If you stop to think about the album that was offered for download, the free admissions to afterparties and shows, and the amount it cost to mail ONA Live out all over the world, the profit to Prince was probably either very small or non-existent.

ChickenLittle said:

u say, was probably... well, i think it was... it depends if u do princes math... i relly think on the end it was (year 1 with the server high traffic maybe not so... )

anyway, what annoies me right now, is that we GET NO communication... and the speculation thang is again on...

>> he should sort something out with clives new label...
and release some killer funk album ... i know, its just (my?) selfish wish.. but u know.. release it babe!

ps. when it comes 2 money i guess prince is on the good side... and the npmc was maybe some other experiment...

FREE the music, say what?

Well, if you do math and include the free piano CD, the free Xpectation album, the free ONA Live album, plus the free afterparty admissions, the amount of profit left from the $100 members paid couldn't have been very much.

A place like CDNow could sell you 4 CDs for well under 100 bucks and turn a nice profit. And they're not even the label or the artist. Prince is getting the money that would go to the label, the artist, and the distributor. So I'm sure he made plenty off it. If you're comparing the $15 you'd spend on a CD at the store, it costs that much because you're paying several middle men between you and the artist. For some strange reason, Prince cuts out the middle men, but still charges his fans the same.

The rehearsals didnt cost him squat. The Celebration probabbly doesnt cost him a whole lot either because he's playing in his own house with his own crew.

And to top it all off, ONA came in a cheap cardboard sleeve.

to Manufacture a CD might cost more than it seems, but still you make a nice profit.
Don't forget the tickets to Prince's shows were'nt so cheap, and most of his shows sold out.
You cannot add Xpectation to that because it was just up in a server, which means take out the cost of manufacturing the CDs.
I'm sure it was profitable enough to continue, and I'm sure that if that was his only consideration whether to continue or not, he would've started year 3 already.

ChickenLittle said:

I don't know if it was profitable or not, but I do feel that it was profitable. If u think about it, music club members may have gotten into after parties at no additional cost, but they probably worked out something with the club that stated that there are x amount of people that we want 2 get in 2night. We will pay u a flat fee of y for all of them to get in. Everyone else, you charge them $25-$40 (at least double to triple the usual cover charge). I don't think Prince gets paid a huge sum of money (if any) to do an aftershow. I think it is something that he does just for "fun" or for the "fams."

Believe me...Prince wouldn't do it if he didn't make money.

I have little doubt in my mind that it was profitable. There's very little overhead involved in maintaining a website and pressing CD's. The only thing that REALLY costs is shipping, and even that's not a lot.

I hope they DO bring it back for the sake of those people that want it.
[This message was edited Tue Mar 4 22:27:29 PST 2003 by herb4]

herb4 said:

That is entirely relative.

Think about the sheer profit on the shipping charges via NPG Retail - especially to foreign destinations! Healthy margin.

DonnieDarko said:

Relative to what? Everything is relative.

among other things, tom said:

"The rehearsals didnt cost him squat. The Celebration probably doesnt cost him a whole lot either because he's playing in his own house with his own crew.

And to top it all off, ONA came in a cheap cardboard sleeve."

EXACTLY!! it's so damn refreshing to read your posts, tom...yer about the only person on here who has sense anymore. not to mention the fact that yer hotter'n ryan phillipe in a jock strap. d'oh! did i say that?

that cheap-ass ONA sleeve thing - man, if i were an artist i would be ashamed of that pathetic flimsy thing. prince is bizarre, though...i mean, i can't really think of anyone who has had cheaper-looking cd covers, designs, etc. i mean does anyone have a copy of crystal ball that didn't have all 4 discs falling out all over the place within a week or so?

prince profits on everything, or he wouldn't do it. not to mention the fact that he essentially got an interest-free loan for about 6 months or more from the members that signed up early on.

herb4 said:

A site that uses a ton of bandwidth back and forth with downloads, streams, flash, etc. to an audience of millions will cost a lot more than a site that is all text that has an audience of 10. So to say that websites do not cost a lot is not taking into account the relative nature of all the expenses..