Prince is featured in WIRED again. This time its an interview.

WIRED, 09/2004
by Eric Steuer

http://www.wired.com/wired/

PLAY

The Prince Pipeline

The Purple One is a true early adopter. He's been distributing his music online and writing in SMS-style shorthand (as in "I Would Die 4 U") for ages. Prince has been off the main­stream's radar since his breakup with Warner Bros. in 1996. But he's continued to record at a frantic pace, using the Web to reach out directly to fans and to sell seven indie releases. Now he's back in the limelight with a critically acclaimed major label CD, Musicology. Wired caught up with the pop visionary via email to get his take on the importance of controlling your own product. - Eric Steuer

Your All-Access Pass
NPG Music Club (www.npgmusiclub.com) members pay a one-time $25 fee to access music videos, concert footage, and chat rooms where they can gab with Prince and his band. The site has also been the exclusive distributor of MP3-only song collections like The Chocolate Invasion, Xpectation, and Slaughterhouse. NPGers also get the best seats in the house for Prince performances - members can buy concert tickets a week before the general public. Club founder Sam Jennings says that 10 percent of tickets are sold through the site.

WIRED: So why did you ditch the majors and stars your own label. NPG?
PRINCE: Throughout the '90s, the music business was in a state of flux, especially Warner Bros. Records. Knowing that we could no longer remain on a ship that had no captain, plans were made 2 distribute r music independently. The 1st single NPG released was "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." With its success, the die was cast, so2speak.

W: And that led to NPG Music Club what's it like selling your product and promoting your image online?
P: It's a great way 2 connect with music lovers all over the world. This is old news now, but artists will always do better when they distribute themselves. Most of the manufactured music stars of 2day do not have deals that allow them 2 participate in the OWNERSHIP of their art, so they have 2 take a backseat when it comes 2 marketing and promotion.

W: What sort of marketing tactics are you using for Musicology, and the current tour?
P: We introduced the concept of purchasing a brand-new CD with the concert ticket. That's all that really matters anyway: getting the music 2 the people. By any means necessary

W: Does that include P2P file-sharing?
P: File-sharing seems 2 occur most when people want more QUALITY over quantity. One good tune on a 20-song CD is a rip. The corporations that created this situation will get the fate they deserve. 4 better or 4 worse. 4 every action there is a reaction. An MP3 is merely a tool. There is nothing 2 fear

W: If corporations are the problem, why did you partner with Sony for the new album?
P: Sony has graciously agreed 2 augment the Musicology project with worldwide promotion and distribution. They r cool because they do not restrict NPG's ability 2 sell the product as well. It's a win-win situation.

W: Suddenly you're geeing terrific press again. Where has the media been the past few years?
P: Perhaps they had another agenda. We should really xamine how and where we find out about new music They don't call it PROGRAMMING 4 nothing!

W: When you changed your name to [symbol] you sent new font sets to the journalists covering you - quite a tech-savvy maneuver. Are you still on top of the PR genre?
P: True artists should b involved with every aspect of their work. Thanx again 4 ur help in getting the message out. Peace.

Christ, Prince... give it a rest.

squirrelgrease said:

you know he's paranoid about everyone. all the media wants is money there's no secret or programming about that!

neokyle said:

We can?! Maybe I need to start hanging out in the chat room over there! I read in the Tracks magazine interview that he logs on to "check fan feedback" or whatever, but I assumed they meant the message boards!

CandaceS said:

Thats what i read as well, first i herd that prince hangs around the chatroom, maybe he has a undercover name, be afraid, verry afraid

Prince is only able to release albums independently and sell music through is website because he has such a huge fan base. He could not have gotten such a huge fan base without being part of the WB corporate machinery for many years. His anti-corporate strategy won't work for new artists or 99% of established artists. But he doesn't get it.

RupertZ said:

So how do certain authors gain such a huge fanbase? Word-of-mouth, which creates demand, and to keep up with the demand, the publisher prints more of the product. Good musicians really don't need the "corporate machinery" -- word of mouth does wonders! Believe me, I see it all the time. Heard of The Da Vinci Code? Now how many of Dan Brown's books are in the Top 10? ALL of them! Same thing happened with Janet Evanovich -- word-of-mouth, and a few books into her career, people started buying them up (including the "back catalogue") based on nothing more than word-of-mouth.
[This message was edited Mon Aug 23 19:56:44 2004 by Snap]

Snap said:

Prince on the chat? Well i havent seen him yet. Mystery man show yourself!!!

squirrelgrease said:

I totally agree with P. I worked in radio for 5 years and know for sure that they intentionally PROGRAM certain music for certain audiences. They don't let the people decide. They tell u what 2 listen 2. I know P may say this in a lot of interviews, but he is trying to reach the masses and each magazine that he is talking with is reaching a different audience. Keep it up P.

daPrettyman said:

Actually, I know exactly where you're coming from. My beef is that Prince is sounding like a broken record with his pseudo-conspiracy theories. Prince want's to be an independant artist in an increasingly corporate realm, and I wish him much success in this. Most of my favorite artists are on labels that no one has heard of. Prince gave a good fight for years from inside the heart of the monopolizing beast, to no avail.

Great music or not, he's never going to get genuine rotational airplay from his position, and he knew this when he jumped ship. This doesn't mean he can't be number one at the bank. He just needs to keep his loyal fanbase happy, by giving them what they crave.

No bitching about "the man" needed... no radio play necessary.

RupertZ said:

Yes, he does get it... he has said during this Musicology Tour that new artists cannot do what he does... that they need the record companies to get much-needed 'attention.' I think he's just trying to let the new artists know that they have power & need to gain control over their product as early in their career as possible.

Snap said:

Some books come from nowhere and gain prominence by word of mouth, but your examples are not examples of this happening. Both Evanovich and Brown are beneficiaries of MASSIVE publicity campaigns from the MASSIVE publishing companies they are signed with. They ARE engaging books and they ARE passed from friend to friend and benefit from good word of mouth, but it's not like these books were self-published and slowly took the reading public by storm. Publishers can manipulate/exploit popular tastes just as well as the music industry can.