ugh - does Prince really not understand how to maximize first week sales? If he comes close to #1, but doesn't quite get there, he has nobody to blame but himself.

alandail said:

how many copies u figure he loses this week if its not available on Itunes?

this has got to be a mistake.Are you sure you are looking on the right page? It has to be on iTunes!

Yeah I hear you...He has a pretty good album on his hands...The purple midget needs to get his shit together when it comes to Itunes...WTF???

Unless iTunes simply hasn't been updated yet today, it's not up there.

Edit: I checked some of the new albums that are up and they show they were released today. Bizarre given how Black Sweat was #1 on iTunes for pretty much the whole first week it was up.
[Edited 3/21/06 5:49am]

iTunes is the only way I can get music without having to travel out of my area only to find out that the closest retailers are sold out of new releases so this sucks.

But I have noticed that alot of new stuff doesn't completely show up on iTunes until Tuesday nite and I always get my iTunes new music notice on Wednesday morning. Go figure.

JackieBlue said:

I am shocked it's not there. Why would they have the single for Black Sweat and NOT the full album? Somebody dropped the ball.

This is just inexplicable to me and frustrating as a fan...I am a Mac user which means I cannot purchase downloads from NPGMC conventionally. Why would any artist, especially one that is making such an obvious play for the top position on the chart intentionally withhold his album from iTunes???? I know the theory is to drive sales at NPGMC but those don't count at Soundscan (unless something has changed). I am so frustrated right now I am half tempted to skip the whole thing, he can keep his album and his purple ticket.

[Edited 3/21/06 6:13am]
[Edited 3/21/06 6:18am]

did one of you guys contact iTunes yet?

Good grief, quite tripping. You can always download it at the NPGMC, and no you don't HAVE to be a member to, either. Jeez!

SexyBeautifulOne said:

But is that going to help his sales? That my concern.

The days not over, Tuesday releases tend to show up throughout the day on iTMS, as others have pointed out. A little patience is what is called for at this point.

SexyBeautifulOne said:

I don't see it on NPGMC either, is it just me?

If 3121 is not on iTunes today, this is a monumental mistake.

I just don't get it!

Prince has a gift for screwing the very elemental things up:-x

amyhr said:

Thank you for that. As I was thinking, it was said earlier that the album would be released through iTunes for the Purple Ticket campaign.

From what I understand now, you can't download it there either. Perhaps after the whole Musicology slyness, the industry will only count actual store sales from Prince for now.

Yeah, I don't think Prince is to blame yet. We just have to wait and see. I've found this to be the case with other new releases as well. Now if it's not there by tomorrow then I'll be upset. It just sucks when it's officially Tuesday and you want to head off to work with new Prince but you have to wait.

According to their message board others have complained about the same thing as well as the late notices.

I don't like DLing from NPGMC. It's tedious and the volume always seems distinctively low.

SexyBeautifulOne said:

Nah, that's not it (LOL)...It's either one of two things: Either the purple imp just commited a royal fuck up OR the album will show up later today or Wednesday...I hope it's the latter...

Yeah I woke up this morning looking to download it so I could listen to it on the way to work??? Frustrating. I guess I will have to sit at work and keep checking iTunes all day. Don't have time to go out and get a hard copy!!

you guys are gonna have to go to the good ol' "wrecka stow" to buy it

if you're at work,just go during your lunch break.Forget iTunes!

Good Lord!

Give it a few hours!!! You freaks are ready to claim abject failure just because it's not up on iTunes yet?? I haven't rec'd my iTunes update for Tues releases yet, so maybe they're not all up!!!

If you hit the "new releases" link at the top right of the block that scrolls the new releases they have available, they're still only listing Mar 14th.

So calm down!!!

Alot of records labels - Universal inlcluded - are not releasing full albums on the release date or week as they fear it will affect albums sales. Alot of people may just buy the album ala cart - picking and choosing which singles to purchase instead of purchasing the entire album which will affect record sales.
i.e. Chris Brown had a hit on his hand with "Run It" and folks were downloading the single like crazy but his album sales suffered tremendously because alot of people were only interested in that particular song and not the rest of his album...

Just my 2 cents and observation..

PG87

Phillygirl1987 said:

Very astute...But the thing is that's just the "single"..."Run It" wasn't offered because, as you stated, Universal was spooked that it was going to affect the kid's album sales...However, we are not talking about a single here...we are talking about a complete album...ITunes has become almost as important as hard copy purchases...And 3121 not being available on Itunes (Maybe this will change; maybe we are jumping the gun...we will see...) is a little troubling...But I'm willing to give the purple midget the benefit of the doubt...I guess we have to wait and see...

DavidEye said:

Your probably right, I will probably have to scratch that itch:)

man this bites. all i wanted was to download 3121 and get on w/ my life.

Has it been added to iTunes already?

Mazerati said:

If its actually not there.. a lot.

jpav said:

I didn't see it listed.. but I also wasn't lookin for it.

if itunes is taking part in the contest (which it is) the record will be available there.

sallysassalot said:

Just checked.. not listed in the roster for this week.


maybe it will show up next week.. but its not there.