"Today, it's not realistic to expect to put out new music and profit from it. There's no point in trying to put new music out there and keep it from being (exploited)," he says.

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"Today, it's not realistic to expect to put out new music and profit from it. There's no point in trying to put new music out there and keep it from being (exploited)," he says.

And he now has disdain for the way the Internet has, in his view, subverted artists' rights.

"The powers that be are abusing the copyright infringement," he says. "You can't sample Steven Spielberg; you don't see his stuff up there, just old tapes of the Ohio Players, who can't afford to defend themselves."

"

As an example, he points to the 21-night run in London: "I couldn't have sold out 21 nights in London in the peak of my career; it would have been an impossibility," he says.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...WHlZCVEhkF

Prince Continues to Chart His Own Course
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody

NEW YORK – At a celebration/concert for Prince's new book, late night had turned into early morning, the bar was closing and party organizers were deciding what decorations to pack up first.

But Prince was still on stage — and still captivating the exclusive group of about 200 fans who had gathered in an intimate penthouse loft to hear him perform.

Though he had taken about a two-hour break between sets, Prince was entering hour four in what would become a nearly five-hour musical extravaganza that not only included his own seminal hits like "Purple Rain" and "Little Red Corvette," but also interpretations of music from Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and even Janet Jackson and India.Arie for good measure. (Fans paid $1,000 for the first jam session and $300 for the second: Proceeds went to charity.)

It's this kind of magic that Prince tried to capture with "21 Nights," a glossy coffee-table book published by Simon & Schuster that documents the glamorous rocker during his record-breaking, 21-night run at London's 02 Arena last year. The book not only steals glimpses of his onstage performances, but also behind-the-scenes moments of the star and his band during the unprecedented concert stint.

"No one had ever sold out 21 nights in a row," said photographer Randee St. Nicholas. "So I thought, 'We should do a book surrounding this point in his life, because this is a great point in his life.'"

While his three-decades-long career has been meticulously chronicled, Prince is quick to point out, "Not by me — never by me. That's someone else who's on the outside looking in." This time, it's Prince — with St. Nicholas — telling the story, through his own frame of reference.

"This was a landmark event," says Prince, sitting on the rooftop with the Manhattan skyline as his backdrop during a break from rehearsals before the evening's musical marathon. "No one believed that it would do what it did. ... Everyone tried to talk me out of it."

Of course, Prince is used to proving skeptics wrong. These days, he's regarded as a pioneer for artists' rights and known for releasing music over the Internet. But when he left his longtime label Warner Bros. nearly two decades ago after a protracted battle over his creative path, and abandoned major record labels to release music on his own, he left everyone — from fans to musician insiders — wondering if he had lost his mind.

In recent years, he has re-linked with major record labels like Sony and Universal Music Group to release his albums, but isn't sure any record is worth putting out in this era of piracy and illegal downloads. Though the book includes a CD, it contains no new songs, just classic hits and other songs from one of his signature jam sessions.

"Today, it's not realistic to expect to put out new music and profit from it. There's no point in trying to put new music out there and keep it from being (exploited)," he says.

And he now has disdain for the way the Internet has, in his view, subverted artists' rights.

"The powers that be are abusing the copyright infringement," he says. "You can't sample Steven Spielberg; you don't see his stuff up there, just old tapes of the Ohio Players, who can't afford to defend themselves."

But while Prince exudes hints of frustration, he's hardly bitter: These days, serenity and good-natured fun seem to be his mantra.

Though he professes shyness, the diminutive artist gives a warm hug as a welcome, and during his show — which had Spike Lee, Anderson Cooper and Dave Chappelle in the audience — he had fans laughing as he cracked jokes throughout (among his more memorable was referring to himself as Rihanna, an allusion to Internet gossip that the statuesque singer had been mistaken for Prince).

St. Nicholas, a longtime friend, says Prince's conversion to the Jehovah's Witness faith several years ago has helped him evolve into a more spiritual person — and a more open one, in comparison with his reputation as a moody recluse. But Prince's public image has never been the real Prince that friends see behind closed doors, she adds.

"He's shy. But he doesn't necessarily hide or shield himself and attempt this mysterious persona that he has," she says of the twice-divorced star.

"You know children? You never know what they are going to do one minute to the next? ... That's very much how he is," she explains. "In a way it's very open, because if you can just hang in that moment with him, and just go for it — you're not worrying about the past."

And at times, Prince isn't even consumed with the present. While he talked about biblical implications to the recent stock market plunge ("that's why I had to bring back this song," he says as his band rehearses "1999" in the background), when it comes to a recent milestone, he's decidedly nonchalant.

"How old are we really?" asks Prince, who turned 50 in June. "It's about ascension. It's not the other way. There's nothing down about it. Everything is better."

As an example, he points to the 21-night run in London: "I couldn't have sold out 21 nights in London in the peak of my career; it would have been an impossibility," he says.

"I look forward to these years where everything is just open sky. I wish this for every artist: freedom."

i agree, time 2 distribute through his own website again cause i want NEW MUSIC and there is no guarentee that if u go 2 a concert, u'll hear the new music
[Edited 10/24/08 5:30am]

Yeah I remember the "new" music he rehashed over and over for "only" $100.

rehased?

Oh yes.

i think this is just stinkin' thinkin'.

even if the planet earth album didn't burn up the music charts last year, he did profit from the newspaper freebie deal and he did win a grammy for a song from that album. is that not profit?

meanwhile, i don't see anyone trying to exploit any of prince's new music. maybe he means this more on the level of the music industry and less on the level of illegal downloading/bootlegging/trading, etc. - but even if he's talking more on an industry level, the last i recall, prince got the upper hand over the record label with the newspaper distribution deal.

so who's exploiting who? i'm not mad at him, but come on now. he made out pretty good with his last album, i wish he could appreciate and take pride in that fact.

like what was rehased?

Much of the material was widely circulating on bootlegs, and that led to some complaints by subscribers. Personally, my thought on the matter was that if it hadn't been released officially, then it was fair game. The only time I got annoyed was when he posted a remix of "Thieves in the Temple" that had seen wide release on a maxi-single. I think he felt it was "rare", but he should know that the majority of his fan-base already had it. Most of the time, it wasn't true "re-hashes".

great interview!

YEAAAUAAAAA

That means a second vault !!!!!
He is keeping the best for a time that copyrights are protected.....
That's why the production of new music has been slowed down.

Prince.... i am with U on all of this.
I will pay for every new song..

Not all fans have this cheap attitude, to posses everything for free.