I've heard that as of November of this year, Planet Earth has only sold about 298,000 copies in America, with almost no promotion, with the exception of the Verizon Wireless ad for 'Guitar'. It has sold pretty less than 3121 and Musicology combined. This is a disappointment considering the Future Baby Mama was making much noise of quiet storm radio. What do you all think about this?

A flop? That's not accurate at all. It's exactly what anyone would logically expect it to be when the artist who made it did almost zero promotion. It's an obscure album that will be totally forgotten by the time of his next release.

Musicology and 3121 are different. Musicology had the hype of the Grammys that started the media campaign of this being Prince's "remergence", so to speak. 3121 had the advantage of capitalizing off Prince's fantastic Musicology tour.

Those albums both had a video released. Planet Earth had a small snippet of one song played in a phone commercial.

And hey, let's not forget Prince's pathetic little scam with the CD give-aways being counted as sales.
[Edited 11/3/07 0:07am]

silverchild said:

If I buy a CD, receive a free copy in a newspaper or at a concert, or download music off the internet, I listen to it and, if I like it, I listen to it again. I have little to no interest whether it is played repeatedly on the radio, purchased by tens, hundreds, thousands or millions of other people, or whether it is considered 'a flop or not'.
.

No it's not a flop, he's still got plenty of time to work with that, I like it!

silverchild said:

you cant base the success or failure of this album by the sales... you're forgetting about all the albums that were free.. and you even had ppl getting extra copies to give to their friends.. could have been some kicked over here to us Americans too

I really do NOT give a fuck about sales.
I think the album sucks balls.

in the uk, planet earth absolutely served it's purpose.
it showcased the different styles of music prince can dish up.
it promoted his london tour which was successful, i believe, beyond even his wildest dreams - oh yes!

planet earth was the catalyst 4 the reclaimation of old fans & gave new fans something 2 think about.
mission accomplished!

lottielooloo1968 said:

absolutely...well said.
every time i put the album on (which i do really like) it reminds me of seeing him for the first time ever at the 02 arena...in my view, and the view of many people who attended, even those who arent big fans who still went and had a blast, it did its job. at the end of the day, forget about the cd alone, prince himself was one of the most talked about artists of the year over here in the uk due to this tour, the cd was just one phase of the prince experience.

Not a flop.I feel like I bought enough copies 2 c 2 that not happening.

lottielooloo1968 said:

I agree.
And I still like PE. It has more staying power for me than Musicology and 3121. Seems to have a lot of love/hate around here. Whatever. I like the "oddness" of the album. It's kinda quirky overall and I dig that. Though I can see why the "funk purists" don't like it. Again, whatever. I love to see a "special edition" with more tracks and a DVD with videos/live TV performances etc. But we know that will never happen.

Omg... when is it going to end?!!

I've seen like a zillion threads like this already

I'm getting so sick of this. Just because there's been a lot of people here who don't like it doesn't mean that it's a flop.

And since when does Prince really care how many copies are sold or where it is in the charts (if at all)? "I just write the music"... remember?

How do I know that it's not the same people posting this over and over again?

As of now, this is the last thread on this matter that I'm going to reply to. One can get sick hearing the same thing repeated over and over... but when it's an album that I and care about, there's only so much a person can take.

No, of course it's not a flop. The entire album is a gem and each song flows well into the next. I've enjoyed it every single time I've listened to it and some of the songs are just beautiful, truly inspired.

I don't care about the charts either... haha, let alone what the opposition thinks. If I enjoy something, that's all that really matters.

Just please, make it stop

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Do you not like mainly due to the almost complete lack of funk or just in general.

I think it's Great.

thedoveoflove said:

I wasn't really expecting Prince to come up with anything too funky so that's not the real issue here. The stuff is just uninspired pop-lite with dreadful lyrics to boot.

Some people are so musically narrow minded that if the music ain't "funk" it automatically "sucks balls".

Of course some of these people also get bored listening to guitar playing.

I wonder who I could be referring to.

langebleu said:

I love langebleu!

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Prince cares quite a bit. When 3121 was the #1 album for the first week, Prince plastered that fact all over his website.

I most certainly don't think so! Prince put himself once more on the world map this year - first with the Super Bowl halftime Concert, then the concerts in Las Vegas, followed by the marketing iniative (and risks) he took with a free copy of the cd with the newspaper and then with the concerts in London (4 million copies), which got world-wide attention as well and might lead to a break-through in a new way of managing artists (if still managed at all).

Remember:there's quantity (selling shit records) and quality - maybe selling less but selling/giving to those who know how to appreciate it.

You go Prince!

Absolutely NOT a flop. It did exactly as it was intended 2 do.

Graycap23 said:

And what was that? Make zero impact on the world and even his fan base, save for the helpless disciples? Or did it intend "2" remind the world at large how incredibly blase' his lyric writing and pop sensibilties have become?

As someone else said, sales figures be damned, it's the music on the album that's an absolute flop.

Wall said:

lol.....one man's trash is another man's GOLD.

it made me wanna dance...

Its a very good album , musically its no flop . It wasnt promoted so its sales
suffered , but it was a part of a very financially succesful UK project for Prince , I daresay he was happy enough with the money .
[Edited 11/3/07 19:14pm]

At the end of the day all that should really matter is what Prince himself thinks of his work. I personally love it and what his other fans, critics, or sales figures suggest has no influence on me.

I still don't understand why Prince didnt have that album ready to release around the Super Bowl. He could have included Best oF U/Watchtower and it would have went thru the roof.....or performed Guitar during the show.

Seems like the timing would have been perfect!!!

silverchild said:

I dont think the album is a flop. When I listen to the album in its entirety I feel Prince has reached a level of consciousness disguished by a feeling of connectedness rather than separateness. I get the feeling he's aligned with every individual, the entire planet and God/Jehova.Maybe by "industry" standards its considered a flop but artistically speaking it far exceeds alot of the crap I hear on the radio and see promoted on television
[Edited 11/15/07 19:02pm]

WisdomNLove said:

I do agree with u there! I will also like to add that I think it is so unfair that most people have bashed this album since its release. I think PE is a solid album...
[Edited 11/3/07 20:34pm]

people continue to crack me up

For those of us who have been around since the beginning know this CD aint no flop

Its a very solid CD full of some great songs and some ok songs and alot of growers

in the catalogue of Prince over time this CD will be hailed as a very good CD that was overlooked cause the world was instead listening to crappy hip-hop shite

artistically? yes...

commercially? no...

2020 said:

That, or better albums like In Rainbows.

PurpleKnight said:

or Funk This

or The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams...

or Songs of Mass Destruction...

or The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3