He said the internet is over! why? why would he not hire a competent web designer like Sam Jennings again?

i think he got ripped off selling something on ebay

He can't control it.

TheEnglishGent said:

He can't control it.

That's EXACTLY it!

maybe in his mind the internet is over because lotusflow3r is over.

interesting to say the least, he pioneered independent music release online, shows us the way, then abandons it because he can't figure out why lotusflow3r didn't work the way he'd hoped.

it was suggested to him that he not charge a membership fee, but he didnt listen. maybe if the site had been free things might've been different.

obviously the internet is alive and well and working quite nicely for a lot of artists, so his opinion on it is purely subjective, not a reality.

He aint like it no moe.

Prince stumbled across this site http://www.wwwdotcom.com/ and that candle lit up in his head.

TheEnglishGent said:

He can't control it.

Yep,that's it In the early days of the Internet (mid-90s),Prince seemed thrilled at the possibilities.He talked about selling his music on-line without the help of major record companies.But the Internet became too big,too powerful and too popular and he soon discovered that he can't control it.The Internet gives people the freedom to do what THEY want to do,and Prince hates that.He doesn't like things that he can't control.

...

[Edited 6/28/10 5:52am]

ernestsewell said:

TheEnglishGent said:

He can't control it.

That's EXACTLY it!

he's never been able to control the internet.

I really don't understand why anyone would get worked up over that comment.

Prince says shit all the time he doesn't really mean, or stuff that reflects what he's feeling that very moment. Then his pannies losen up, and he says different shit later on. It's Prince....Take it all with a grain of salt.

How many times has he promised to play his hits for the last time in the last 10 years? Sworn off record labels only to end up hooking up with Clive Davis? It's Prince. Whatever he says, just shrug it off, cause it's all bullshit statements anyways.

If I were to speculate what he meant by the Internet being over, I'd say that he's frustrated he didn't build a more domineering franchise out of it. Remember, NPGMC tried to consolidate all the major prince fansites under his umbrella, only to increase the popularity of the org and housequake. Then he tried suing or threatening to sue the remaining sites. Then he tried resurrecting yet another website. It's just Prince. Nothing he can say should be taken as sincere or well thought. Just hope he shuts the fuck up and does what he does best--music.

the internet isn't over.

prince,however IS over.

^^

Look, as others have said, take Prince's statements for what they are worth. Remember, he said in 1998 that he hates videos: "they r 4 kids" But he got back to making videos regularly just a year later.

I agree with what others have said, Prince can't control the internet, he's frustrated, so it's over (for him, for now anyway).

squirrelgrease said:

Prince stumbled across this site http://www.wwwdotcom.com/ and that candle lit up in his head.

that's brilliant!

SG your sigs just get funnier, do they just come to you?

bigd74 said:

squirrelgrease said:

Prince stumbled across this site http://www.wwwdotcom.com/ and that candle lit up in his head.

that's brilliant!

SG your sigs just get funnier, do they just come to you?

Those Purple Facts are true I tell you... and I couldn't let the awesome "electricity/hair" comment in that article go to waste.

he doesn't like the internet because its a rest haven for haters

lol idk

aww prince the internetz is dey future-aye

coketa77 said:

He said the internet is over! why? why would he not hire a competent web designer like Sam Jennings again?

cus he aint gettin paid..enuf

[Edited 6/28/10 20:04pm]

I thought he was referring to the internet being 'over' as a means of making money with music.

PopcornFetus said:

I thought he was referring to the internet being 'over' as a means of making money with music.

yeah thats what i thought too

The Internet?! Is that thing still around????

SoulAlive said:

TheEnglishGent said:

He can't control it.

Yep,that's it In the early days of the Internet (mid-90s),Prince seemed thrilled at the possibilities.He talked about selling his music on-line without the help of major record companies.But the Internet became too big,too powerful and too popular and he soon discovered that he can't control it.The Internet gives people the freedom to do what THEY want to do,and Prince hates that.He doesn't like things that he can't control.

...

[Edited 6/28/10 5:52am]

Pretty much.

I don't think any recording artist can defeat Bittorrent, YouTube, or ITunes at this point.

unique said:

i think he got ripped off selling something on ebay

coketa77 said:

He said the internet is over! why? why would he not hire a competent web designer like Sam Jennings again?

Jennings wasn't competent. His work was stale, and lightyears behind what others were doing. It looked flash (if you're not that experienced), but it lacked usability and features.

The simple fact that his site wasn't interacting with other web services out there and desperately tried to contain everything, shows how backwards it was.

robinhood said:

maybe in his mind the internet is over because lotusflow3r is over.

interesting to say the least, he pioneered independent music release online

He didn't. No matter how often you say this, it still isn't true.

unique said:

i think he got ripped off selling something on ebay

man he should have sold all his purple napkins with 3121 foil embossed, he would have made a fortune!!!

BartVanHemelen said:

robinhood said:

maybe in his mind the internet is over because lotusflow3r is over.

interesting to say the least, he pioneered independent music release online

He didn't. No matter how often you say this, it still isn't true.

had a feeling i might've been wrong about that.

guess its because he was the only one i knew of.

who was it that pioneered independent music release online?

robinhood said:

BartVanHemelen said:

He didn't. No matter how often you say this, it still isn't true.

had a feeling i might've been wrong about that.

guess its because he was the only one i knew of.

who was it that pioneered independent music release online?

AFAIK George Michael did it long before him.

Prince did what in 1997: take orders for a CD? Amazon was already doing that, and unlike Prince didn't write down orders on Post-It notes which were then put on a wall, and then take so long to get anything out that thousands of orders were invalid (because the credit cards were), plus the discs were already in stores before they started sending out product.

Oh, and they had the nerve to crow about sending out the discs: some dig at all the criticism, saying that disbelievers would "eat their words on toast". Of course, those words appeared on a website called "Love 4 One Another". Hipocrisy has always been a feature, not a bug.

The next thing he did was the special edition of Rave, IIRC, which was again just him taking orders and sending out product. Only by the first version of NPGMC (2001) he started "selling" songs online, and that wa sagain a massive failure.

Might be that he launched "The Work" via Napster before that, only to bitch about Napster six months later.

The next thing were the DRM-protected WMAs.

I don't see anything that comes close to pioneering in any of that.

BartVanHemelen said:

AFAIK George Michael did it long before him.

Prince did what in 1997: take orders for a CD? Amazon was already doing that, and unlike Prince didn't write down orders on Post-It notes which were then put on a wall, and then take so long to get anything out that thousands of orders were invalid (because the credit cards were), plus the discs were already in stores before they started sending out product.

Oh, and they had the nerve to crow about sending out the discs: some dig at all the criticism, saying that disbelievers would "eat their words on toast". Of course, those words appeared on a website called "Love 4 One Another". Hipocrisy has always been a feature, not a bug.

The next thing he did was the special edition of Rave, IIRC, which was again just him taking orders and sending out product. Only by the first version of NPGMC (2001) he started "selling" songs online, and that wa sagain a massive failure.

Might be that he launched "The Work" via Napster before that, only to bitch about Napster six months later.

The next thing were the DRM-protected WMAs.

I don't see anything that comes close to pioneering in any of that.

Although there were problems with NPGMC 2001, I have to give some credit to the people running the site. By the 3rd month, maybe 4th, they listened to their customers. They started offering HI and LO versions of the audio tracks. I forget if they did that with the video, but I would imagine not. The real hiccup was the October edition, and them just releasing a preview of The Rainbow Children, which would later be released, thereby leaving that month void of any Ahdio show, or other "new" tracks. I don't think NPGMC2001 was a "massive failure", but it wasn't perfect either. The later editions of NPGMC were the problems, with DRM files (which no one can access anymore unless they were smart enough to make a back up of them).

I think mistakes are part of the game, Bart. Nothing is ever perfect from the get go. Prince is a business, but he's a big ol' artist first. He's flighty like that. Doesn't excuse it, and I'm not giving him a pass, but at certain times, I'm giving him a TINY bit of grace.

It is correct to say that people like Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders (among others) were already selling media online. Prince did not pioneer the idea. However, he might have had a generous hand in making it more of a "normal" thing for artists to do. I am not aware of GM's earlier internet involvement or activity. Doesn't mean he didn't do it, I was just not enlightened to it at that time.

People connect Prince to the internet because he was very forthright and open about it. Some of his stuff was only released via his site, like Rave In2, One Nite Alone. Selling CDs was a new idea, but ONLY selling them through the site was a newER idea that Prince attempted to dive headlong into. No doubt there were problems along the way. I bought CB in stores, and never put money toward that. I did buy Rave In2 from the site and had it within a month's time.

Prince used to say he loved the internet because of the interaction with fans. In contrast to that, I don't think he ever anticipated his fans to actually have a backbone and a voice and tell him "no" when something wasn't right.