no other record company has as much incentive to make sure Prince releases are sucessful since it would drive sales of the catalog. All the one off deals are bad deals. Maybe they worked in the short term with a decent advance to P, but he would have made more by staying at WB

amen...

what and stay with those greedy bastards - f WB'ers!

He is much better off personally and financially since splitting with them

emesem said:

No, he wouldn't have.

emesem said:

He'd also have his masters by now.

working with the labels definitely feels like a slap in the face to his original slave vision.

u2prnce said:

What all his old hits, are his 100%?????

the dude's a gemini..he needs the authoritive figure to rebel against..

as is, the guy just seems to float around nowadays.....the albums, which range fro drek (rave) to decent (3121) are missing a certain energy that comes when a gemini wants to stick a finger to the man.

u2prnce said:

And you know this because....???

skywalker said:

all true..but the art has been compromised...

WB now is a money making conglomerate that guarantees, their artist to sell
if im not mistaken they are under new ownership.
back in the 70's prince signed a golden parachute deal with warner unbeknowst to him.
Back then standard artist made approx one doller per album.
people assume prince made at least 2 to 3 dollers,
because he produuced himself
out of that peice he has to give NPG wages (if they are featured on the album)
happened with the symbol album...the income was so low he got the idea
to release npg tracks off record

When for the Gold Xperience, (which failed to sell well because of what WB called market saturation)
prince included the npg in some tracks but marjority of it did it himself
and pocketed most of the money.
still making 2 to 3 dollers an album

emancipation went certifiied platnum and probably was the most money he ever made
trying to capitalize the multi disc success of emancipation
Crystal ball was created
but i digress

Now prince has found a loophole
Having a major label distribute the album but never signing
the label takes a small piece of the pie, but prince still keeps making majority of the money.
he can make millions of dollars without ever going platinum...

for musicology album and tour his net earnings where approximately 56.5 million
no mainstream artist make that much....
[Edited 4/11/06 15:44pm]

emesem said:

But Warners would still own his songs as they do b4 he left them.Thats y he left them was it not?4 complete ownership of all of his master recordings??The money issue was not the reason 4 him demanding 2 sever everything with Warners.

kape said:

Prince could've re-signed with Warners and gotten control of his masters in exchange for less money in other parts of the contract. He didn't want to do that, so he left.

skywalker said:

Me too. In the long run I think it was a good decision financially, personally, and creatively. I doubt we could've gotten TRC or even Cnote under WB contract.

And being more independent allows him to keep the lions share of the earnings from the music HE created.

During the latter years with WB he seemed to alternate between anger and depression many times. That ain't good for anybody.

He's had some ups and downs, partly due to some of his choices, but also due to the nature of a music industry that favors the bottom line over quality art.

Props to him for doing his own thing on his own terms. I think he's at peace with his decision and I am too.

leave,stay,stay,go! what would u do? follow the yellow brick road!

babynoz said:

yeah, instead we got Exodus, NPG, MPLS, Sheila E and a host of other side albums...

EmbattledWarrior said:

Very good post - well written.

Prince is an artist that was forced to become a businessman. But one thing is for sure: He is a quick study. As fans and critics (I fall into the former more so than the latter), I would be willing to assume that he enjoys his artistic freedom to create what he wants. Music is like any other business - you have to have a target audience. Well, 200 - 300 thousand hardcore fans can keep you fed quite nice over the Internet - trust me: I have a couple of Internet businesses and they pay well when they are worked properly. So if you are a LEGEND (which Prince is) with no middleman machine shaving your income off the top to pay for adminstration/overhead (well by the way), who wouldn't like that?! Now, in my personal opinion, Prince has reached a middle ground with the record industry. He has not sold out (again my opinion) because the terms are so attractive and in his favor that a flop does not equate to a financial set back for him and his upside is huge - the marketing and distribution arm of a major with the independence and financial structure of a indie. Prince has it figured out. When he feels "commercial" or needs to feel relevant he partners. When he wants to make music for his hardcore fans - he releases almost exclusively through his website. In any case: He wins if you ask me. The man has fans for life rather or not he produces another hit or not and his mark is made - it's all enjoyment and fun from here on out:) Some journeys (most probably), I will ride with him. On some journeys - I will wait for the next ride. In any case, I will listen to the impressive catalog for as long as I can!

If Prince had stayed with Warner Bros. there's a good chance he could have ended up like Whitney or MJ. I don't see where their major labels helped with their personal lives or peace of mind. It was all about the dollars and screw the artist.
I think that for Prince's personal life, leaving WB was the best thing he could have done. Let's face it folks, he doesn't live his life for us. When he's on tour, how long is he actually on stage? The rest of the time he has to live with himself. Just because he doesn't have the hits anymore is no reason to stay with a corporation and be miserable.
Prince made the right decision for Prince. And for a guy who's been doing this for almost 30 years, I'd say he's doing a pretty damn good job.

Who gives a S**T! I don't feel any different listening to a WB album or another label. As long as his music gets out that's all that matters to me.

after all that preaching in the '90s about "free the music" then why don't he, especially now that he has his own tech-hip music site? i think he's afraid of "giving" us a song that he could've put on an album, released to radio, and made a million dollars with -- why else is he holding back?

"from the abundance of the vault the music leaks" (ShoTheLove)

EmbattledWarrior said:

Are you really blaming the commercial shortcomings of Gold Experience on Warners and market saturation?? Maybe, just maybe it was because he alienated 99% of the planet by acting like a pathetic, prissy little bitch and walking around everywhere for a year with "slave' scralled across his sad looking mug?? Yeah, maybe that appalling lack of any grasp on reality is what cost him all shreds of credibility.... ?

KrystleEyes said:

NEWSFLASH----- Prince had acted like a "prissy little bitch" long before he scrawled slave on his face. Appearing nude on the cover Lovesexy, movies like Graffiti Bridge, and changing his name to a symbol alienated more people than writing slave on his face. That trick was just the icing on the cake to many.

u2prnce said:

I wonder about this sometimes.If he had stayed with Warners and never went "to war" with them,perhaps he would have been in a better position to negotiate with them to get his masters back? I guess we may never know.

DavidEye said:

doesnt madge now own her masters? u2 re-negotiated and now own their masters..and i believe they did it after prince's slave fit...

and thats the deal with me...prince comes up with some awesome ideas..but his execution always sucks..he is a horrible businessman...

sosgemini said:

I've read that U2 also get $7 per album. But they have one of the best managers in the business--Paul McGuinness--and split all money evenly between the four members and him.

You guys seem to more worried about Prince's career than he is. "It" is HIS journey. We are just along for the ride.

emesem said:

-----
You need to take a good look at what WB is doing sales wise these days. Not so good. (LOL) In fact the whole industry is down sales wise. So P would have been dropped from WB a long time ago if had not left.

sosgemini said:

-----
That is your opinion.

sosgemini said:

-----
Sorry but Bono already said they got the idea from Prince. P will not get his masters because he rocked the boat in the first place and Maddonna's are not going to be worth anything to anyone but her (LOL)