Ok, Prince proves once again, that he is not in touch with the real world.

As we all know, Prince says the internet is "completely over". By not releasing his music online, he is NOT doing himself any favors. By this short-sighted view, he will end up increasing the illegal downloading of his new album.

Yes, it will be released for "free" this Saturday on CD, but it will be available the same day on the internet everywhere.

Another dumb move, by a notoriously short-sighted genius.

I honestly don't think anyone will be downloading 20ten in significant numbers, besides fans in countries outside those seeing a physical release.

Casual listeners do not care about his new music and consider him a lost cause in that dept. since the early 90s.

come on, he is more than aware of this fact. I agree that it may be short sighted but perhaps he has a target figure $ in mind for a project so gets it with upfront deals and anything else is a bonus. Don't forget that as a result you can guarentee that sales of his available downloads / CDs etc from the past will increase.

I don't think Prince says anything he really means in interviews.

crazydoctor said:

I don't think Prince says anything he really means in interviews.

That's funny to me because I don't think Prince says anything he really means...period!

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

crazydoctor said:

I don't think Prince says anything he really means in interviews.

That's funny to me because I don't think Prince says anything he really means...period!

I think you may be right.

I don't even bother trying to understand the guy. I just try to enjoy the music and ignore the rest. maybe that eccentricity is just what comes with that level of talent.

it will save me some wasted money on another crappy prince cd !!

More aware than u think.

So he won't accept my $77 this year?

chookalana said:

Ok, Prince proves once again, that he is not in touch with the real world.

As we all know, Prince says the internet is "completely over". By not releasing his music online, he is NOT doing himself any favors. By this short-sighted view, he will end up increasing the illegal downloading of his new album.

Yes, it will be released for "free" this Saturday on CD, but it will be available the same day on the internet everywhere.

Another dumb move, by a notoriously short-sighted genius.

Washington Post article about Prince's cluelessness about the internet. Apparently so are AC/DC, Def Leppard and a few other popular artists.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2010/07/prince_only_the_latest_rock_st.html

By Rob Pegoraro | July 6, 2010; 12:35 PM ET

I plan to be right there with bells on, because I ain't buying a goddamn thing this time. Nope!

"Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."

I've long since given up on Prince interviews, so somebody PLEASE tell this is a misquote.

I think this whole internet is dead thing is meant it is dead for him. But, I would also think that statement was to support the newspapers and magazines that will carry his CD. It's good business politics to reinforce your partnership, while making a statement that creates a buzz. Like it or not it's creating a lot of attention around Prince's new CD. Not as much buzz as WB distributing his 20Ten CD in the USA. That will create a lot of attention-if indeed it does happen.

chookalana said:

Ok, Prince proves once again, that he is not in touch with the real world.

As we all know, Prince says the internet is "completely over". By not releasing his music online, he is NOT doing himself any favors. By this short-sighted view, he will end up increasing the illegal downloading of his new album.

Yes, it will be released for "free" this Saturday on CD, but it will be available the same day on the internet everywhere.

Another dumb move, by a notoriously short-sighted genius.

I have to disagree, people are going to download music illegally no matter what prince says, they were doing it before he made that statement and will continue doing it after.

if you are a loyal fan you will buy a CD thats available for purchase, if you are a broke fan or casual fan you may find a way to download it for free since you dont have the cash, nothings changed here and it will always be the same. if you are a fan with cash and want to be vindictive because of a statement prince made you will illegally download music available for purchase.

I took Prince's statement as telling artists to get more smart about their businesss instead of depending on outside companies who are not in it for you but for a cut.

At the end of the day Prince doesnt need to release his CD digitally, if you want it you will find it. He's not tied down to a leash and can do and say what he wants. This is a part of success many artist wish they could achieve.

At the end of the day people are still talking and you're here posting and Prince will still be able to give out his music FOR FREE

"won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it."

And there you have it. He can't get THE INTERNET to work the way he wants it to so he's going to make it as difficult as possible for anybody who wants to work with him. You don't get paid in advance for internet music sales, you get paid per song, or per album purchased. Seriously, this is the point for me, right here, where I'm convinced that Prince has completely lost touch with whats going on in the world. When the rest of the business is making most of their money off of internet sales he's going to turn his back because they won't pay him in advance for something that hasn't sold yet.

kewlschool said:

But, I would also think that statement was to support the newspapers and magazines that will carry his CD.

They paid him in advance. Beyond the already completed interviews he's not doing anything to support them. His "support" is those interviews and his new CD being included for "free" in their periodicals. In theory this is going to greatly increase their sales, making them quite a bit of money in return. But he doesn't actually have to do anything for them now. It's probably the least amount of work he's ever had to do around releasing and promoting an album... and he's alreayd been paid.

It seems his stance now is to make a sum of money initially and then not be concerned after the fact regarding how the music circulates. He's getting paid upfront for a certain amount of CDs and cutting the same deal in multiple countries. He does stand to make more money for that than someone with a record deal who has to give everyone involved their cut. He's for some time talked about getting the music into the hands of the people who want it and this method seems to be working for him. His disillusionment with the internet may stem from multiple reasons. Pretty much his entire catalog is on Limewire, the Warners CDs are on iTunes and Amazon. He can't control who downloads what or how much any longer so he's abandoned the system. I know for a fact that once you paid for Lotusflow3r.com you could download the music repeatedly on any of your friends computers as well without extra costs. He's going to rethink his methods and surprise us with something new eventually.

Cerebus said:

"won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it."

And there you have it. He can't get THE INTERNET to work the way he wants it to so he's going to make it as difficult as possible for anybody who wants to work with him. You don't get paid in advance for internet music sales, you get paid per song, or per album purchased. Seriously, this is the point for me, right here, where I'm convinced that Prince has completely lost touch with whats going on in the world. When the rest of the business is making most of their money off of internet sales he's going to turn his back because they won't pay him in advance for something that hasn't sold yet.

Actually, that's not true at all.

Firstly, its not THE INTERNET, but businesses on the internet that don't work the way he wants them to and, therefore, he doesn't want to work with them. Nothing wrong with that - if the deal isn't right (and, certainly, with iTunes, it is NOT - I don't sell my music on iTunes either and I'm not aware of any fans getting their knickers in a twist over it!) then its down to the artist to decide that (IF they are lucky enough to be in a position where they get to call those kind of shots).

Secondly, the "rest of the business" is NOT "making most of their money off of internet sales". CD sales, even with their current downward trend in sales makes up almost 70% of all music sales. The entire download sales do not even cover the lost revenue on the decline of cd sales. I'm not even on a major label and my cd sales far outstrip (legal) downloads.

The original post for this thread isn't right either - as someone said before, those that already illegally download music have been and will continue to do so. What Prince says or does won't change anything. And, by the way, thanks to those who have admitted in this thread that they will do so - you're really helping to ensure that people can continue to make music!

Cerebus said:

kewlschool said:

But, I would also think that statement was to support the newspapers and magazines that will carry his CD.

They paid him in advance. Beyond the already completed interviews he's not doing anything to support them. His "support" is those interviews and his new CD being included for "free" in their periodicals. In theory this is going to greatly increase their sales, making them quite a bit of money in return. But he doesn't actually have to do anything for them now. It's probably the least amount of work he's ever had to do around releasing and promoting an album... and he's alreayd been paid.

So, he's done his bit. He supported them with something that probably took him some months to put together. He's done his work and now he's getting it out there in a smart way. Everyone (except the traditional music retailers etc) is a winner in this deal, in particular him AND the consumer. He should be applauded, not ridiculed because he apparently hasn't put in the hours! The man has worked all his life and worked himself in to a position where he is able to do this - I don't understand why people are trying to knock it!

He gets paid, plus a much higher distribution of his album amongst the public than he would normally achieve, the consumer gets the music for FREE and the channel he uses should benefit in extra sales - exactly what is wrong with this model?

Actually, you're wrong. Because you don't sell hundreds of thousands or even millions of downloads. Major artists do. And fans have absolutely gotten their nickers in a twist about major atrists music not being available on iTunes. So much so that nearly all of them have caved and now sell it there. Second, "Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you." Try and logic it out any way you like. Prince is mad at THE INTERNET.

Mindflux said:

Cerebus said:

"won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it."

And there you have it. He can't get THE INTERNET to work the way he wants it to so he's going to make it as difficult as possible for anybody who wants to work with him. You don't get paid in advance for internet music sales, you get paid per song, or per album purchased. Seriously, this is the point for me, right here, where I'm convinced that Prince has completely lost touch with whats going on in the world. When the rest of the business is making most of their money off of internet sales he's going to turn his back because they won't pay him in advance for something that hasn't sold yet.

Actually, that's not true at all.

Firstly, its not THE INTERNET, but businesses on the internet that don't work the way he wants them to and, therefore, he doesn't want to work with them. Nothing wrong with that - if the deal isn't right (and, certainly, with iTunes, it is NOT - I don't sell my music on iTunes either and I'm not aware of any fans getting their knickers in a twist over it!) then its down to the artist to decide that (IF they are lucky enough to be in a position where they get to call those kind of shots).

Secondly, the "rest of the business" is NOT "making most of their money off of internet sales". CD sales, even with their current downward trend in sales makes up almost 70% of all music sales. The entire download sales do not even cover the lost revenue on the decline of cd sales. I'm not even on a major label and my cd sales far outstrip (legal) downloads.

The original post for this thread isn't right either - as someone said before, those that already illegally download music have been and will continue to do so. What Prince says or does won't change anything. And, by the way, thanks to those who have admitted in this thread that they will do so - you're really helping to ensure that people can continue to make music!

great post.

I've been reading responses to this interview in other sites and the reaction is the same; they react as if Prince is saying that the internet itself is passe as opposed to the business model he is referring to, and claim that it will increase illegal downloads, as if it will ever stop anyway. I also agree regarding iTunes/internet sales; I thought that the fact that musicians really make no money from downloads would have been obvious given how much it's been discussed, but I guess not.

And again, for the music lovers that people claim to be, they really show themselves when they say that they will continue to download illegally. I definitely get my share from downloads, but I typically download to see if I like and if I do I buy it.

Cerebus said:

Actually, you're wrong. Because you don't sell hundreds of thousands or even millions of downloads. Major artists do. And fans have absolutely gotten their nickers in a twist about major atrists music not being available on iTunes. So much so that nearly all of them have caved and now sell it there. Second, "Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you." Try and logic it out any way you like. Prince is mad at THE INTERNET.

Nothing to do with my sales figures mate - do the research, check it out and come back to me with hard figures that prove your theory. My info came from the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonogrphic Industry) and actual personal experience in the industry - where are your stats coming from?

[Edited 7/6/10 18:06pm]

Mindflux said:

Cerebus said:

They paid him in advance. Beyond the already completed interviews he's not doing anything to support them. His "support" is those interviews and his new CD being included for "free" in their periodicals. In theory this is going to greatly increase their sales, making them quite a bit of money in return. But he doesn't actually have to do anything for them now. It's probably the least amount of work he's ever had to do around releasing and promoting an album... and he's alreayd been paid.

So, he's done his bit. He supported them with something that probably took him some months to put together. He's done his work and now he's getting it out there in a smart way. Everyone (except the traditional music retailers etc) is a winner in this deal, in particular him AND the consumer. He should be applauded, not ridiculed because he apparently hasn't put in the hours! The man has worked all his life and worked himself in to a position where he is able to do this - I don't understand why people are trying to knock it!

He gets paid, plus a much higher distribution of his album amongst the public than he would normally achieve, the consumer gets the music for FREE and the channel he uses should benefit in extra sales - exactly what is wrong with this model?

As you mentioned, it screws the records stores that have supported him for 30 years. It's not a win for the consumer at all if it's only availabel in part of the world and you're forced to buy a periodical that you don't want (not free), thereby putting money into the hands of business people that have nothing to do with music. "Some months to put together" Really? I'm asking if you genuinely believe that? Because some weeks is probably more like it. I'm not trying to knock it, I am knocking it. It's lazy and unimaginative (he's already done it), not to mention insulting to record stores all over the world and his fans in America (who have supported him longer than any others). A higher distribution? Yeah, to the trash can, which is where a great many of them will go when they're not sold. You're right about one thing. He's getting paid. Probably more than he would have for a standard physical and downloadable version. Just like he's getting paid massive amounts of cash to play a smaller number of shows in Europe instead of actually touring. If it's all of a sudden about how much money Prince can make while doing the smallest amount of work, great! Congratulations Prince. I can't argue that you've earned it. But it's not artistically satisfying to me as a fan in the least. In fact, it's very quickly becoming pretty foul and uninteresting.

Mindflux said:

Cerebus said:

Actually, you're wrong. Because you don't sell hundreds of thousands or even millions of downloads. Major artists do. And fans have absolutely gotten their nickers in a twist about major atrists music not being available on iTunes. So much so that nearly all of them have caved and now sell it there. Second, "Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you." Try and logic it out any way you like. Prince is mad at THE INTERNET.

Nothing to do with my sales figures mate - do the research, check it out and come back to me with hard figures that prove your theory. My info came from the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonogrphic Industry) and actual personal experience in the industry - where are your stats coming from?

[Edited 7/6/10 18:06pm]

So supply them. Supply ongoing figures for CD, Vinyl and Digital sales that give examples of how much money major and independent labels are making from each. Then supply figures that compare to five years ago and ten years ago.

Nice that you ignored the rest of my post, too.

Also, for anybody who is interested in living in a non-Apple world, iTunes is not the only way an artist can sell their tracks/albums digitally (there's about 1000 ways to do so). For instance, I buy quite a few from Bleep, where the artists recieve a very nice amount from each sale.

Cerebus said:

Mindflux said:

So, he's done his bit. He supported them with something that probably took him some months to put together. He's done his work and now he's getting it out there in a smart way. Everyone (except the traditional music retailers etc) is a winner in this deal, in particular him AND the consumer. He should be applauded, not ridiculed because he apparently hasn't put in the hours! The man has worked all his life and worked himself in to a position where he is able to do this - I don't understand why people are trying to knock it!

He gets paid, plus a much higher distribution of his album amongst the public than he would normally achieve, the consumer gets the music for FREE and the channel he uses should benefit in extra sales - exactly what is wrong with this model?

As you mentioned, it screws the records stores that have supported him for 30 years. It's not a win for the consumer at all if it's only availabel in part of the world and you're forced to buy a periodical that you don't want (not free), thereby putting money into the hands of business people that have nothing to do with music. "Some months to put together" Really? I'm asking if you genuinely believe that? Because some weeks is probably more like it. I'm not trying to knock it, I am knocking it. It's lazy and unimaginative (he's already done it), not to mention insulting to record stores all over the world and his fans in America (who have supported him longer than any others). A higher distribution? Yeah, to the trash can, which is where a great many of them will go when they're not sold. You're right about one thing. He's getting paid. Probably more than he would have for a standard physical and downloadable version. Just like he's getting paid massive amounts of cash to play a smaller number of shows in Europe instead of actually touring. If it's all of a sudden about how much money Prince can make while doing the smallest amount of work, great! Congratulations Prince. I can't argue that you've earned it. But it's not artistically satisfying to me as a fan in the least. In fact, it's very quickly becoming pretty foul and uninteresting.

Haha - come on! Record stores weren't about "supporting him" - they were and are about making a profit from selling anyone's music. We live in supposedly free markets. Why does one always have to follow the trend?

And its entirely laughable that you argue its no good for the consumer! 65p for an album and all you have to do is buy something you might not normally buy? Its not like your supporting an arms dealer or anything! Just a paper who's views you might not agree with. Hardly selling your soul, is it?

When you say "some months to put together" - what do you mean? I think you are referring to setting up the deals. I'm referring to ALL the work he's put in to it - no matter how fast Prince records, getting all tracks up to a releasable standard (writing, performing, production, mastering, packaging etc) does not happen overnight and certainly takes more than a few weeks!).

And if you think that an artist maximising their earning potential is somehow not "artistically satisfying" then you're thinking about the business aspect too much and not enjoying the product. He's 53 for fuck's sake and has been working damn hard for over 30 years - the man is entitled to do less and still try and maintain his standard of living.

Cerebus said:

Mindflux said:

Nothing to do with my sales figures mate - do the research, check it out and come back to me with hard figures that prove your theory. My info came from the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonogrphic Industry) and actual personal experience in the industry - where are your stats coming from?

[Edited 7/6/10 18:06pm]

So supply them. Supply ongoing figures for CD, Vinyl and Digital sales that give examples of how much money major and independent labels are making from each. Then supply figures that compare to five years ago and ten years ago.

Nice that you ignored the rest of my post, too.

Also, for anybody who is interested in living in a non-Apple world, iTunes is not the only way an artist can sell their tracks/albums digitally (there's about 1000 ways to do so). For instance, I buy quite a few from Bleep, where the artists recieve a very nice amount from each sale.

Actually, I think the "burden of proof" is on you - YOU are the one who was making claims about how everyone is making most of their money out of digital distribution!

Here's just one article - http://www.ifpi.org/conte...r2010.html that backs up what I've said. Where is yours?

I ignored the rest of your post because it wasn't relevant!

BTW, I'm well aware that there are many options for selling music online, I just said I don't sell through iTunes! You don't sell music you create, I do - who do you think has the relevant experience here.

afro75 said:

ignoring the Internet will simply cede the online market to other distribution channels--as in, the unlicensed and illegal kind that don't yield them any return, but which many people will resort to when they're not given a legal alternative online.

chookalana said:

Ok, Prince proves once again, that he is not in touch with the real world.

As we all know, Prince says the internet is "completely over". By not releasing his music online, he is NOT doing himself any favors. By this short-sighted view, he will end up increasing the illegal downloading of his new album.

Yes, it will be released for "free" this Saturday on CD, but it will be available the same day on the internet everywhere.

Another dumb move, by a notoriously short-sighted genius.

Last I checked the ability for people to purchase 3121, PE, or LF via the internet didn't slow down anyone who wanted them via a torrent or other unauthorized download... If someone wants it for free they're gonna get it. The only people these days that actually purchase music are hardcore fans of particular artists... casual / nonchalant fans will download an artists music for free 8 times out of 10. So I don't think he'll be missing much in terms of revenue. Especially since he most likely wont be getting much radio play. Who else will even bother to look for his album except for real fans?