prince isnt getting his music to the casual music listener because he isnt getting his music on the radio for whatever reason it is...u could argue he isnt getting the promotion or he isnt writing the catchy melodies he used to knock off or whatever....the fact remains that prince hasnt had a big radio hit in this country (the uk) since 'gold' reached number 2 on the airplay chart and hasnt had a few hits off one album since diamonds and pearls!!....thats why his albums are dropping off the charts so quickly...good sales for the first week or two as the hardcore fans buy it then nothing because there is nothing 2 keep the album selling...people aint buying it because they aint hearing any of it!!

I don't know. I've got the idea that he's (still) blacklisted by a lot of
stations. for whatever reason that might be.

On the other hand, a lot of reasonably 'big' artists don't get played on
the radio that often either. Think Bjork, Beck, Tori Amos, Nick Cave and
even Radiohead.

All have a considerate following, and are steady record sellers, with an
average per album that exceeds Prince. Yet they don't get played on the
radiostations that much either.

Seems like the only thing radiostations really invest time in is selling
product by whatever is new and hip and nicely formatted, no matter how
fake or horrible it is. Thus pushing real talent to the backrow.

So if they don't play those people, why would they play Prince, who had
his last real hit even before these people emerged on the scene. lol.

I once remember while flipping channels I came across this bit on that documentary on Jessica Simpson, where she had a new single out and was at some big radio company trying to get her song added to the playlist rotation. The exec had a table full of the new releases and he had to pick, like 10, out of them all. Of course, because Jessica was there with a film crew hers got added over a lot of other I expect better tracks, but it just showed how the system worked and how important personnal PR with the radios is.

There are certain artists, like the ones that IstenSzek mentioned, who are seen as 'album' artists and continue to sell albums even if they are rarely played on radio or seen on tv. Prince seems to have fallen into the gap between being a 'hit single' artist and being an album artist. Still, I'm surprised with the positive reviews for 3121, the excellent Brits performance, and just sheer word of mouth, that 3121 didn't end up being a relatively big seller in the UK for Prince.

IstenSzek said:

Where, exactly, do you live where Beck, Tori, and Radiohead don't get great radio spins? ESPECIALLY Radiohead who has been riding a creative high for the past several years and Beck whose "Hell Yes" and "E Pro" were huge hits?

Prince isn't blacklisted anywhere. Prince just ain't speakin' to the radio public anymore. He used to, but now his message isn't the right one.

3121 has potential! I can definitely see "Lolita" or even "Fury" being played on the radio with single edits, but... Why bother? There's no promotion going on for it right now so what is the benefit of programming his songs?

Every time Prince releases an album, there's a bunch of hype and talk about it, but he never does shit FOR the release! In recent years, Prince has only given good promotion to Emancipation, Rave, and Musicology. The rest of the albums received little to no promotion and, hence, airplay.

WHat is the point of this thread? It's like saying the sky is blue or Prince.org is purple or Zelaria is crazy for Prince.

Radio Sucks.

Prince got tons of radio airplay in my area for "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" and I still hear that song on the radio from time to time. "Eye Hate U" is another one that got regular airplay while it was popular. I heard "Betcha By Golly Wow" once on "Smash It Or Trash It" and the little thugs trashed it. I also remember hearing "Extraordinary" and "She Loves Me 4 Me" a very few times on the radio. "Call My Name" got regular airplay while it was popular.

The thing is, if a song ain't some hip hop bullshit that never gets past midtempo, the radio isn't going to play it. They will give the ballads a shot though. Don't blame Prince though, he still throws down hard when he wants to. It's today's radio listeners that couldn't jam if their lives depended it because all they have grown up with is slow to midtempo shit. Prince doesn't fit their format so if radio and it's listeners don't want to play him....hey, fuck 'em.

vainandy said:

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Co-Sign. RnB radio played "Call My Name" for a year. Mainly because it was a ballad. If it ait rap or ballad it is not getting played on the radio. 3121 is kind of a jam cd. I love it but, I don't expect radio to play it.

Exactly. Before rap and hip hop took over radio, "Lolita" is the type of song that would have gotten major airplay. You couldn't pay their asses to play it nowadays.

vainandy said:

Well said !

The whole music biz is fucked up right now .You are getting a full dose of bullshit rappers talking silly shit instead.

When he said that shit in 1987 how true he was.