http://www.variety.com/ar...id=16&cs=1
Posted: Mon., Apr. 20, 2009, 4:07pm PT

Prince works outside record labels
The Purple One eliminates the middleman - By ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO


THIS YEAR'S MODEL:
Spending more time in L.A., Prince has been on a tear, hosting an Oscar bash, appearing three consecutive nights on 'Leno' and staging a tripleheader at the Nokia Theater.


I don't know about you," Prince exclaimed to the adoring masses at his March 28 Nokia Theater performance in L.A., "but I'm about to tear this place apart."

The Purple One applies the same principle to his business affairs: He has consistently torn down the established labels' sales model and built it back up in his own image.

While free file-sharing has eroded royalty accounting and emptied the wallets of many a pop icon, Prince has always been one step ahead of the game, dating back to 1997, when he became the first artist to sell an album ("Crystal Ball") directly to his fans over the Internet, for $50.

In the past few months, Prince has been at it again, revamping his business model by deciding to release the three-album set -- "LotusFlow3r," "MPLSound" and his protege Bria Valente's debut, "Elixer" -- on his own NPG Records and giving a facelift to his exclusive fan website, unplugged since 2006.

"The gatekeepers must change," Prince told the Los Angeles Times in January about his latest endeavor to work outside the record labels and other go-betweens.

Pulling off such a feat required the art of seduction that characterizes much of Prince's music. He began spending more time in L.A. than at his Minneapolis homestead, not only to sync up with the West Coast music scene but to court the media with private performances at his Beverly Park mansion. As the launch date for "LotusFlow3r" drew near, Prince played three back-to-back dates on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno"; headlined the most coveted, and funkiest, post-Oscar party, at the Avalon in Hollywood; and topped it all off with a record one-night, three-concert event at L.A. Live's Nokia Theater on March 28 that sold out in a record 7.7 seconds.

Nonetheless, his "gatekeeper" philosophy isn't a newfound one. The pop artist's angst with the labels dates back to 1996, when he ended his 20-year contract with Warner Bros. Records; one of the sticking points was that the company failed to release some of his material. Since then, Prince has partnered with labels on a project-by-project basis. His 2007 album "Planet Earth" was released through Columbia Records and sold close to 300,000 units -- a figure considerably below his previous partnership with the label on "Musicology," which went multiplatinum with the help of free giveaways at his concerts.

Prince's revamped Web domain, appropriately Lotusflow3r.com, gives his loyal followers exclusive access to an array of film footage and music from the Purple One's "Vault" -- a library that contains an immense amount of unreleased material. At a lofty annual subscription price of $77, fans also will be treated to such perks as live-cam concerts from the mansion and first dibs at tickets for last-minute, unannounced gigs, which have become a Prince trademark.

While some of the privileges are on par with Prince's previous html address, his Web designer, Scott Addison Clay, who has been behind such high-gloss movie sites as "The DarkKnight" and "Twilight," says Prince "felt his earlier fan site turned into MySpace. There were forums where fans could talk and see each other on the Internet." Lotusflow3r.com touts the highest-quality MP3s around at 320 kilobytes per second -- iTunes' typical average kbps is 192. There's also talk of a potential hookup with Microsoft's Xbox.

"Prince wanted (the) LotusFlow3r (website) to function like a videogame in its interactivity," says Clay, before adding, "but not in the way that you control Prince with jujitsu moves -- that wouldn't be appropriate."

Assuming that 1 million fans sign up worldwide, that's $77 million directly in the hands of the Prince empire -- untouched by a label's bookkeeper . The site's launch, coupled with his three-

concert L.A. event and the release of his three-disc album set exclusively through Target the morning after (at a price of $11.98) underscores Prince's MO to be a brand-name corporation unto himself, with money streams from publishing, touring, merchandising, advertising, ringtones, fashion and satellite radio gigs.

While the price that Target shelled out to Prince to sell his latest CD set is undisclosed, analysts put the amount at mid-six figures.

Sure, his recent album sales might be far from the 13 million "Purple Rain" benchmark, but it's not about being multiplatinum for Prince, rather multiplatform.

"When I'm taking all the proceeds, I don't worry about how well it does on the charts and I don't need a No. 1," Prince asserted at a 1997 Manhattan news conference pegged to his cyberspace foray. "I'm No. 1 at the bank."
[Edited 4/21/09 2:58am]

First?

1 million for the website? Highly doubt that.

LondonStyle said:

I know times are tight for the media industry but when the hell did VARIETY start doing verbatim press releases?

if he works with Microsoft over the far superior and more innovative Playstation 3, i will be very mad

He has stayed ahead of the game in most cases. I think the Target pricing was in genius move on his part cause it made his price affordable for everyone and meant that it made a great gift for you to share with others like I did with 3 of my brothers.There is simply something on the discs for everyone. He didn't have to do the one off deals that he has been doing for the last few years.

One of these days there are gonna be some great reviews of his music, instead of how he tries to figure out how to make a dollar.

Oh, wait a minute.....I guess those days are gone.

One million fans? Sounds a very optimistic figure given how little the site has to offer to new subscribers and how difficult the site is to join, let alone navigate.

I have absolutely no idea what the membership figures of his past online subscription websites were - What was the number of pre-orders at which they would press and send out CB? 100,000 and that took, forever. Granted that was 10 years ago, the net is much more a part of the mainstream now, but still, I have a hard time believing they topped even a quarter of million with NPGMC, and that's being generous. Complete guess work though.


.
[Edited 4/21/09 5:56am]

LondonStyle said:

Xpertlover said:

Do not know if he gets a million people to sign up this go around but he might if he tours. You guys keep forgeting he sells millions of tickets and may have already received a six figure check from Target.

He knows how to play this game and yes it is as much about money as it is about music.

WetDream said:

Ditto

laurarichardson said:

I'll agree that he knows how to play the game HOWEVER, it is more so about money than it is the music and it's been that way for quite some time!

LondonStyle said:

Wrong. iTunes is 256 kbps AAC. NOT MP3. AAC is far superior. Which is besides the point.

He should do what Wendy and Lisa do and sell his music track by track at .99. They have it figured out.

My signed Winter Flags of Chimneys is the best piece of memorabilia I have ever owned. Not to mention the LP which looks friggin' great!

LondonStyle said:

7.7 seconds?
Now there's a Prince-tinkered fact if ever I saw one.

funkyfine said:

Yeah. It sounds awfully convenient to me.

Variety said:

Except it was a huge failure.

Variety said:

Like he's never done that before.

Variety said:

That doesn't even make sense. There's NOTHING in LF that has got anythign to do with the previous site.

Variety said:

Bwahahahaha. Yeah right.

Variety said:

Anybody wants to bother listing all the promised albums etc that haven't been released post 1996?

Variety said:

And yet all we get is a crappy rip of a Japanese (!) VHS copy of The Sacrifice Of Victor.

Variety said:

Promises, promises.

Variety said:

99% of the time, movie sites are RUBBISH. Sheesh, that kind of experience means ZERO.

Variety said:

Prince is an idiot.

Variety said:

Bwahahahaha. Yeah right.

mypancakeplaces said:

My latins not great but I smell..
Taurus Excretus.

NouveauDance said:

There's not a single shred of evidence that they made more than 20,000 copies of CB. Vicki from Sevenmag had a detailed post about this in an old PPML.

Prince is the Man. Love the way he continues to innovate his business; some projects will succeed others may fail, but when its all said and done, he is setting his own course and doing it his way. Furthermore, from the looks of it, he isn't doing too bad.

I'm loving it all night long.

laurarichardson said:

Evidence?

laurarichardson said:

Evidence?

laurarichardson said:

Oh, so he was okay with it when one company he worked with put some extra tracks on a CD single?

If he "knows how to play this game", how come he has to come up with lame stunts each time, instead of letting the music speak for itself?

jimmyrogertodd said:

Except for those who don't live near a Target. Like at least half of Prince's fanbase.

jimmyrogertodd said:

"Is the music any good?" "Dunno, but it was cheap."

jimmyrogertodd said:

Oh please, they're rubbish. Lotusflower is already dead & buried.

jimmyrogertodd said:

Yes he did. It isn't his choice.

LondonStyle said:

Yes 'assuming' doubt it will ever happen even some hardcore fans havent joined. the org is free and theres no way near a million even on here!
As for live-cam from mansion cool idea but i will believe it when i see it.

good article, but obviously doesn't paint a very realistic picture...the Crystal Ball direct sales were a debacle...and the "lifetime" membership for the NPGMC club just lasted a couple of years.

There's no way 1 million people paid the $77 to join the website...I'd guess it is less than 50,000...maybe way, way less.


.
[Edited 4/21/09 7:48am]

catpark said:

Excellent point.

oh the day a media outlet really tells THE TRUTH i will b cause they aren't telling the truth with this article about that website ..far from it!!

I don't know about how much truth this article holds or why it would need to bring up if 1 million fans subscribed Prince would make 77million dollars. The part that seemed like BS was "and also will be treated to such perks as live-cam concerts from the mansion"
[Edited 4/21/09 7:58am]

PEJ said:

I think P couldn't even be bothered updating anything because the turnout has been so bad.

?

Article is crap full of exaggeration and outright lies. Somebody must of owed Prince a favor.

Theres a lot of super intelligent games out there...

this looks good and its not that new..
http://www.youtube.com/wa...b7aDZeO_MQ
the concept was actually first seen in
a very old cartoon....

and Prince hasnt put enough good stuff into
the future to see whats coming up.....

it aint a b
http://www.youtube.com/wa...BgiP6rPa3Q

butt it is all in fun.....

Rorywan said:

He didn't know his rep is bad with the fanbase? How many times can he take our money and run?