an illusion.

People say stuff like "he wasn't selling as much" "he wasn't relevant". That's code for "he wasn't showing off like I think he should so I can live vicariously through him and feel validated for being a fan".

I'm a fan regardless of who likes him or doesn't. The fact is, he was everything including flawed. And he was free. And he was a sexy purple badass!

And he embodied the Frank Sinatra song "My Way".
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Reply #74 posted 07/15/16 2:46pm

1725topp

mediumdry said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

still reeling from the "fluke" comment re TMBGITW !

.

I don't understand why Bart is viewed so negative just because he doesn't gush about everything Prince did. I certainly feel the same way too.

.

Being a Prince "fan" was like being in an abusive relationship. I couldn't quite let go, because the love was so strong, but ever since 1988 it has been a painful road, watching an artist who could do it all make self destructive decision after self destructive decision. Sure, Prince still had a certain level of success, but the airs he put on did not match the real world reach he had.

.

Residuals from his heyday and money from concerts certainly gave Prince the cash flow he desperately needed to continue to live in his "prince-world" where he could pretend to be the world's number one that he wasn't anymore. All those albums engineered to be million sellers they never became. Always with the same pattern of songs to show his versatility, but not his ability to focus on something properly or show that he matured and changed over the years. (with some exceptions of course, the whole Rainbow Children album and era were a nice surprise in maturity (somewhat) and focus) And the proof was in the pudding, during live shows, he hardly ever played all songs from the then current albums, and mostly none from the couple of albums before. Always going back to the days of yore, that the biggest number of people wanted to hear. The people coming for Purple Rain or Kiss were the people he couldn't afford to lose, as they were his meal ticket.

.

All this plus the careless way he treated the fans. Sure, Prince loved his fans and understood they kept his lights on, but he hardly ever followed through on projects. He started something and then got bored. Sure, his prerogative, but would it kill him to put some people on closing things properly?

.

Not to mention his legacy. His pride seemed more important than taking care of his music. If you look at how other artists take care in releasing items to put albums in context: remastered and expanded editions, live albums from the era (full concerts, no overdubs), sometimes even with separate discs with demos and other unreleased tracks. None of that with Prince. CDs that were never properly mastered were never updated, as he blocked it.

.

Or his hypocrisy. He wanted to own his masters and be free. But he never granted that right to others he played with. His bands never shared in proceeds or owned any of the work they did. They were paid a salary and basically were "work for hire", much like his Warner Brothers contract. And they shouldn't get any ideas.. The Time, in his mind, was him, not the people that worked hard to make it a (moderate) success along with him. Same for the Family. I'm surprised he allow Sheila Escovedo to keep performing as Sheila E. I guess it wasn't possible for him to "own" that name.

.

Anyway, being interested in Prince is a mixed blessing for sure. He had some insights in the business side of things, but the way he conducted business seemed to close to the way he handled his music, feeling entitled and expecting everyone to do as he wanted, wether it made sense to them or not.

.

So to all those saying Bart is a hater and negative... to me, he is the one showing true love. He is following the artist he loves, without putting on blinders and covering all warts with a blanket of love. Prince was far from perfect and it is just fine to say that. Prince made some bad music and bad decisions. But he also made some out of this world great music and was a stellar performer and he had a work ethic and prolific ideas matched by none. And Bart is likely to be the first to acknowledge that. He has deep knowledge about what Prince did and comes here to share that knowledge. That not only shows his love for Prince, but also his appreciation of this forum. He stays here. In spite of some really misguided people who equate liking somebody's music with having to agree with everything they do or liking all art put out by that person.

.

Please stop all that hate towards Bart and start enjoying informed debate. Please.

*

One, I've been on this site long enough to remember when Bart had something insightful to add. However, over the past years he's become guilty of the same thing that he's spent so many years accusing Prince of being, which is singing the same old song the same way all the time.

*

Two, as I've said to Bart on many occasions, if my favorite restaurant stopped preparing meals that I loved, I'd stop eating there rather than spending the next ten years complaining about how bad the food is. We get it. Bart thinks that Prince was a shitty person who created shitty music in the last ten years or so of his life. The question is why does Bart want us to feel the same way so badly? How many years of dissatisfaction does it take for Bart to find something else that he likes to stop wasting so much time venting about how Prince is a shitty person who hasn't produced any good music since who knows when. When was the last time Bart had anything positive to say about Prince? Informed debate is not hundreds of posts discussing how much someone hates Prince. So, if Bart has nothing new to add in the past ten years, how is what he has to say informed.

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Reply #75 posted 07/15/16 3:09pm

terrig

Wow...reading this thread was a form of masochism in itself...

Without Warner Bros Prince would have never achieved what he was able to achieve. He was amazing YES, but Warners paid for him to indulge his every last whim and idea.

He was a better business person than he's been given credit for here considering he was doing all the 'art-ing' too.

I think the art suffered when he began to focus on business, but I think it was ultimately a healthy thing for him to do as a person.

Even when the art suffered Prince was still absolutely fascinating and worthy of my money and attention.

He didnt die broke and in debt. There's a healthy and sustainable way forward for the estate so the bottom line is he was very successful on his own. He had the money and wherewithal to not give a shit if he met anyones expectations but his own. Thats what getting rich gets you. But He has to thank Warner Bros for that. Musicology tour was his most successful independent venture I believe and I think he made 22 million from that? Thats freaking successful no matter how u look at it.

But yeah the advice to younger people - I dont think its fair really - no one breaks big REALLY without alot of help. There's got to be an investment somewhere - but even when Prince had his own label he didnt operate it any differently than the majors - so he didnt have a better way to do things either...

The biggest gift Prince got from warners was the freedom to experiment until magic happened. No one gets that anymore.

PS: edited to add - genius afforded Prince the grace of us loving him in spite of bad decisions. BUT SO WHAT HE MADE BAD DECISIONS - WHO DOESNT?

[Edited 7/15/16 15:12pm]

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Reply #76 posted 07/15/16 3:18pm

terrig

LBrent said:

Medium, they were employees. They weren't "collaborators". He paid them to bring HIS artistic vision to life. They were artists, too, but they weren't there to work on their art. They were paid to work on HIS art. They weren't entitled to own the work they did with him. His vision was those names, songs, performances. Those came from HIS vision. There's a visually impaired glass artist named Chilhuly. He creates huge art installations. He EMPLOYS glassblowers, etc to do much of the physical labor, but they don't own any of it. They are his employees. Seamstresses who do the sewing for Versace are bringing the designer's vision into a tangible product. They don't own the designs. Prince designed the music and visual concepets for his music. The employees that worked on those things were there to work for him. Along the way, there were friendships, but the musicians, etc, their purpose (and what they were getting paid for) was to assist him in creating HIS vision. Over the course of his career, they may have felt that they were more connected to the work, but they were EMPLOYED to do whatever they were doing. He was entitled to be free from Warner Brothers once HE was paying for the things they had paid for. Otherwise it was simply indentured servitude or slavery. That was his struggle. WB wasn't paying him to bring their artistic vision to life, they were paying him to bring his artistic vision to life, but pay him part of the profits as though he was their employee. That's why moviemakers like Tyler Perry or Robert Rodriguez are rare. They don't need a movie studio's permission to make whatever they want because they don't need studio money to do it. Prince was able to be free from WB in that same way. It took a toll on him, too. He needed more time, but he still blazed that path so now other musicians know how the system works. It doesn't work the way it looks from the outside. [Edited 7/14/16 8:27am]



yeahthat worship worship

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Reply #77 posted 07/16/16 1:32am

glamstar01

Bart is a joke, always criticizing & looking for attention. He does so as if he had everything an answer where prince had (in barts eyes) failures. The most important artists have paid homage to him - but they should probably had to ask first bart...

for all who did not know it, bart is well known for his great successes & merits as a musician, singer, producer & businessman

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Reply #78 posted 07/16/16 10:27am

GhostChick

Purplestar88 said:

mediumdry said:

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I don't understand why Bart is viewed so negative just because he doesn't gush about everything Prince did. I certainly feel the same way too.

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Being a Prince "fan" was like being in an abusive relationship. I couldn't quite let go, because the love was so strong, but ever since 1988 it has been a painful road, watching an artist who could do it all make self destructive decision after self destructive decision. Sure, Prince still had a certain level of success, but the airs he put on did not match the real world reach he had.

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Residuals from his heyday and money from concerts certainly gave Prince the cash flow he desperately needed to continue to live in his "prince-world" where he could pretend to be the world's number one that he wasn't anymore. All those albums engineered to be million sellers they never became. Always with the same pattern of songs to show his versatility, but not his ability to focus on something properly or show that he matured and changed over the years. (with some exceptions of course, the whole Rainbow Children album and era were a nice surprise in maturity (somewhat) and focus) And the proof was in the pudding, during live shows, he hardly ever played all songs from the then current albums, and mostly none from the couple of albums before. Always going back to the days of yore, that the biggest number of people wanted to hear. The people coming for Purple Rain or Kiss were the people he couldn't afford to lose, as they were his meal ticket.

.

All this plus the careless way he treated the fans. Sure, Prince loved his fans and understood they kept his lights on, but he hardly ever followed through on projects. He started something and then got bored. Sure, his prerogative, but would it kill him to put some people on closing things properly?

.

Not to mention his legacy. His pride seemed more important than taking care of his music. If you look at how other artists take care in releasing items to put albums in context: remastered and expanded editions, live albums from the era (full concerts, no overdubs), sometimes even with separate discs with demos and other unreleased tracks. None of that with Prince. CDs that were never properly mastered were never updated, as he blocked it.

.

Or his hypocrisy. He wanted to own his masters and be free. But he never granted that right to others he played with. His bands never shared in proceeds or owned any of the work they did. They were paid a salary and basically were "work for hire", much like his Warner Brothers contract. And they shouldn't get any ideas.. The Time, in his mind, was him, not the people that worked hard to make it a (moderate) success along with him. Same for the Family. I'm surprised he allow Sheila Escovedo to keep performing as Sheila E. I guess it wasn't possible for him to "own" that name.

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Anyway, being interested in Prince is a mixed blessing for sure. He had some insights in the business side of things, but the way he conducted business seemed to close to the way he handled his music, feeling entitled and expecting everyone to do as he wanted, wether it made sense to them or not.

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So to all those saying Bart is a hater and negative... to me, he is the one showing true love. He is following the artist he loves, without putting on blinders and covering all warts with a blanket of love. Prince was far from perfect and it is just fine to say that. Prince made some bad music and bad decisions. But he also made some out of this world great music and was a stellar performer and he had a work ethic and prolific ideas matched by none. And Bart is likely to be the first to acknowledge that. He has deep knowledge about what Prince did and comes here to share that knowledge. That not only shows his love for Prince, but also his appreciation of this forum. He stays here. In spite of some really misguided people who equate liking somebody's music with having to agree with everything they do or liking all art put out by that person.

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Please stop all that hate towards Bart and start enjoying informed debate. Please.

Bart does not want an informed debate. Bart has an opinion just like everybody else. Bart does not have some great knowlege over others. I never saw Bart post a single positive thing about Prince. True love of what? Most or all that is posted for 14 years is negative and condescending. Then you have people who defend and encourage this kind of behavior for 14, going on 15 years. This kind of behavior kills the site for some people. Sometimes in the past and even now, the way people talked about Prince you would think he was this evil monster and not a human being with faults and foibles. Prince was a human being not a puppet or a rebot man for people to tell him how to handle his art and business. Prince earned his "celebrity status" by working hard, so I don't understand why people feel that they need to throw it up in his face if he used that to get deals. In this world any advantage you have, you must used because trust and believe others won't hesitate to use theirs.

From the very beinging Prince took the z route instead of A route. That how he was. He told took the hard road. He had no issues shutting down or moving on from a project if he was tired of it or it did not suit his vision and that upset people. I feel this was the case with his journey going independent. I feel he was searching for the perfect model but didn't like what he was seeing or maybe he had a hard time sticking to somthing long enough to see if work for him.

The music industry has changed and some people don't want to accept that although they claim to. Independent or not, people are not buying music like they used. Now people go to different websites and youtube to get the music for free. People like freebies and if you are making any penny from music thank your lucky stars because if you can get music for free, why would you pay for it? This is some people thinking and not just a young thing.

THIS

I mean, don't get me wrong, maybe Prince might had made some less than steller choices regarding what he thought was good for his music BUT I notice NOW the things that Prince was doing back THEN, artists are doing NOW.

Case in point, Taylor Swift, now herself going against YouTube and Spotify; internet and streaming. Something Prince himself saw was going to be a way for artists not to make as much money.

She is calling out YouTube/Vevo and how they are not really paying artists their fair share of royalites AND it's also a great way for people to get stuff for free with the allowance of YouTube - to MP3 converter. This kind of technology allows people to convert any song from these sites and then turn them into MP3s, thus getting that song for free. She is tired of it.

And so was Prince. To be honest, Prince was ahead of his time with that. Just like Ray Charles was ahead of his time owning his masters at a higher rate than the record companies were willing to give him.

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Reply #79 posted 07/16/16 11:13am

destinyc1

To the ones on here that know and understand the music industry and how it works.I'm on the other end w/clients and my own little ones.But,help me to understand because this is serious and its been said by many people that he worked with.Did people help write songs for prince and never got paid or never got credited to get residuals?One call to AFTRA at the time would of straightened that out.SAG-AFTRA NOW...For instance my dd did a tv show she got a clothing allowance and then her pay for the actual shoot.She also sang age 6 at the time and that was more money paid to her and she got a credit.Every time its shown nationally and internationally she gets a check.And to be in sag/aftra health insurance you have to maintain a certain amount of work (earnings)So if the production comp never mentioned my dd singing it would still be easy to prove.Maybe im not understanding 8-)https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/

[Edited 7/16/16 11:13am]

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Reply #80 posted 07/20/16 1:42pm

Germanegro

avatar

destinyc1 said:

To the ones on here that know and understand the music industry and how it works.I'm on the other end w/clients and my own little ones.But,help me to understand because this is serious and its been said by many people that he worked with.Did people help write songs for prince and never got paid or never got credited to get residuals?One call to AFTRA at the time would of straightened that out.SAG-AFTRA NOW...For instance my dd did a tv show she got a clothing allowance and then her pay for the actual shoot.She also sang age 6 at the time and that was more money paid to her and she got a credit.Every time its shown nationally and internationally she gets a check.And to be in sag/aftra health insurance you have to maintain a certain amount of work (earnings)So if the production comp never mentioned my dd singing it would still be easy to prove.Maybe im not understanding 8-)https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/

[Edited 7/16/16 11:13am]

This looks like a good, important, question but maybe off topic for this thread? Maybe start a new thread under a topic such as "Song crediting habits of Prince"?

>

Mods?

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Reply #81 posted 07/20/16 3:00pm

SoulAlive

Being an independent artist is not as easy as it sounds.New artists in particular need the support and big bucks that a major record company can provide.It takes those things to build an audience and become well known.Prince would have never achieved major superstardom in the 80s without WB.

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Reply #82 posted 07/23/16 6:15am

PURPLEIZED3121

SoulAlive said:

Being an independent artist is not as easy as it sounds.New artists in particular need the support and big bucks that a major record company can provide.It takes those things to build an audience and become well known.Prince would have never achieved major superstardom in the 80s without WB.

wow..just been listening to Angie Stone talking about he expereinces of working with Clive Davies etc...sounds like a truly horrible expereince & one expereinced by many older artists. Again, in the context of Prince it's all the more remarkable that he remained as popular, current & in control as he did.

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