He expresses respect for current partners Sony and Clear Channel

Another worthless, shitty interview.

If what he said about Clear Channel during his St. Paul shows was a sign of respect, I'd hate to be on his bad side!

i just changed my signature.

"Color and use of space and lyrics that say something new about love, even if it's, 'I love you so much I'm going to slap somebody.' "

'I love you so much I'm going to slap somebody.' "

That has a nice ring to it. C'mere somebody.

If what he said about Clear Channel during his St. Paul shows was a sign of respect, I'd hate to be on his bad side!

Another worthless, shitty interview.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-06-23-prince-interview_x.htm

LOS ANGELES — He took the reins so he could resume his reign.

Prince says his battles with Warner Brothers are "water under the bridge."
By Afshin Shahidi, AP

Prince has come a long way since he scrawled "slave" on his cheek and changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol.

Today, wearing a beatific smile in an incense-clouded dressing room at the Staples Center, he blithely dismisses his battles with Warner Bros. as "water under the bridge." Prince is too busy counting his blessings to rehash his grudges.

Enjoying an artistic and spiritual rebirth, he also finds himself at the center of a popularity boom. His first night at Staples broke an attendance record. The opening sales for his Musicology CD racked up his tallest week since 1991. He credits success to a simple business philosophy. (Related story: Prince reaches out 2U with marketing that's all his)

"You have to take matters into your own hands," he says.

Prince's handiwork is paying off. For the past 10 years, he's held the keys to his kingdom by funding his own projects, delivering music directly to fans and avoiding industry machinery and middlemen.

Dubbing the conventional system "prehistoric and antiquated," Prince says, "All I ever said was, 'Let me drive.' Contracts have their purpose. Some artists need producers and songwriters and the direction record companies give. Other artists are more independent and self-contained.

"I press my own CDs. I employ people who handle what I can't do myself."

Prince, 46, founded a sovereign state after seceding from the music industry in the mid-'90s. He remained busy, releasing rivers of music for his NPG label and music club (npgmc.com), but, aside from teaming with Arista for 1999's Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, he seemed to drift off the pop-culture radar.

But 2004, Prince's banner year, got rolling with a show-stopping performance on the Grammys. His subsequent Musicology album and retrospective tour yielded critical acclaim and hefty profits.

"Prince took himself out of the game when he was high on the mountain," says business partner L. Londell McMillan, a founder of the Artist Empowerment Coalition. "He even removed his name from circulation.

"He was perceived as overly mercurial and bizarre, but by removing himself while staying true to his creative spirit, he was able to watch and listen and re-enter on his own terms."

His unusual few-strings-attached deal with Columbia "avoided the old debt burden, which is a huge problem," McMillan says. "It creates an unfair, unnatural relationship. An artist asks for millions to make a record, and the label ends up having all the control. It's a master/servant relationship, and everybody hates the boss."

While he's been riding lower in the charts in recent years, Prince pulls in a fatter share of revenues.

"Over the past seven to 10 years, he's made more money than he did during the same period in his heyday with Purple Rain under Warner," McMillan says. "He's a free agent in the marketplace, and we've created a multi-delivery model that works best for him, as tailor-made as the suits he wears."

Notoriously prolific, Prince occasionally seeks label partners for albums that suit mainstream tastes while funneling eclectic or experimental music to his NPG Music Club or packaging songs and collections for Internet-only release.

The hundreds of thousands of club members who pay a one-time $25 fee and standard download charges take the sting out of Internet thievery.

"I don't really take a stance on piracy," Prince says. "If I was only getting a few pennies off every album, I'd be worried. But I get $7 a pop for every album that sells for $10. That's enough."

Prince's royalty crusade is behind him. He expresses respect for current partners Sony and Clear Channel, but he'd rather talk about the healing properties of sound, the genius of Miles Davis, the merits of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's manifesto and lies the government may be telling about Osama bin Laden. He works up a sweat on the dying craft of live musicianship.

"You can't bring a prerecorded event to the stage," he says. "You have to be able to vibe off the audience and let a song marinate. Keep it alive! Where can you see a real band anymore? You can't get a machine to play like my drummer."

He won't discuss Manuela Testolini, his wife since 2001, or his conversion to the Jehovah's Witness faith, though he touches on Biblical topics and doesn't hide his zeal.

"There is a God, and he cares about us," he says. "Satan wants us to think life is a burden and that you have to be a slave. We're rolling on fast-forward right now. Let's hit pause and find out what our lives would be like if we aligned ourselves with God's will. Am I the genius here? No. I'm following God's will."

Consequently, he's ditched such crude staples as Gett Off.

"I have an older, more sophisticated audience now," he says. "And the 13-year-olds hear enough depraved culture. They don't need to hear me do Sexy M.F. or Erotic City. I choose not to do those songs. That's not where my head is now."

Prince wants to tease brains, not libidos. He's interested in manipulating sound and silence with human, not technological, tools.

"I want to be my own special effect," he says. "Music is a beautiful language we call the truth. There's a right way to play a song and a bunch of wrong ways."

What makes music special?

"Color and use of space and lyrics that say something new about love, even if it's, 'I love you so much I'm going to slap somebody.' "

wdrew said:

i was thinking the same thing exactly!!

violett said:

why wont anyone tell me what he said about clear channel?

Great interview. But Prince better copyright that line. It'd be a great title for a play.
"I Love You So Much I'm Going To Slap Somebody" starring Morris Day and Mo'Nique.

found1 said:

he said...clear channel..you know what that means...they are trynna clear the channel of funk yall...or something like that.....

anyone else remember exactly what was said?

Prince believes the gov.t is telling lies about Bin Laden? I'd like to know what he thinks the lies are. Has he forgotten about the WTC? Has he forgotten about the tape that showed Bin Laden taking responsibility for the acts of terrorism and remarking how they hadn't anticipated the towers falling, but were delighted by the extra damage? I love Prince's music and have followed him for decades...but this comment by him disturbes me. I wish he would have elaborated on it more. As such a devout JW, shouldn't he be bothered by murder?

W

Wicker said:

Go see Micheal Moore's movie and u will see what P is talkin about! Stay out of the BUSH'S and u will c the light!

Prince believes the gov.t is telling lies about Bin Laden? I'd like to know what he thinks the lies are. Has he forgotten about the WTC? Has he forgotten about the tape that showed Bin Laden taking responsibility for the acts of terrorism and remarking how they hadn't anticipated the towers falling, but were delighted by the extra damage? I love Prince's music and have followed him for decades...but this comment by him disturbes me. I wish he would have elaborated on it more. As such a devout JW, shouldn't he be bothered by murder?

W

Wicker said:

Bush is as much a threat to the world as Bin Laden is. Or do you think he hasn't killed as many people in Irak and Afghanistan as there were people killed on 9/11??

i just changed my signature.