Since its getting no airplay and once again no love from Top40 Radio (Oh and a bug F U 2 fuckin' Clear Channel and friends once again!)

However good news on FBM - it has some serious legs!

Happy 4 FBM but bummed for Guitar - I still think its cool...

2020 said:

NEWSFLASH: pop radio and the record industry are both dead. Online music is the present and the future. Who cares how well Prince songs do on charts? It hasn't mattered for at least 14 years and it doesn't matter now...

skywalker said:

you're fooling yourself if you think charting doesn't matter to Prince.

Both Songs are not music for the masses. If Prince wants a Chart Song again, he has to made songs that sound more contemporary. I don't know if this is, what the .org community wants.

dumbass said:

If charting matters to Prince why is he giving away a CD to all concert goers here and also giving it away to a couple of million Mail on Sunday readers? Not one of those CD's will count for a chart place, so I think it's safe to say that he's not too bothered by the charts.

Who listens to the radio anymore, Guitar isn't even really out yet

wlcm2thdwn said:

Radio is still VERY important for music marketing. First, music television is dead, Second, radio stations fill most of their programs with music. Third, radio stations have a solid listeners base.

you guys have to know you're playing to the man, right?

The problem is not with the music. The problem is with the segregated radio formatting in the USA right now. Why is FBM a hit and Guitar not ?

In 1993 ,at the beginning of Prince's contractual problems with Warner Bros, Prince was placed in WB's "Black/Urban" music division. This was the turning point to Prince's career and is still having ramifications today. Prince was highly upset with this because he had just had a top 5 hit with 7. This would cut Prince's record sales by more than half because 70-80 of Prince's fans were White.

This trend has continued and is a self fullfilling prophacy because in the last 14 years Prince has continued to have hits in the Urban category while being forgotten by the mainstream White/Rock/Pop markets. Now when Prince releases a single or album the record company will pull out the R&B and market it to the Urban stations while leaving his rock/pop songs to rot. Prince's albums have at least 2 songs that are hits on pop radio but that side of his music has been neglected for so long that many younger fans don't know who he is.

muleFunk said:

Prince didn't had single hits the last decade, because he decided to make music that is not mass-compatible (trc) and has not written a hit-single. His sound is not contemporary enough. (This not a critic, just my obersvation
)
[Edited 6/29/07 7:22am]

tainacher said:

Outside of TRC, he's tried desperately to get a hit single. Rave, Musicology and 3121 were all supposed to be his retun to form, comeback albums, etc. And Guitar was brought to the public eye through a phone commerical -- obviously he was shooting for mass exposure there in hopes of the song catching on, which of course, like all his attempts since the early 90's failed miserably.

I actually heard it on the radio in NYC the other day...don't recall them playing anything by him other than Call My Name over the past decade or so.

dumbass said:

Lol.....not really.

skywalker said:

were you around during the Rave 'you promised me a hit Clive' era?.

I don't understand why people still listen to radio. I stopped so many years ago that I honestly don't remember when I last listened to the radio on a regular basis. I think it was in like '91 or something. Why listen to radio when you can listen to whatever you want on cd's and now with mp3 players it's even easier.

Plus, while I have no idea whether or not "Guitar" gets played on the radio, I've seen it plenty of times on tv in the verizon commercial, isn't that just as good IF NOT BETTER than radio play? With youtube, internet, itunes, myspace, concerts that get publicity, I just think radio play is becoming less and less important, just like record stores.

People regardless to what you believe you will not have a "hit" unless the record company is marketing(payola) your record. Each of those records you have mentioned had hit records on them.
If Prince was not making records that were not "contemporary enough"then explain his sucess on Urban radio ?

Call My Name,BL&B,Musicology,Black Sweat, were "hits" on Urban formats.Even so called "lesser" songs like The One and The Greatest Romance That's Ever Been Sold were played extensively on Urban radio.

Why do you never hear Prince's real hits like Let's Go Crazy,U Got The Look, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man,Purple Rain,etc. played on rock oldies stations? They are rock in nature .They play Fame by Bowie which is not a "rock" song per se. Hell Fame was the first song by a White artist to be played on Soul Train. Bowie was a powerful artist like Prince but Prince can't crossover ???

Bullshit !

emilio319 said:

Radio is still the most popular means of listening to music. Millions of people still don't know what a mp3 is.

Wall said:

I agree. Thats what I wanted to say. The material is not "mass-compatible" enough.

wlcm2thdwn said:

I never listen to the radio....except once in awhile our oldies stations, plays old school funk ...etc...and Prince too!!!!

F*ck the radio

Oh, I am sure it matters to Prince. Ego and all that. It just doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things concerning his career. He's in a stage of his career now in which is is basically untouchable. He doesn't need that "flavor of the moment" type of hot 100 success. His last USA tour was the most successful of that year--he just rocked the USA's biggest TV spectacle, etc.

Bottom line: Prince hasn't had a big hit since 1994 and his career is flying high.
[Edited 6/29/07 8:24am]

I'd like to see your numbers to support that.
[Edited 6/29/07 8:25am]

skywalker said:

agree skywalker

skywalker said:

You can't put "numbers" on that but factually speaking Prince's original fan base should be about 35-50 and most older people don't have computers.Hell, from a money standpoint many poorer people don't have computers so they are going to get their music from the radio and/or CDs.

muleFunk said:

I would venture to guess that most people 35-50 have a computer or access to a computer. Whether or not they use it for music, I don't know. But, I don't think lack of computer ownership is the reason that the 35-50 demographic listens to the radio. They were grew up with the radio. Old habits die hard.

You are completely ignorant if you think that most 35-50 year olds don't have computers. Also, I am in my 20's and have been a Prince fan since I was 10.

Lastly, you are incredibly inaccurate with your statement "poorer people don't have computers" so they get music from the radio or Cd's. If a person has enough money to have a radio/stereo or buy CD's you can bet they own a computer to download music for free. I am a teacher at a school that serves at risk and low income population. All of my students/kids have computers and better cell phones than me. Thanks for generalizing though....



Most Americans own a computer


http://www.informationwee...10906S0010
http://wiki.answers.com/Q...a_computer
http://www.census.gov/pop...puter.html


[Edited 6/29/07 9:05am]

skywalker said:

I would hate to be a student in your class for you to be calling people "ignorant".

I am a Prince fan who is 37 and been one every since 1999.Most people where I live in that age bracket do not own computers.

I am a teacher in school where most students in the lower income brackets do not have computers.ALL of your kids have computers ???
I am glad to see that where you live the poor people are better off than they are here in Tennessee.

I don't really listen to the radio unless I'm in the car...And I'm never realyl in the car considering I don't have a license yet...

more importantly, where is the full version of the video?

Hey, this is an internet fan site, not a classroom. You claiming that "most 35 to 50 year olds don't own computers" is ignorant. When one of my students makes an ignorant statement I call them on it- same as I did with you.

Just because you don't know anyone your age who owns a computer doesn't make your statement true. Look at the stats I sent you. If 60%+ of people in this country own a computer--you can bet damn sure than many of them are between 35-50 years old. Many people in the business world are between 35-50. They OWN computers.


Again, that's "people you know" not the rest of the world.


I live and teach in Minneapolis. Maybe that's the difference. The point is: If people do not have the means to get songs for free off of the internet--they most likely do not have the means to buy the CD's.

skywalker said:

Look I don't start shit but DAMN .
Disagree ... fine .
But to call me ignorant is bullshit.

Read your post to me and then apply it to you.The same applies to U . Do you know everyone or are you responding to the "people you know"?

What you have responded to me with is 180 degrees from what the original post was about to begin with. I was in agreement to what your original post with a slight disagreement.Then you are calling me ignorant ?
WTF are you?

Get off the force for moment and chill.

Consider yourself "checked".