Some interesting new and not-so-new info:

http://online.wsj.com/art...90905.html

Prince Aims to Prove He's Still King

For his new album set, the artist has a deal with Target and a gig on Leno

By JOHN JURGENSEN
Prince, a musician so protective of his independence that he operates without a manager or a record label, has recruited some mainstream commercial allies -- Target and "The Tonight Show" -- to help him mount a three-album release on March 29.

At the same time, he's flying solo online with a new Web site that will deliver content directly to fans.

The split strategy reflects the 50-year-old star's stepped-up -- and sometimes contradictory -- efforts to burnish his legacy, in a climate where even music legends are struggling to draw attention to album releases.

Prince's triptych offering consists of "LOtUSFLOW3R," a collection of psychedelic rock songs, "MPLSoUND," featuring an electronic sound, and "Elixir," an album by singer Bria Valente, the latest in a string of Prince protégés. The CD bundle, priced at $11.98, will only be available in Target stores, putting Prince in the growing ranks of major artists who have done exclusive deals with big-box retailers, including Guns N' Roses (Best Buy) and Bruce Springsteen and the Eagles (Wal-Mart). In exchange for exclusivity, retailers promote the artist heavily in stores and usually agree not to return unsold copies.

Prince has a hometown connection with Target, which is based in Minneapolis, Prince's home base until a recent move to Los Angeles. Target's team negotiated directly with the singer, a spokeswoman says.

To get the word out, Prince will perform on Jay Leno's show for three consecutive nights starting Wednesday. Don't expect to hear "Let's Go Crazy" -- a representative for the singer says he'll perform only new material, and doesn't plan to sit for an interview with Mr. Leno. (A "Tonight Show" spokeswoman says the final song list has not been discussed.)

Such TV gambits, increasingly common, yield a burst of publicity and days of promotion on the TV host's network. But the payoff for the act can be tough to measure. U2, promoting its new album "No Line on the Horizon," recently did a five-night run with David Letterman. The show's ratings didn't spike, however, and the album sold 484,000 copies in its first week, a tepid showing for one of the world's biggest bands. (A new Coldplay album sold more than 700,000 copies in its first week last year.)

Mainstream partnerships still leave room for the rogue tendencies of an artist who once changed his name to a symbol, says Kevin Powell, author of several books on culture. "Since Prince was starting out at 19 years old, it's always been about having one foot in, one foot out" of big business, he says.

The recent result has been a batch of experimental release strategies. The artist bundled his 2004 album "Musicology" with tickets to his run of nearly 100 shows -- boosting the album's official sales tally, which now stands at two million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In another controversial move, last year he struck a deal with a British newspaper to give away some three million copies of his "Planet Earth" album in copies of the paper, causing his music distributor, Sony, to cancel the album's release in U.K. stores. He has also taken more traditional publicity steps, like a performance at the 2007 Super Bowl.

Despite the chatter such moves have sparked, and the unflagging popularity of Prince's live shows, he hasn't had a single in the Top 40 since 1999. "His business savvy has superseded his musical artistry in some ways, and I think he has to get back to the balance," Mr. Powell says.

The primary channel for Prince's coming output will be his Web site, which goes live Tuesday. Despite being one of the first major music stars to foster Web fan communities, Prince has been largely absent online in recent years. In 2006, he shut down his official site, the five-year-old NPG Music Club, which offered fans access to new music releases and premium tickets for subscription fees of up to $100.

The new site, Lotusflow3r.com, will charge an annual fee of $77 for access. The site has a galactic theme: Users can click on three "virtual planets" for music from the new albums, videos and clues to unlocking other content.

As artists hunt for alternatives to traditional album sales, such subscription sites are proliferating. But holding on to paying subscribers can be tough. Jim Guerinot, who manages Nine Inch Nails, a rock band known for its online initiatives, says that most subscribers are there for the same reason: access to tickets. "Nobody wants to pay for random content -- unless you can get me in the first 20 rows," he says.

The job of satisfying Prince's subscribers will likely fall to the site's creators, Anthony Malzone and Scott Addison Clay. Mr. Clay says premium tickets will be available there, including about 150 seats for the "Tonight Show" and access to three Prince concerts in Los Angeles on March 28.

A vice president of digital marketing at the Cimarron Group, a Hollywood firm that created sites for the films "Twilight" and "The Dark Knight," Mr. Clay was vaulted into Prince's inner circle after being contacted by the singer last September through a mutual colleague.

In addition to his Web design duties, Mr. Clay has been serving as Prince's spokesman and sometime negotiator. He helped work out the agreement with "The Tonight Show," whose representatives knew better than to ask Prince to perform classic songs on air, Mr. Clay says. "That does not go over well with him," he adds.

Informative read. Thanks for posting!

Seventeen said:

thanks and second !

I want tickets to the LA shows!!

love how each new tidbit of info gives us something new

makes u wonder what will really go down

but at least it will come soon

Very good article and each new bit of info just raises the level of anticipation!!

Didn't Black Sweat crack the Top 40?

Good stuff!!

So happy to hear that he is committed to playing the new stuff.

If we do get a tour, I wonder if it will be more along the lines of the Act I and Act II tours where he played only new stuff and after intermission, played older stuff. Or more like the ONA tour.

Either way, I am excited once again.

Is it Tuesday yet?

Later

Papaj said:

Genesia said:

Its hightest chart position was #60 (pop) and #38 (Hot R&B).

Papaj said:

I'm surprised about that, I was sure they would demand him a "hit" performance.

Papaj said:

arrooo?

[Edited 3/20/09 7:45am]

FIRST!!

Gr8 press ahead of the release
2009 is going 2 b a very Purple Year!

liltalkm said:

xactly!! stick 2 the new stuff!! promote the new stuff!! give us the live music of new material!!!

xlr8r said:

well if it doesn't go over well with him then he should never fucking do them anymore so we won't get lame per4mances like the superbowl ever again. BRING THE NEW MATERIAL 2 THE MASSES!! let the world know what ur doing now as opposed 2 then ..he's not tony bennett u know!!!

this is + news..the new music in full effect.

L4OATheOriginal said:

1. The superbowl was perfect

2. He HAS been playing the past hits so I dint know why homie said "dont ask him to lay classics, he isnt into that"

3. He IS Tony Bennett. Just like U2 are. Just like The Rolling Stones are. Just like anybody in it for 30 years are. He cant go into arenas and not play any of his pasgt material. Thats just dumb. Only 5000 internet die hards care about that shit. Not the masses who make touring worth it that put much food on his table and that bring him in the millions.

4. I wish he would play the majority of all new stuff so dont think Im whatever anyone calls people...things...now days lol.



.gotta always play Contorversy though
[Edited 3/20/09 8:02am]

LiveToTell86 said:

Are you serious? Do you seriously think P would agree to do a show whereby he would perform songs that were "demanded" of him to perform? Ahh..remember his performance of "Turn Me Loose....The Everlasting Now? Those songs weren't hits, so much as they were songs he simply chose to perform.

SKB

sunkissedbrotha said:

I'm just saying that performing for multiple nights in such a popular show would mean more obligations for even someone like Prince and that they would want to ensure more viewers with promoting that he's gonna sing a famous song like "When Doves Cry" or "Kiss" along with new stuff.

xlr8r said:

Cuddles said:

?

xlr8r said:

[b] u came close 2 being labeled lol but if any old song that needs 2 b played is when doves cry [b]

LiveToTell86 said:

unless the whole hour is reserved 4 a particular artist, musical guests usually only get 5 mins on the air..so Y would he waste that time doing a old song when he's trying 2 promote his new product? makes no sense what so ever

Genesia said:

I would think that it did on the R & B chart.

Good. I'd be okay if I never heard LGC or PR ever again.

L4OATheOriginal said:

WoW! I can't believe it's been THAT long since a top 40 hit...Before that, there were so many years of Prince songs hitting # 1 on the charts...I used to love hearing new Prince songs on the radio...