Idk if this is the right forum or not but im wondering how much of the cd sales go directly to Prince? 4 example,i went out and bought the Lotus cd from target,how much of the 12$ i spent goes to Prince and how much goes to Target. Im wondering the same about the WB sales too.

I know when he did NewPowerSoul he kept saying that 7 dollars went into his pocket. The same for Chaka Khan and Larry Graham releases that same year. Not sure what that would translate into in todays economy but it sounds pretty lucrative.

It's probably fair to say around 75% of the cost goes to his pocket. There's some up front fees that a place like Target would pay to get the thing manufactured, but once that is paid off, who knows. He gets more than half that's for sure.

Now wonder I haven't seen him in GR for a concert

I'm going to assume that Target paid Prince a one time fee for a print run of x-amount of stock. Target probably received exclusivity for a certain amount of time, after which Prince inked this Euro distribution deal. So any CD bought from Target put the money right back into Target's coffers.

squirrelgrease said:

I agree with ur theory, but for some reason, I feel that Prince was responsible for printing his own cds. The only reason I say that is because I think this company manufactured the cds (http://www.copycatsmedia.com/cdduplication/cheapcdduplication.html) and I can't see Target utilizing a company like this.

daPrettyman said:

Well Prince also said that Target was acting as a record company. Now whether that meant just the distribution and promotion, or it included printing, I have no idea.

ernestsewell said:

I remember that. I have purchased "Target Exclusive" cds before. Everything from compilations to different artists exclusive cds there (Whitney Houston, Destiny's Child, Lionel Richie, John Legend, etc.) and these releases were all record company released and manufactured exclusively for Target. For instance, a few Christmases ago, they did a series of holiday cds. They were only available there, but were released via Rhino. So, I don't know.

I can't see Target using Copy Cats Media to manufacture a cd with cheap paper stock.

daPrettyman said:

Oh. Prince has used those folks before. They're Minneapolis based. But so is Target, so hmmmm... I dunno.

squirrelgrease said:

I didn't know they were based in MPLS. That makes sense then. I know he used them for a few of his releases.

daPrettyman said:

Well he's not used them exclusively like he did for LotusFlow3r. Target is based in Minneapolis, so I think if he was going w/ a retailer (like Justin, Christina and others have used Best Buy exclusively), then he'd obviously go for Target.

Target has struck a lot of one-off deals w/ artists. They have their own line of Christmas CDS from artists like Barry Manilow, Lionel Richie, and others. They've done a deal w/ Tina Turner in the past too for the All That Glitters EP. I THINK Pearl Jam's latest is Target only, (as well as iTunes). Their site says, "Pearl Jam's new album, BACKSPACER, is out today! Available in Target Stores, Independenet Music Stores, in the Pearl Jam GOODS store on CD and BACKSPACER VINYL LP, and for download in ITUNES."

Of course Walmart has done the same with Garth Brooks, The Eagles, etc.

ernestsewell said:

Squirrelgrease was referring to Copy Cat being based in MPLS in addition to Target. Maybe that's why he used them because they were all in MPLS.

daPrettyman said:

Yep. They produced the Days Of Wild CD-Singles (Xenophobia and NPGMC), the One Nite Alone Live and It Ain't Over box, Controversy Live In Hawaii CD-Single and N.E.W.S.