The side projects that Prince had from 1980-1984 were all successful(The Time, Vanity, Apollonia and Sheila E). Sheila was even nominated for 4 Grammys for her debut album. These acts made Prince and Warners a lot of money. My question is why didn't any of P's side projects after 1984 have any success?(The Family, Madhouse, Jill Jones, Ingrid Chavez etc). You would think Warners would have promoted them very well based on the success of Prince's earlier side projects. Maybe Prince is to blame for this. Anyone have any ideas or insight into this?

ares said:

My impression is that with the advent of Paisley Park as a label, it was their responsibility to promote those acts. Paisley Park did not have the resources or the drive to successfully promote new artist where Warners would have done a far better job. I could be wrong.

ares said:

One problem is that,many of the Paisley Park releases after 1984 weren't very good.The label got off to a great start with albums by Mazarati,The Family and Sheila E.But by the late 80s,Paisley was releasing rubbish like Dale Bozzio and Good Question,followed by early-90s crap like TC Ellis and Carmen Elektra.All the promotional money in the world can't save these projects.

It is true Paisley Park started off well(Taja Sevell) but even the good projects never got a chance. Some never saw the light of day. The Family especially should have had a big success.