Not really. The stuff in the vault is already recorded. All he has to do is release it and he still could be free to do whatever "creative" project he's feeling these days.



Well, when friends of mine hear that I have a few unreleased Prince songs, they ask me to make them a CD. The first thing they holler is "don't put none of that shit on there after Prince went crazy". I usually hook them up with tracks like "Extraloveable" and "Heaven" and they are happy as hell.

sosgemini said:

More sanity. I love it! Yeah, I hate to concede anything to Warner Brothers. But if they wanted to prevent Prince from releasing an album every year, then I'm with them. That only saturates the market and diminishes his talent. But since it's his world, Prince can do what he wants...and will do exactly that.

when he wishes to do so. remember, the cat's pretty much on his own now, so he ain't gotta answer to jackshit. even if he were to go by some of the actual time constraints posed on here so far, some people still wouldn't be satisfied with it.

sitruk7 said:

Don't know. Seems that more and more artists are releasing new cd's at a faster rate. Some hip hop artists (kanye/missy) don't seem to have much of a problem selling new albums once a year. Additionally, more and more cd's have 20 songs and up. The new album with 6-12 songs is a memory.

Artists today who put out 20 song cd's that they can milk for a couple of years are in a different situation than artists were in the 80's with a 10 song album that they were expected to milk for a couple of years. So that's a very long way of saying, I don't know..maybe.

Hip-hop artists particularly those of the Kanye and Missy variety often sample previous hits anyway. Their songs are like junk food. Very disposable. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

brothaluv said:

or apples to apple-flavored pork rinds, or something like that. but you're right, newer hip-hop is absolutely disposable.

brothaluv said:

I like that!

From a business standpoint, he should be releasing albums no closer than two years apart. If there's a tour, I'd probably say three. You have to create anticipation for records and if he's constantly releasing, it's no longer an event and the big media support which is so crucial to shifting big units won't be there.

brothaluv said:

regardless of their nutritional content, from a business standpoint they seem to be doing well despite releasing albums frequently.

sitruk7 said:

Yes, WB was right. If I was a record label manager, every month would be too much. No matter how much I love Prince's music, I would have to protect the interests of the company. Of course, I would also protect Prince's music. Since, I would be making an investment, I'd have to keep track of how many copies sell and that he's gettting enough promotion.

Price and commercial appeal!! Hmm..Personally, if Prince were to release more music these days at a much higher price, say $25-50 per cd thru NPGMC, it would be interesting how many fans would be weeded out.

$ is God in USA...but $ no doubt can be used to keep some things more underground as commercial as one became. If he was to always just give it away and the whole coolness factor factors in (once its popular its dead), that may not be good always.

The first few years of the NPGMC, IMHO some fans really loved/believed in the whole exclusiveness to the club, and it did cost.

As far as single cd releases, it would be interesting how that would work. No doubt some would pay $50 for a cd or even higher. This could create a demand, as in people want what they can't get, and he could throw a $12 commercial cd out every couple years.

Just a thought..

Double-Disc album every year. Then we can make a great single CD from that.

Once a year

1 to 2 albums a year

Of course, if it depended on me, I would like an album per week, BUT:

I wish he only released albums without fillers....albums that you see that he did his best.