zoolander II and his mighty hohner returneth!

thanx, serge!

I have a copy of the article right here...its quite a read and very honest:


" Well, what you do is, at the age of about 17 sign to a large record company...preferably pick one who will throw money at you and go against their better judgment to support your every need.

Then build on your fan base until you make it so big everybody will want a piece of the purple -pie....the same record company who showed faith in you all those years ago will repay you by making you a multi-million dollar deal which will make you the richest musician....this is the good bit, wait for it.

What you do next is spit your dummy out and have a tantrum about being signed to this contract.make such a huge fuss...right on your face, change your name, whatever it takes to get noticed. It doesnt matter if the record company are sticking to the contract you signed...throw a wobbly anyway.

When you are eventually free of your contract you will probably notice that, due to your diva fits, you arent as popular as you once were and your talent may have dried up a bit. That doesnt matter, what you do is you take your loyal fan base, get them to join an exclusive Internet club but gradually withdraw your input whilst still taking the money. If you get the mix right you can even start to slip in your own-agenda about religion and slavery...the best bit is the fans are paying for it. The key to keeping tehm hooked is just to tease them by putting the odd sprinkle of good stuff in amongst the shite...evrybody will claim that you are back on form and sign up for another year.

Thats how I keep myself in lace,high-heels and make-up"

ivdf said:

You need to fill me in on this one -
at what pace did Prince say he would release new music?

Once Prince was totally free of the WB contract:
He released The Rainbow Children.
Then about 4 months later released One Nite Alone.
Then about 8 months later released One Nite Alone Live.
Then about 7 months later released N.E.W.S.
Then about 8 months later released Musicology.

How often do you expect a new cd??

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Ur welcome Deja here's another picture from the same photo shoot...not from this magazine btw:

thedoorkeeper said:

Excellent point. Some people here have in no way taken into account how much music P has released publicly and online in the past 4 years. And if they have, and they still complain, well, maybe they've got other issues.

what other major artist releases music as frequently - or MORE frequently - than prince? i remember they might be giants used to have a phone line that you could call and hear a new song every day, but that's about all i can come up with. we gotta face it, we're a spoiled bunch.

thedoorkeeper said:

He makes an excellent point without even listing ALL the realease.
I applaud the man every time HE Denouces the majors. I wish he would do even more. Like write a song call F the Majors.



Now for the people that say he didn't release enough music.


1996 - : Emancipation [ 3 CD album ]
1997 - The New Power Generation: New Power Soul [ Prince written/produced ]
1998 - : Crystal Ball [ 3 CD set of previously unreleased archive material ] (o.k. this was a small business mistake but he was just starting.)
1998 - : The Truth
*1998 - The New Power Generation: in The War [ Independent Single/Internet Release ]
1998 - Chaka Khan: Come 2 My House [ Prince part-written/produced ]
1998 - Graham Central Station: GCS2000 [ Prince written/produced ]
*1999 - : 1999: The New Master [ Independent E.P. Release ]
1999 - Prince: The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale [ Contractual Obligatory Release ]
1999 - : Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
*2000 - : Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic [ Remix Album ] (NPG Music Club Exclusive, non-retail)
*2001 - Prince: The Rainbow Children
2001 - Prince: The Very Best Of Prince [ Contractual Obligatory Release ]
*2002 - Prince: One Night Alone (NPG Music Club Exclusive, non-retail)
2002 - Prince: One Night Alone Live [ 3 CD Live Album ]
*2003 - Prince: Xpectation (NPG Music Club Download release)
*2003 - Prince: C-Note (EP - NPG Music Club Download release)
*2003 - Prince: N.E.W.S.
*2004 - Prince: Musicology
*2004 - Prince: The Slaughterhouse [ *compilation ]
*2004 - Prince: The Chocolate Invasion [ *compilation ]

* - [ NPG Music Club Download-only release, compiled of previously released material from the 2001 NPGMC Year One downloads ]



And let's look at it. If the man was an Independent in 1987.

We would've had the Dream Factory/ Crystal Ball/ Camille/ and whatever else as an official release instead of crappy bootlegs.

You are joking arent you....is it just quantity that matters, is it not quality?

Lets have a look at these generous offerings shall we:

The Raibow Children - Yep. ok not bad at all, not to everybodys taste and the religous waffle is a little sickening. Overall not bad seeing as this was his first real offering for a few years

One Nite Alone - Utter crap - half finished album of clanky piano tracks...but we are all meant to swallow it because its a work in progress/demo.


One Nite Alone live - A carefully edited Live album...the bootleggers have been doing that for years and it doesnt take much to record your show and sell it

NEWS - well at least he's decided to get some more instruments on there...I can listen to one of those tracks but,again, a bit duff for somebody labelled a genius at one point.

MUSICOLOGY - Like TRC, not to verybody taste but definetely a step in the right direction and I like it apart from 2 tracks which are just OK in my opinion.



So by my calulations (if your months are right) thats 27 months since TRC until he released his next decent offering....Over 2 years!!!!

But thats just my opinion...afterall there are people who got excited about Glasscutter...another demo!!!!

You throw peanuts and you're gonna get monkeys!!!!
[Edited 12/3/04 13:01pm]

purpledoveuk said:

To summarize the arguments:

"Prince doesn't release enough music"

"Prince releases a crapload of music compared to everyone else"

"Prince doesn't release enough music that I like"

purpledoveuk said:

What about Xpectation, The Chocolate Invasion, Slaughter House. ????

I agree not all of this is top notch music but not all of his Label releases were great either. And the quality of the music is relative anyway. I thought the live c.d. was great. I thought Batman, parade, Graffite bridge were crap. It's all relative.

and let's not forget you can buy EVERY release on the site instead of going to store where you have to pay mark-up and give the RIAA their portion. That alone makes it worth it. I don't buy c.d.'s anymore because of what the RIAA is doing to the buying public. That's very hard to do. But at least with Prince I can
still get his music from him directly. I just think the argument that him going indie is wrong because he isn't releasing enough music , is kind of selfish. I think all fans would benefit more if the majors were cut out all together.

bloody hell, so you don't think what he puts out is any good, that doesn't mean it isn't good, it just means that you don't like it!

for starters, calling NEWS a bit duff for someone labelled a genius is exactly the problem prince faces when he releases new music. look at the reviews for musicology, just about every one of them points out how it's not as good as his old stuff, like he released nothing between 1991 and 2004, like it should still be compared to his 80s heyday (which was still criticised when it was released for alot of the albums) as opposed to the overall context of his career.

ONA isn't great, no-one would suggest it is i reckon, but it's ok. it's not got any embarassing songs like you could argue rave has.

plus, you go on about glass cutter being a demo, well dirty mind is an album of demo's and is known as one of the albums of the 80s in some circles.

i respect your opinion, hey, you don't like the music he's doing at the moment, and i agree, it should be quality over quantity, but at the end of the day alot of fans like what he's done since leaving WB, whether you view that as 96 or 2000.

as for someone who feels "cheated" 'cos he hasn't released a new album since musicology, for fucks sake man, i do not know what planet you are on. again you're entitled to your opinion but this year he's released an album, and three b-sides, and two more tracks recently. compare that to other artists. i understand prince said he would release alot more music than we expected, but times change, as does his opinion. and now he doesn't want to.

i'm an aerosmith fan and i tell you, it's fucking shit they release on average since 1989 an album every 4 years. it's fucking wank. you end up living on scraps released to soundtracks. songs they didn't even think fit on their own album.

with prince you get an album a year if not more (on an average, look at a previous post, like one every 8 months) and loads of other stuff.

it's like anxiety says, just check out how much other artists do. last year it was all people did was complain about how prince's site should be more like bowie's. now look at us, no-one else does what he does with his site, and the music he puts out. this year of all years recently i don't think anybody should be complaining.

i was one of the people who used to say "prince's site should be more like bowie's", and while to some extent i still feel that way (bowienet does a great job with daily news updates, and it's VERY cool that bowie himself openly participates in the forums and posts weblog entries on a fairly regular basis), for the most part i wish bowienet were more like NPGMC has become this year.

Anxiety said:

exactly! and i wasn't making a sly dig when i mentioned bowie's site. my mate went on about it too and i agree to a certain extent. however, i do think alot of the reason we're so "rabid" is that we only get stuff from the npgmc when its "official" and to be honest, i don't know if i want prince to do weblogs. it would be kinda boring, i like prince the myth. i like thinking of how he is as a person through his songs and stuff.

yeah, i like prince the myth too, and i know what you're saying - but i have to admit that i appreciated the essays and rants he'd turn in during the L4OA days...sometimes i thought his messages were kinda goofy, but i really did appreciate the fact that he was maintaining a presence on his fan site.

purpledoveuk said:

[Edited 12/3/04 18:47pm]

Not to mention all the music he's released in the last four years and that was first available at his club, some of it Internet only. What other major artist has released more music than Prince in the last 4 years? If anything, Prince could be accused of releasing music too quickly. In the old days, he'd have to sit on songs much longer, and with time he would have an idea of the song's worth. Now he can release anything anytime, and that means he does not have to stay enthusiastic about a song for too long. He is certainly more likely to release minor material. Lately, he's been releasing relatively less music, and maybe that means he's more picky and/or he's been busy with Musicology (promotion and tour).[/quote]

You have a good point there. Besides that, what the music industry still just does not seem to get is that the musician, not the record company, who is the one who is ultimately in control of his collective fate. In other words, Prince is in charge of himself - isn't that how an adult is supposed to be able to conduct himself? If anyone told me I couldn't write the 18 books I have written in the last ten years - I'd spend the next fifteen minutes telling them exactly what they could do with their commands, and that's no bull.

Anxiety said:

actually i agree with you there, i remember first going on the npgmc site and reading his essays on mergers and shit like that and it was really cool. so i agree with that one. when i think of bowies site i just think of him doing a Q&A and people asking him what his first memory and shit like that is, and if i read it in a prince interview i wouldn't mind, cos stuff like that would be few and far between, but if it was a monthly thing on his fansite i wouldn't be so keen

as long as he keeps away from open letters i think we'll be cool...!

No - to summarise the argument

Prince doesnt release enough Music

Prince releases Loads of music

Well he should be ashamed of dropping his standards so much that he feels its ok to put out demos and clanky piano cds...any busker could do that if they had a contract....and a piano of course.

Nothing this loser does is going to scare any label.

Prince says "U can get music from r club in the time it takes 2 open an emale."

Uh. Not exactly. Opening an e-mail takes less than one click of the second hand.

When Musicology became available from NPGMC, the procedure to get a copy to play in the car was more like an hour-long adventure.
-downloaded each of the tracks on the album. (not fast the first day)
-enabled them with a DRM license.
-burned them to a cd (a feature only on the pc version of Windows Media Player)
-got bummed out that when I played them in the car, the sound quality was poor and I could only put the volume at 1/2 the desired level.

A couple of weeks later when the CD came out. My hour was spend more like this:
-Drove 1/2 mile to the CD store (a small detour on the way to work)
-Listened to the whole CD in CD quality audio
-Listened to Illusion, Pimp, Circumstance 2 more times

The concert tickets are great, and I'm glad the NPGMC is around, but nothing i've ever downloaded from the web comes even close to comparing to a silver disk CD. I'd certainly pay a premium club membership if all downloads were mailed to me on a CD-R as full quality AIFF's.

purpledoveuk said:

Ooh!

Ooh!

Flick on your sarcastic button and read this; http://www.prince.org/msg/8/124255

And see if you recognise sumthing!

I mean, if an artist does not release any music you like and do not like the way he offers it to you, go join the Britney Spears fanclub or sumthing.

All the bitching, it's tiresome.

Listen, I am certainly a person that does not like much of Prince releases since The Gold Experience. I certainly do not buy into his religious agenda and the music that flows out of that. I totally detest his easy ways of rewriting history by calling people racist. I wish it was all so simple.

I too would love him to open the Vault. It's the only reason I am still tracking his musical thingies. And of course the ocasional brilliance of songs like One Nite Alone. And his life performances.

But...if you do not like it, just leave. Maybe we should open a "bitch about Prince" forum, so these peeps can just bitch to themselves and the people who come here to celebrate can ignore the forum.

thedog said:

-----
I guess it depends on your defintion of loser. The loser sure does make a whole lot of money.(LOL).

I don't think he is trying to scare any labels he just does not want to work with them in the traditional way and that is his choice.

I KNOW THAT THERE IS A FEE TO JOIN NPGMC, BUT DO YOU HAVE TO PAY AN ADDITIONAL
FEE TO DOWNLOAD THE SONGS OR ARE THEY INCLUDED IN THE ONE TIME JOINING FEE?

Anxiety said:

If he were the only victim he'd probably let it go. He seems to recognize it happening to other young musicians to this day-- go figure.

Another thing is that he has a lot of pride and hates the fact he got exploited as a young man. He sold out for fame and fortune, so he's trying to warn others following that path.

The funny thing is he, himself, landed with a RELATIVELY good record company that atleast gave him some liberties as an artist. The music industry has worsened as a whole since he broke in.
[Edited 12/5/04 10:48am]

whodknee said:

- It´s true....Prince got some privileges because of his talent. It´s sad that Prince is one of the few artists that have the guts to criticize the industry and go independent. Other millionaire artists don´t have enough balls to do it.

Aerogram said:

There is a reason why record labels want to restrict their artists to a limited amount of output. Saturating the market, not releasing the cream of the crop but the WHOLE crop... etc etc.

WB would have insisted that emancipation was whittled down some. It would probably have done better that way from both a business sense and in a sense of keeping output at the highest quality.

Freedom to release what he wants may have eased his pain, but it hasnt led to more great music really...

I dont mind either way. The good stuff will always be mixed in there, even if there is more filler than there should be...

slothmang said:

You need MusicMatch man. it's free. Goto Musicmatch.com it's the best player for mp3's audio,etc. I downloaded all the songs at the same time. Burned it to CD(Music match converts to audio automatically.) Then I'm done.
sound quality is the same as my store bought one. Only difference is that I couldn't get "marrying Kind" and If I was the Man'''' to segue into eachother the same way the cd does.

debbiedean2 said:

It's separate fees for each released item.

fronters to the left fronters to the right