thedoorkeeper said:

Gee, thanks Dad.

if you gain something in value by listening to his music, you must give something back, otherwise its theft, it has to be an exchange of value for value.

youre taking his inspiration, effort, professional experience, ability to produce new product, marketing team, and whatever money hes laid out for the recording, posting it on the web, package designing, and business staff and using it and enjoying it... if you dont return something of value he cannot continue to sell product... a leaky boat eventually sinks!

regarding picking music, an artist may actually continually create new music and mix it in with the other works to make a stronger new product, this is his choice and you should pay for the product either way if youre going to use it!

understanding the actual situation for buying music online... one song each... unpackaged... digital... is X price... i dont see the big deal if one pays for one song and then packages it special which costs more money and ships it all the way from minneapolis to london... which costs money

its like buying a house... using a contractor to build it... you expect to pay the contractor for his work! right? then you get to use the product of his labor over and over and over again just by living in the house day after day... surely youd think that it shouldnt be a concern if "he made enough money already" you still pay him for his work

how would you like it if somebody had you do some work for him and then said "oh well, thankyou for your effort, thankyou for your time, i just dont have the money to pay you for it right now, maybe next week, or next moneth, or next year...or never... how would you feel, your effort, time, thoughts etc,...all value to you and to him with no exchange

BananaCologne said:

You're welcome.
Now go in the kitchen & get me a beer & don't let your mother catch you.

thedoorkeeper said:

BananaCologne said:

If I have to get out of this chair you are so gonna regret it.
Now get me that BEER dammit!

thedoorkeeper said:

Wait...I gotta stop this...its giving me weird flashbacks.
Wheres my blankie?
I NEED MY BLANKIE!!!

7e7e7 said:

You are having us all on...right? Surely you don't really think all his CDS are pressed in MPLS and shipped to London/Europe/wherever? ...Do you?

How would YOU like to pay your contractor nearly 400% more for your house to be built? Simple answer - you wouldn't. This is where your 'contractor' analogy/argument falls apart like a souffle in an oven I'm afraid.

Personally speaking, I could care less about the single either way - I just find your outlook....intruiging and somewhat naiive to say the least.

is what you get from the download store technically the same quality as what you would buy in the store? no its not... the quality has no compression, sonically its more pure... thus requiring more money, it comes in a package which requires more technical work...such as the printer and cd duplicator... the truth is that even if the file and artwork were emailed to england and assembled there, it costs more to manufacture than a single download and requires a larger initial outlay... plus the download requires YOU supply your own discs... AND COMPUTER, NOT CD PLAYER... all the outlay in costs are folded into YOU as hidden costs, of which you are so naive to forget about

you have to have your own cd burner... computer, electrical energy all paid for by you...and here we have to have a stoprage case to store it in... this all costs money and we are NOT talking about a fifty thousand pound house we are talking about a five dollar us cd with jacket and case and color insert... lets look at the cost... duplicate minimum one thousand cds... thousand bucks...this includes the duplication of the cd and the plastic case... the four colour process inserts at least 400 dollars plus cuts and inserting costs are adding maybe another fifty cents... then the retailer wants to recieve the package so transport costs and handling of product to put on sheleves...this costs time money and manpower... a bargain, then to get a completed process and delivered product... what you want is just free music ....

its hard to pay bills with appreciation

7e7e7 said:

7e7e7 said:

Nothing in your post speaks to Prince's declining output since he first began waging war on his fan base -- er, I mean, record labels. You're talking about an artist who proclaimed the very shift in technology you're debating as an opportunity to give more to his fans. The cost of releasing a single is secondary in BoySimon's post. At the heart of his post is what Prince's fan base can expect for market prices these days.

TheAstonishing said:

Glad you said it - I couldn't be bothered to waste my breath again

thedoorkeeper said:

AsianBomb777 said:

one track mind.

Universaluv said:

Same. I don't think I've ever bought a single, except for a vinyl copy of When Doves Cry I got at a garage sale.

i think only the more funkier songs like GETT OFF and NEW POWER GENERATION make good cd singles. i wouldn't wanna hear 6 version of TE AMO CORAZON.

oh, and Prince did give away music: CYBERSINGLE and WHEN EYE LAY MY HANDS ON U are examples.

setyrmindphree said:[quote]

BoySimon said:

I did not say Too Whom.... was kick ass, that was someone else! Re-read the thread.

Thanks Threadbare, my point exactly. Yes Prince did give away some songs and has, on other occasions, been estremely genorous with his music. This CD single, however, annoyed me. The song does not do much for me, my problem no one else's, and I was looking forward to further investing in Prince, but getting a two/three track CD single in return - hoping that other songs would not sound like Te Amo... nothing there, no purchase.

Let me see if I've got this straight...

Before 12/13, when everyone one was speculating on the new single and 3121 album and such, the #1 issue was whether or not it would be available as a download only and not in the stores. It was bitched and moaned about how unfair that is and how important it is to be able to go to the store and buy a CD.

It gets released and for those that just have to have something in their hands it's available at the store for 3.95 and now the issue is it costs too much because there aren't any extras, that were never promised in the first place.



I haven't brought CD single in about 5 years and when I did, they'd be from those marked down bins for a $1.00 and they'd have the one song and maybe an instrumental. So now-a-days, how much are CD singles in general (meaning not from Prince) and do they have videos, b-sides, and mixes?

Please, please, please. I think I've got people all hung up on the cost aspect rather than the product itself. The stuff about the cost was throwaway. Of course a CD single is going to cost money, £3.95 is about average. Enough of that.

The main gripe, if gripe is the word, is that Prince, one of the single most prolific music makers of the last twenty years, a man who made a stand against the industry for stiffling his product, who toured an unreleased album because he had so much music to get to his audience, releases a single, the first single of a new project, and there no b-side/extra tracks on the disk? I'm disappointed because I'm not hearing MORE new Prince music. As has been said on this thread before and on others, it's not like he's struggling for tunes. Ignore the cost, that was a flippant remark and overshadows the mere fact that Prince is launching a new album with a single track CD. A man who used to go to such lengths to include un-released stuff and a man who screwed up his 'popular' career for the right to release as much music as he liked..... ahhhh... there it is, "As much music as he liked" - Boysimon is an arse for suggesting Prince should be free to release his music and then criticises him for only releasing what he wants. Just look back over his career, one of the joys of a new Prince release was the b-side, the care he took to get music out. Also, if you consider sales - yep, let's go back to cost and moneymaking for a moment - in the UK wasn't the last top ten single release 'Gold'? Why, well, possibly because it was a top-ten song, or, possibly, because he was popular after the Brits, or, possibly, because it contained an unreleased b-side.

All releases after were put together with care - baring this one - and failed to chart because of lack of studio support.... I think there's an argument for that point of view.

BoySimon said:

Same here, only it's not the first time I've done that. That was in 2001 when I saw the Cd single for "U Make My Sun Shine/WWWBP?". I already had the free download, and figured, why bother purchasing what I got for free? But later I regretted it because Prince released so precious little on CD in 2000-2001. Those Hit N Run singles were very rare, so I figured anything Prince actually decides to release as a CD, I better scoop up. I scrambled and bought 2 copies of "UMMSS" from e-bay - the two track NPG cardboard sleeve and the one in a jewel case with bonus snippets from Wingspan Records.
Anyway, the same happened to me the other day with the CD of "Te Amo Corazon". I already have the song from NPGMC - I paid $.77 for it, so why am I going to shell out $3.99 for the same thing with no extras? But somehow, this thread has convinced me to go out an pick it up anyway. I might regret it later if I don't.

prettymansson said:

And on top of all that, its covered in federal warnings about copying it! Yeah right!

I dunno if thats on every CD in the states these days, but I thought it was a bit cheeky myself.

BoySimon said:

Yeah, I totally agree. What is the point of this single exactly? I always heard the point of singles was to advertise the album where the real money was made. By the time the album comes around, this song will be a memory to anyone but the hardcore fans, so it's not fullfilling that job.

If the point of it is a stop-gap until the album, well then you need something that generates a buzz and entertains your fan-base. And you don't do that by creating a single where even hard-core fans are thinking twice about whether it is value for money. It would have been so easy to release a CD with a few new songs or even just an instrumental version and fans would be going home happy with the CD in their pocket and generating a positive vibe about this product.

What Prince should do is release a series of singles backed with a vault track b-side. That would sell amongst fans! And he could still claim it was his new music they were digging!

He could and should have put a b-side on it. Everyone will wait for the album now because the song itself isnt 'that' great to stand on its own .

7e7e7 said:

Believe it or not, I am not interested in owning a CD with one song on it which I have already downloaded, a CD of which will never be played in my stereo when the album comes out because it will contain nothing else like a b-side or even a remix to warrent changing the CD in the player for one bloody song. It will just take up space on my shelf collecting dust for a picture which will be in the liner notes of the album anyway.

Its not worth buying a CD of one song which is an album version to boot, which is also the same song you can download for 77 cents from the club. Get real dude, it aint worth that. Save your money, time, space and energy for the album in April.

I did the same exact thing. I was in Best Buy last weekend and saw the single. I picked it up, looked on the back, and there was no B-Side. I put the damn thing right back where I found it.

vainandy said:

I bought it at Borders because I love the song. It wouldn't have killed him to throw an extra little surprise in there though.

My copy came in the mail today.
I haven't opened it - whats the rush?
Why wear it out 3 months before the cd is released.

thedoorkeeper said:

If you're not in a rush to listen to it then why buy it if it is the same version that's going to be on the album and there's no B-Side?

WELL! I was just thinking what 45's use 2 cost.....
Was that vynal? Well I dont think there will B 2 many of those released or maybee I could B wrong But it is not a lot of vynal singles of PRINCE where I go..... I shop a lotta used record shops.....