vainandy said:

i know venus..still hate it...

murph said:

Amen to that!!!

skywalker said:

So why did they not make sure her last 2 albums sold?

Also, WB and EMi both had a piece of Prince's Emancipation so why weren't they interested in making sure it sold. Same thing goes for Rave. I mean that record cost Clive Davis his job so wouldn't he have been interested in making it sell?

The reason Princes record didn't do that well is a VERY poor choice of a first single and people weren't really interested in a triple disc set. I mean if you were only slightly interested the higher cost would scare you away. As a fan it was great but to the rest of the world it was too much product. Also, the album was just so-so.

sosgemini said:

He was like 30 something years old when he signed the deal he wanted out of. If he would have been interested in masters at the time he could have had them and maybe even got back some or all of his old ones. Instead he was interested in 100 million dollars so I feel no sympathy for him.

You cannot have the huge up-front money and the masters. If you could how would the record companies survive?

sosgemini said:

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The one album deal also allows him to own the master recording and keep control over the project. Something I doubt Mariah gets to do.

Mariah is find success because her power crazy husband is not in a position to sabortage this record.

"real valued marketing for his albums" Sony did a really good job marketing Musicology.
"
[Edited 6/5/05 12:56pm]

lovemachine said:

-----
Maybe Steve Fargoli should have negotiated to get the masters back.

laurarichardson said:

1) i wasnt arguing that prince didnt retain his masters that was the whole point i was making..

2) sure, Sony did a half decent job promoting Musicology..But the album was not a great seller folks...the only reason it stayed as high as it did on the charts was due to his concert/album scam..

once again, prince could reach a much larger audience if he signs a long-term contract that allows him to retain his masters.....the guy makes his money off his concerts anyways. so it would be a win win for him....studio pushes albums which which would earn him a larger base of concert goers....which in turn gives him more cash...

but then he might not wanna do that cause then he wouldnt have anyone or anything to bitch about.

1. Mariah= sympathy, hero, return to form

Mariah's return from an emotional breakdown appealed to the sympathy of the masses. People are pulling for her, me included. Everyone can relate to depression and like to see humans overcome. "We" want her to win again and triumph over her demons. I haven't bought a Mariah album in years but I will eventually get this one. I think it's heroic that she's overcome the weaker parts of herself.

Plus, she covering up a bit more. And her hit "We Belong Together" is a sweet love song that is a return to the themes she was once celebrated for.

*We'd do the same for Whitney if she could lay the crack pipe down.



2. Prince = bristling fake prick with lots of anger and condemnation to vent/unrelatable

I love Prince, so of course I bought Emancipation. But really, he was talking shit about everybody. The music industry, fans who didn't call the 1-800 number, old friends, etc. It rubbed me the wrong way and I'm sure it rubbed others the wrong way. There was just too much menace in his emancipation. I mean his treatment of fans, fan sites, and mags was still fresh in memory (contrast that to Mariah who loves her fans and is always doing kind things for them).

Plus, he did R&B which not what many consider his signature sound. Had he "returned to form" with one CD and lots of rock blends, Emancipation probably would have done better. While a lot many songs on Emancipation disks 2 and 3, Prince led off with some fucking poor singles, including remakes WTF? Mariah's first single "It's Like That" was shitty to me. But "We Belong Together" is what will make me buy the album.

Also, on her media circuit Mariah is being sweet, emotional, and relatable. Prince was always saying stuff like "it's all good," talking in riddles, covering things up, talking about having a woman inside, while Mayte smiled like a Stepford wife. He just wasn't accessbible -- not by name or otherwise. It felt like he was just putting on a show. Toting Larry around also made him unrelatable.

You can praise him for "doing what he wants" but really he fakes like all he wants is to make money. Comments like "I made all my money back so I'm happy" really turn me off as a fan. It aleniates me. It doesn't seem genuine. Or if it is genuine, then he's not the artist he boasts himself to be. I'm into him for his art. I'm not trying to help him get his money back. Shut up.
[Edited 6/5/05 13:58pm]

laurarichardson said:

Prince is still the boss and that's not what Prince wanted. It is widely reported that everyone told him it wasn't a good deal but he still wanted to sign it because he loved the sound of 100 million.

meltwithu said:

It is so hilarious to me how people define the merits or worth of a project based on the reaction of people or record sales..LOL! What about the QUALITY of a project..does that count anymore???
nevertheless....Mariah Carey always has been a joke IMO.....everybody touts her "We Belong Together" song as the second coming of Christ when this is the SAME type of song that Mariah has been writing and recording since 1990..(YAWN)

I think the reason why EMANCIPATION wasnt a bigger hit lies in Prince and his historic inability to properly pick singles. There were at least 4 hit songs on that CD that coulda propelled that album to much higher sales but Prince allowed the album to go the direction it went...who cares now..its all water under the bridge but to say that Mariah's CD "worked" simply because of sales and the fact that she went back to her boring formulaic self is hilarious, laughable and misguided IMO

reason why mariah sold more

is because her cunt is not as tight as it once was,

once she tasted black cock she wanted more after years of the Motolla cock,

i believe she currently downing black cock recently

dangerousman said:

Sounds accurate.

LoveAlive said:

Ah, speaking of Mariah being a joke, I've always thought it was funny how Mariah never seems to realize that she's not a 13-year-old schoolgirl any more. Look at her album titles: "Rainbow", "Butterfly", "Glitter", "Charmbracelet". Be darned if she doesn't name her next album "Unicorn" or something like that.

Prince's 'EMANCIPATION' was 36 songs long.

Mariah's was one easily accessible album with popular super-producers and a-typical sounds her mainstream audience want to hear.

Mariah listened to criticism. You can even tell that in her vocals. She has restrained her tone and range.

Prince never 'fell off' in the way Mariah did. Prince is more of a 'free spirit' and tends to release what he feels is creatively important. It was obvious that he did not expect 'The Rainbow Children' for example, to be a massive hit.

Mariah had a mental health problem. There is considerable stigma to overcome with that. She did not chose her 'route' it was dictated to her largely because of being so mentally ill.

Prince's music is much more challenging and varied than Mariah's. In addition, EMI went belly up while Prince was still in the process of promoting and releasing singles from the set. Had he have been granted the opportunity to release 'Face Down', 'Soul Sanctuary' and 'Sleep Around' as singles who knows?

I would arue strongly however, that he has returned commercially with 'Musicology' and achieved everything (and probably more) that he wanted to with it.

'Emancipation' may not have achieved it, but 'Musicology' has.

dangerousman said:

Your very intellectual.

meltwithu said:

funny how all of her albums are comeback albums now.