berniejobs said:

NIN has been doing it for at least the last 5 years now, giving away music in one form or another. It builds strong fan loyalty, and generates alot of buzz over his recordings.

Giving a way music doesn't financially help anybody. However, bands like NIN, radiohead, and several indie artists, have turned the "tour to promote album" model on it's head and now resort to a "release album to promote tour" model which seems to be alot more lucrative, especially for bands that are able to selllout shows. NIN was the headlining act at Lalapalooza in Chicago last year, and their shows are legendary.

Giving away albums to promote live shows only works, of course, if you make money of the shows. For NIN, this is no problem.

Who walks away from a 100 mil contract, changes a valuable brand name to a symbol and at an advanced creative age when most artists are not challenging themselves you decide to become a free agent?

jdcxc said:

in this case, someone who realized that his next six albums were not going to sell more than 'diamonds and pearls,' and realized that this meant he would not be receiving the $100 million.

stanleylieber said:

What makes you think this? The symbol album sold decently with poor planning/marketing/timing. TMBGITW was a worldwide hit around this time. His worldwide sales were spiking. He still had hitmaking potential. Even if he didn't make the full 100 mil, he would have had a confortable chunk of money. I didn't see Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, U2, etc. walk away from their huge contracts. Prince doesn't get enough credit for the huge risk taker and revolutionary he is.

And back to the Arcade Fire/Trent Reznor comparison. Both of those bands have built in college-alternative radio/outlets for their music. Their is no precedent in the new media/internet world for a Funk/Rock/Pop/R&B artist who defies easy categorization. Prince has absolutely no radio support. The Urban/Pop stations are aimed at teeny boppers and rock stations have always been notoriously an apartheid playlist.

Close2u said:

You're missing the point. Trent Twitters!

RodeoSchro said:

the difference is that Prince was paid for that deal. There's nothing wrong with what Prince did. In fact it was clever.

But it's certainly not the same thing as NIN giving away albums to their fans. NIN also promotes remixing of their material and 'fan' versions. Their community is extremely devout and interactive. Prince doesn't even come close to Trent Reznor as far as reaching out to his fans.

Sure, Prince had his 'celebration' days, where folks where invited to his "It's a Small World" spectacles and religious sermons, etc. etc. But, NIN is consistently more in touch with their fan base than Prince. There's just no real comparison there.

Imago said:

I sang with Prince.

My then-eight-year-old daughter sang with Prince. Twice. Each time in front of 16,000 people.

Did you ever sing with NIN or Arcade Fire? How about any kids you know?

I'm not sure what the purpose of this post is. Why are people on this "Prince" forum always bringing up what other artists are doing and using it to complain about the way that Prince does business? It's great for NIN fans that Trent Reznor does what he does, but it has nothing to do with Prince. Prince has been the same guy(pretty much) for like 30 years. We as fans all know who and what he is, and we choose to deal with him or not. Nothing that NIN or Arcade Fire is doing on the internet makes me want to swear off Prince in exchange for them, so why are people always comparing?

RodeoSchro said:

I walked up to Trent in a bar and he signed my autograph for me with no issues.
We spoke for 15 minutes. No show to put on for anybody. He just did it cause I wanted an autograph.

drhodes777 said:

Thank you drhodes777 for that. There's nothing more that needs to be said after that.

Imago said:

Not the same thing. He didn't show up at the bar just to meet you.

Unless, of course, you had pulled the Bat-Dick joke on him!

He's definitely on the right track offering WAV downloads and MP3s (which are DRM-free by nature).

I sang with Prince.

My then-eight-year-old daughter sang with Prince. Twice. Each time in front of 16,000 people.

stanleylieber said:

What makes you think this?

I didn't see Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, U2, etc. walk away from their huge contracts.

Se7en said:

I don't think giving stuff away automatically = good
Trent does treat his fans better which is good.
But rather, he HAS to hustle to make a buck, Prince could coast and offer terrible service, terrible website, terrible music and you guys (me too) will still buy it.

Regardless to what the man does the fanbase will bitch,moan,and complain about whatever. Then you throw in the witchhunt crew from the Crystal Ball fiasco...

I see on this site after every album is released ... "it does not sound like _____. Or ,".... why can't he make music like _____".

Why can't Bart be as clued-in as someone with free will and common sense who hasn't spent the last 15 years complaining about what an asshole Prince is?
With every new Prince release, Bart leads the charge with "Why can't Prince be like so and so"?

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

Yeah, but in the end.. what matters it the quality of the music. Prince music suffers from a longevity factor. His overall sound has a shelf life. Even lyrically prince has to jump on the current train.. and i still can't figure out why. Trent's music might not appeal to everyone, but his sound and production values trump him due to the quality. the two artists should not be compared in any way except for the way they handle the business side of their music.

I will probably always support prince, but I know who's music is gonna be more appealing as time goes by.

RodeoSchro said:

That is part of the problem.

This is not 100% related to the thread subject
but I found it very informative: http://www.craigslist.org...84837.html

BartVanHemelen said:

Not to me.

drhodes777 said:

NIN and Arcade Fire can give away their entire catalogues for free and I still wouldn't take them. Just not my style of music.

I'm tired of complainers. People need to chill. Everything Prince gives you is a choice. Make it or not. Come along or not.

Just don't whine.

P.S.: My comments were at the whiners, not at drhodes. I agree with drhodes.

.
[Edited 4/5/09 10:26am]

drhodes777 said:

NIN and Arcade Fire can give away their entire catalogues for free and I still wouldn't take them. Just not my style of music.

I'm tired of complainers. People need to chill. Everything Prince gives you is a choice. Make it or not. Come along or not.

Just don't whine.

P.S.: My comments were at the whiners, not at drhodes. I agree with drhodes.

.
[Edited 4/5/09 10:26am]

Have they ever given away free CDs at concerts? Just wondering.

Personally, because of my inner FAM, boredome, and a complete lack of anything better to do, I joined lotusflow3r.

My first response (and overall lasting impression) was/is this:

1) It feels like a website from the 90s when Flash technology was just starting to overtake animated gifs on websites. Folks back then were more interested in showing a lot of flash then in functionality of their webpages.

2) There are no standard menus, making it amateurish in feel. Where do you "contact" the company or web administrator if you have an issue? Where do you search for merchandise to buy? You have to hunt down via their "Universe" like a little puzzle or game instead of being presented no-bullshit , standard, menus to do so. There's just no excuse for that. There's going to be a lot of folks who want to explore the little Universe, but can't they add that as a menu option to allow fans who like poking around to do that? Most people would rather just go in, download what they need, and get the hell out.

3) The website takes into absolutely no consideration the speed and power of the user's internet connection or machine. It's flashy interface (see afore mentioned item #1) can slow many computers down. It certainly makes it impossible to surf it on an iPhone or comparible phone device.

4) Why wasn't this thing test driven before it was launched?

5) For $77 dollars, launch day should have contained more material on the site than it did. Prince has so much vault material, it almost makes the lack of material on the website appalling.

Things I did like about the site:
1) It's not as ugly as l41A.com or npgmc.com
2) The mp3s you download don't have DRM so you can import them into any music player of your choice. THAT IS A HUGE improvement.
3) It works well in FireFox


Overall, Prince missed the mark again with this site. It's obviously designed for fans as is evident of the membership fee, the strange puzzle to open an account, the ridiculous interface, and the complete lack of standard 'contact' options to voice complaints and recommendations. The genius behind this is that Prince can shut down lotusflow3r at any time on his fans. The overall general public will not notice, and he can do this again in the future if he were so inclined.

I am absolutely confident Trent Reznor would never do that to his fans or the general public.
[Edited 4/5/09 13:03pm]