For years Prince has been saying to anybody that would listen that the gatekeepers in the music industry needs to change, i.e.; major record companies and programmers of radio stations. However, Prince still courts and does business with major record companies like when he signed with Universal to release 3121 and Columbia Records for Musicology and Planet Earth. Also for challenging material he opts to release them independently and pushes trendy crap like 3121 trying to chase a hit. All I'm saying is Prince needs to admit that if his goal is to still hear his music on the radio and reach casual fans via radio and television then drop the "gatekeepers gotta change/i hate radio and the industry cuz they screwed me" pretension. If not make music of true expression like "The Rainbow Children" and stop courting a marketplace that wants nothing to do with you.

Valid points


Also, Prince has a serous p&R problem if indeed he's trying to court the mssses.
One only needs to read some of the Prince video comments posted on youtube (yes, there are videos of Prince posted on youtube--but with no music or with music from other acts that have been overdubbed to get around youtube's rules). The comments posted towards those videos about Prince are downright nasty.


Apparently it's not just 'angry Prince fans' who think threatening to sue mothers who post youtube videos of their babies dancing to Prince songs makes you a douche-bag. The general public seems to think this.

But like I've said a million times, when Prince says something in an interview, just take it with a grain of salt. He's said that he would stop performing his hits several times on magazines, and even repeated that crazy shit about Purple Rain beign retired on Leno back during the Musicology days. Just don't believe any of it.

Prince's talent is fascinating---what comes otu of his mouth in spoken form isn't.



But some of your post is spot on. I personally don't care which route he takes, but the route he's chosen is a bit humorous in light of his true talents.

I mean, a 50 year old man wearing sunglasses at night driving a car up to paparazzi for photoshoots with an 18 year old girl in the passenger seat....that's not a good P&R moment--that's creepy and desperate.

Imago, much respect and thanx for replying. Your opinion really made me think. In the past, when he was on Warner Bros., he had a staff of publicists and various handlers who could smooth over Prince's erratic and self-thwarting behavior and still get his songs on the radio, videos on tv and good press and publicity in magazines.Since gaining his "emancipation", Prince has put a string a half-way decent albums and one really remarkable album "The Rainbow Children" not including "ONA Box Set". Prince is a hyporcrite when it comes to the industry, but as long as he is still making music and hear his new music for the masses to hear, I'm good.

bashraka said:

That's my stance. I really don't care how he choses to release his product or who owns the product.

I just hope he releases good stuff. I liked lotusflow3r better than TRC btw

I think Prince's ego is such that he wants to prove he can have massive mainstream success while doing it "his way."

But the problem is that he ultimately ends up sabotaging whatever chance of lasting success each project might have by either not adequately promoting it or losing interest in it too quickly.

Sometimes I don't really think that even Prince understands what he wants.

NoVideo said:

I found it really odd that in many of his more recent performances he barely touches anything from lotusflow3r or MPLSound.

The material, in my opinion, is really good. If he did a small tour promoting it, I think he'd get more support for it. Of course, it's a bit late now, and I'm assuming Prince is knee deep in something new, but still it would be nice that when he releases an album, he actually perform mostly new material from that album during his concerts.


I saw this during his Emancipation tour. He barely touched anything from that album. The trend just continued except with a short stint from The Rainbow Children days.

I hope that this so-called "jazz album" he's recording with John, Rhonda and Renato will be followed by a small theatre tour he did similiar to the ONA Tour of 2002. Even if it's not the jazz album, whatever his next project is, tour and play the new music. He'll gain more respect and clout this way, rather than the paint-by-number way he's been promoting his music. Prince even when he was on WB, was a cult artist, and someone needs to remind him of that.

Imago said:

When exactly was this??? I think u're possibly talking about Bria and trust me she's not 18 - try mid to late thirties !!!!! He's far from creepy and desperate I can assure u !!

joanne55555 said:

Where is this written?
I need to see her birth cert!


OK, if she's in her 30's then I guess getting dressed up and driving around late at night while in your 50's and wearing sunglasses...at night...looking for paparazzi...at night...with sunglasses....at night... has a certain undpeserate charm.

bashraka said:

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I don ‘t remember Prince saying “I don’t want my music on the radio” or “I do not ever want a hit record again in life” He has an issue with the processes and procedures that record companies operate under. He is not the only artist that has complained and he will not be the last artist to complain.

When he signed those deals with Columbia those were one off deals were he got to keep the masters and record company received a portion of the proceeds for marketing the CD which record companies do extremely well and a independent artist has no chance of doing because for all the marketing you cannot get the record on the radio or video channels with the payola from record companies.

I also think the “Rainbow Children and the Jazz CD were his challenging material. I am not really sure why everybody thinks P was wrong for attempting to put out good danceable music which is the type of music he started out without in the first place and that he should follow some unwritten rule to only put out experimental changeling music and nothing else when he has such a diverse fan base.

bashraka said:

bashraka said:

Doing business as an equal in negotiations is a lot different than letting a record lable "play" you.

And I dont think he says anything these days at least about the $ not mattering, so he still wants people to buy his album, but he just doesn't want any exec pocketing the lions share.

Imago said:

Emancipation is, in my opinion, a criminally underrated album. A lot of people still find it disgusting but I liked it and we can only speculate on how great it could have sounded if there had been more involvement of the true NPG on it. The songs were really good, but some of the bad shit on it was really , really bad (We Gets Up, Damned If I Do, Courtin Time.....WTF ???) . And the good stuff on it would have sounded sooo much better if he had used Sonny and Michael a bit more, which is very evident when you hear how bombastic Betcha By Golly Wow sounds....at least sonically.
I think that there was a reason for not playing so much Emancipation material at that time....EMI had gone downhill and Prince was already paid upfront so maybe he didn´t care, pretty much the same scenario we have now with Lotusflower and Target. Or maybe he was simply fed up with that phase, the lyrics, the tragedy that surrounded the whole album and its songs...I don´t know and can only speculate, which is not really my thing.But yeah, we have a similar scenario today like back then with Emancipation.
Strange that he really put his heart into the whole Rainbow Children concept. I mean, that was a true concept album, a tour with a concept behind it, and then all those halfassed brainwashing attmempts during the celebrations at Paisley Park. He really excels when it comes to being weird or downright creepy these days.



But, after all is said and done, I´m still happy that he´s still around, looking healthy and great, still playing guitar like crazy and still being mad creative and driven. Gotta respect him for all that, he is still truly unique,daring and fascinating. It´s just sad that he´s fucking up his PR, his legacy and the love people had for him. The whole thing with YouTube and other sites is ridiculous. If it wasnt for bootlegs and those sites, I wouldn´t be the fan that I am today.
Look what´s going on with other artists like Curtis Mayfield, the Ohio Players or Michael Jackson....they are still respected and wellknown by younger generations because you can watch them on YouTube. Their spirits will live forever.
Most young people these days can´t even name three hits by Prince, let alone some more obscure songs like If I Was Your Girlfriend or other masterpieces that weren´t big hits.

All I can say is that "3121," is a great album, and "Black Sweat," and "Satisfied," are certainly hits that are swept under the air play rug...and that is just to mention a couple, Prince always has two or three songs per album that would be great for everyone to hear, not just us fans that appreiate everything even if we don't feel it's radio worthy.

Tame said:

3121 contained some very strong material. Not really perfect but some of his best songs in a long time. Very accessible yet still typically Prince, except for some points that really brought the whole vibe down.

KoolEaze said:

I totally and completely agree about Emancipation.
I honestly dislike (strongly in some cases) 6 of the songs on the album. But 6 out of 36 songs is a really really good margin.

bashraka said:

The fact is Prince will draw attention whenever he's about to release a new disc. Even if that disc doesn't sustain the publics interest after it's release. All of the buzz around "Planet Earth" was pure genius on his part and a great business strategy. He's made mistakes along the way but in general he's accomplishing what he set out to do and that's get the music into the hands of the fans/people who want to hear it most. if someone new gets into his music then great but if not then so be it. the radio/video market is geared towards the younger audience and overrun with untalented artists who wish they could be like the legends they claim to emulate. Prince knows he's not getting the airplay like he used to. All older black artists are in this same boat.

I understand when people say Prince is a hypocrite, that he actually wants these hits and huge success, that he courts labels. I dont think he is a hypocrite but I do think this highlights the confusion he creates. I mean if Sony or whoever have the distribution channels Prince needs it is simply because they have that global market approach ie they also have the global marketing tool, which Prince does not utilise.

However I do understand prince's gripe with radio. I was thinking the other day about Lady Gaga. Her image is strong but bares little relation to the music that she releases. Take away the image and you are left with a pretty average song, very SAFE music. My point here is that something is pushed enough people will buy it regardless, its almost the equivalent of pester power.Peole cant begin to buy what they dont know. Of course I am stating the obvious but we have to admit the power of radio etc.Look at the threads on here over the years. Surely we are all so subjective when we talk of "Prince's best album of the 1990's", "Prince's best album of the last 5 years" because we are the ones discovering it. If these were pushed on radio I think we would all have a greater concensus on what his best music has been recently. Dance 4 Me has a really commercial vibe (I'm not arguing its his best or anything) and I feel if this was played on the radio with massive rotation we would completely listen with different ears, while now we sit here comparing it to Camille etc..