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Heads may roll at Sony BMG, which lost Prince's rights to Universal. The teeniest funketeer's latest album, '3121,' is No. 1.

Insiders say there could be recriminations at Columbia Records over Prince's album "3121," whose distribution rights the label lost to Universal, now that it has topped the Billboard charts.

One source says fingers are pointing at Sony BMG (Columbia's parent) President and COO Michelle Anthony, who is said to have had a falling out with the hip-high hitmaker after the company distributed his last album, "Musicology."

The "Purple Rain" singer sells his music through his own label, NPG Music Club, but uses larger industry players for distribution. After "Musicology" hit No. 3 on the charts, it was widely expected that Columbia would be involved with his next project.

"There are some very unhappy suits at Sony," says a source.

This is not the first fight Prince has had with a label.

Oh please...Prince goes to war with all of the major labels.Six months from now,he'll be at odds with Universal too

"Teeniest funketeer?" "Hip-high hitmaker?"

Why does every journalist have to find some clever way to point out that Prince is short?

lol. prince ends up in conflict with all the companies he works with.

makes you wonder why he stayed with WB so long in the first place

i was a bit surprised about the new album not being on Sony either,
since everything seemed to be handled pretty well with Musicology.

what surprises me most is no matter what his reputation is, he still
finds labels at the drop of a hat that are willing to put out his cd
eventho there have been reports of declining sails forever now.

seems that the labels still make enough money off him even through
this kind of deal where he owns the material and they only do the
distribution and promotion.

TheBigBang said:

they keep spilling coffee on the oft-xeroxed memos.

TheBigBang said:

You really call that "clever"?

TheBigBang said:

CRUTICS SUCK,THE ONLY THING THEY HAVE ON HIM IS HIS SIZE SO.....AS THEY SAY IN PIRATE CIRCLES "FARK 'EM ALL DAC

"hip-hop hit-maker".....


I heard it fucking all now.

NouveauDance said:

hip-high hitmaker---the usual dig at his small stature
[Edited 4/3/06 9:31am]
[Edited 4/3/06 10:04am]

PurpleCharm said:

Oh yeah - I must learn to read more carefully!

Well, it's always something, if he was fat, it would be about that, or if he wore glasses, or whatever.

let the legal fights begin,again why does this always happen 2 him? why?

rbrpm said:

Nothing has happened to him.

He shopped around for a one DVD deal and secured distribution for 'Prince Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas' with Universal.

He shopped around for a one album deal and secured distribution of 'Musicology' with Sony.

He shopped around for a one album deal and secured distribution of '3121' with Universal.

He'll shop around again for the next deal too, I'm sure.

.

DavidEye said:

Yep. Prince ain't gonna settle down with no studio. He fought hard for his independence and he's not about to hand over his freedom.

padawan said:

sho' ain't.

DavidEye said:

TheBigBang said:

YEAH!! I'm sick of it too!

langebleu said:

Thanks. I thought I was reading the original post wrong. I don't blame him. Hell if I was shopping and saw something I wanted but decided to look around some more for a better deal and found it I'd be a fool not to take it.

NouveauDance said:

I didnt see the 'hip-high hitmaker' bit either. The journalist who wrote this is such an ARSE. His name is Ben Widdicombe

I think it is pretty safe to assume that Universal pulled out all the stops to win the deal for 3121. They already handle Prince's publishing rights and pushing 3121 to be a major success provided them with the potential added bonus of renewed interest in Prince's back catalogue (and subsequently more money for them from increased sales and airplay).

I actually hope this deal works out well for both parties and that they agree to work together again for Prince's next release (again as a one-off deal) as that might give Prince a bit of stability and provides Universal with added incentives to further develop the relationship.

TheBigBang said:

Because it is accepted to discriminate against short men (unfortunately). Prince is proof you can be a musical genius and the first thing people say about you is how short you are. It's pathetic, really. I'd love to see the short references replaced with "black" or "fat" when talking about a person. How about "gay?"

TheBigBang said:

I know. It's so belittling.

And small-minded.

Critics just like to cut Prince down to size cuz they're short on talent.

But that's okay cuz Prince's talent dwarfs all theirs in comparison.