what would you do?

if i were his manager:

1. no more interviews. dont need em.

2. no more photos. dont need em.

3. no more fashion parades. dont need em.

4. no more guest appearances at other people's gigs. dont need em.

5. no more than 5 dates per 'tour'. dont need any more than that.

6. no more magazines. dont need em.

7. no more newspapers. dont need em.

8. no more surprise releases to internet radio. dont need em.

9. one, very simple, one-page website.

dont need more than one page. put whatever he wants on that page, whenever he likes. a song one week, a video the next, an answer to a question, whatever, etc...

isolate the source. create the magnet. and magnetize.

Wow, Ummmm.....I'm not trying to be a hater, But I think your first 7 bullet points are the exact opposite of what Prince should do if he wants to be successful.

While I do agree that Prince should stop releasing strange songs like P&G and C&E, The rest of this sounds like career suicide.

1 No more interviews. Interviews (while boring and cliche, especially for hardcore fans who've read all the interviews before) are an essential part of raising a musicians profile right before the release of an album. It goes back to the old marketing data that you have to hear about a product 6 times before you'll go out and buy it. An interview here, a performance on Ellen or Leno or whatever, see him on the cover of a few magazines and websites and voila, huge spike in album sales.

2. No More Photos- While I do agree Prince has been taking some pretty cheeseball pictures as of late, as his manager, it would be my job to make sure that didn't happen. While P was managed by spaghetti inc his photo shoots were usually more tasteful than they are today.

3. No more Fashion Parades- Uhhhhh..... Have you ever seen Prince? He has dressed in a unique way since he was 17 (at least in the pics I've seen) and he's worn high fashion type stuff since 85'. His unusual clothing serves as a reference point for his unusual music and lifestyle. The cats eccentric

4. No More Guest Appearances at Other Peoples Gigs- While I don't think this is essential for Prince's success I don't see how it's hurting him either.

5.- No more 5 Date Tours- This is the WORST ADVICE EVER! While I obviously don't know all the ins and outs of Prince's finances, I do have some vague concepts about the modern music industry. Now adays (for big acts especially) Musicians make MOST of their money performing live in venues, and while Cds obviously generate revenue, they are seen as almost a promotional tool for the upcoming tour. For sure Prince makes big money when a CD goes gold, but the amount of $$$ it takes to promote that CD, press it, get it into stores Etc makes it not as profitable as you might expect.

Furthermore, Prince is over 50, and the days of him Drag assing from city to city on a traditional tour are over (Musicology was a last hurrah of sorts imo). Princes new 'Tours' consist of him either setting up in a venue for a specific amount of time (Club 3121 in vegas or 21 Nights) or doing a few dates close together in a specific area. This keeps Prince from getting over exposed (as happened in the mid 90's when Prince did the "Gold Experience" Tour. He had toured Europe 6 times in 10 years, and was rewarded with half filled venues and had to leave his stage behind eventually just to brake even). Prince's mini tours are profitable and unlike with album releases Prince isn't Over exposing himself.

6. No more Magazine- See point number one. To us Hard Core fans these are beyond useless. But to the casual fan who went to the musicology tour and picked up the 3121 cd and hasn't really thought about P since, These news stand advertisements serve as reminders "Hey, remember this Guy! He's got a new CD coming out soon!" And you'll see them ever time you go buy groceries. Magazine Cover stuff is Essential for established acts who aren't necessarily as hot as they once were to advertise their new material.

7. No More Newspapers- See point above.

If I were Prince's manager I would have a much different list:

1) Let someone Else Produce an Album for you- We all know that P would never let this happen. He's produced himself for 30 years and he'll be damned to let someone like Timbaland produce an album for him (no matter how good it would be). But Hypothetically what if Prince HAD TO listen to me ha ha ha. With each and every album release, Prince's discography is getting known less and less for it's quality and more and more merely for it's quantity. Prince needs more 3121 and less Planet Earth. Most of Prince's best work (PR, 1999, SOTT) came when he was working closely with other musicians and experimenting with their styles. Whether we want to admit it or not, a lot of Prince's best stuff were collaborative efforts. Prince left to his own devices becomes self indulgent and stale.

2) Quit talking about religion- What P does in the Privacy of his own home is his own bussiness. But the casual Fan doesn't want this watchtower crap rammed down their throats. BTW, how does it make sense for a guy to sing "Dance Music Sex Romance" and then 5 minutes later grill a crowd about the bible? Keep your religion to yourself Mr. Nelson

3) Start making sexy music and Swear if need be- More in the vein of Black Sweat and Guitar. Prince has it in him to make sexy dance music that can be played on the radio and have name recognition with the public at large, but he needs to blow the dam and let his old school nastiness come out.

4) No More Proteges- It's been 20 years since Prince had a meaningful side project. It's time to give it a rest. These exercises take away from Prince's creative juices at a time when I feel he doesn't have enough creative juices to spare. Also, as we clearly saw with Prince's live rendition of elixir, his versions of tracks are often FAR superior to the women he's giving them to. Elixir (the song) would have fit nicely on LF imo. Also I can't even keep these girls straight. For a while I though that Bria was Manny was Tamar. These Girls don't have the personality or chops of a Sheila E or a Vanity and money and energy should not be given to them.

5) Get album art that doesn't suck- LotusFlow3r and Planet Earth both had TERRIBLE cover art. LF is laughably bad and it's tough for the casual listener to take music serious when it's packaged so poorly. Even 3121 and Musicology had so so album covers. More art like SOTT and less like Gold Experience. I work with kids, and I know some 14yr olds who can whip up better computer art then that rink-a-dink LF cover in a few hours. That album cover was Hideous.

6) Make music videos that are made to interest new fans- With the songs Musicology, Call My Name, Black Sweat and TAC Prince spent a lot of money producing high class videos that looked good. He needs to keep this up but make sure the songs are one's people actually want to hear. More Black Sweat less TAC (pretty song but it would never have been a hit).

That's it. My six stage approach to helping Prince's career. Didn't mean for it to be such an essay

[Edited 6/26/10 8:07am]

@ people thinking they're going to change a 52-year-old man.

Genesia said:

@ people thinking they're going to change a 52-year-old man.

[Edited 6/26/10 10:36am]

First I'd do this...

Then tie his stale ass to a chair, slap some headphones on his head and make him listen to this...

over and over again until he remembers what the hell FUNK is!

I'd tell him, whatever people on the org want him to do. Do the opposite.

If I were Prince's Manager, I'd keep a well supplied stock of asprins available just in case.

The first thing I would do is hire some fucking security and lock the gates to Paisley Park. The fact that the recent interview was interrupted by two strangers off the street - a taxi driver and an uber-fam - scares the shit out of me and should wake that crazy pop star the fuck up. It's more than obvious that Prince has some wack job followers and history shows that letting your guard down is often fatal for those in the limelight.

squirrelgrease said:

The first thing I would do is hire some fucking security and lock the gates to Paisley Park. The fact that the recent interview was interrupted by two strangers off the street - a taxi driver and an uber-fam - scares the shit out of me and should wake that crazy pop star the fuck up. It's more than obvious that Prince has some wack job followers and history shows that letting your guard down is often fatal for those in the limelight.

I am really really surprised that no one has broken into Paisley Park and stolen everything out of that vault by now. From what I understood before security there was and has always been pretty weak. Your post pretty much confirms that.

if i was his manager

i would make the fans work for the music

you would have to do community service to gain access to the music

the more community service the more access you get to music

but that would never work

i would be the main one trying to dodge doing community service but still try to get music on the sly

plus i dont know how you would verify if people completed it or not

but in all honesty i think he should get an official website

[Edited 6/26/10 20:21pm]

Wildboy said:

That's it. My six stage approach to helping Prince's career. Didn't mean for it to be such an essay

not at all, thanks for taking the time to go into detail and share your point of view.

here are my listed responses:

1. Prince is already successful. scrambling around for press attention makes him look cheap. he's a legend. he doesnt need to conform to the past.

2. His photos are progressively becoming cartoonish and fake, making him look cheap, despite the cost of the clothing he wears.

he doesnt need to rely on his looks or face or clothes to validate his legendary status, in fact it does quite the opposite, it strips away at the very fabric of the quality of his artistic content.

3. no more appearances at fashion parades, is what i meant. he doesnt need to be there. its a pointless, desperate and distracting exercise.

he is arguably the greatest musician of our time, conforming to the fashion set of mostly shallow and entirely transient trends. it doesnt suit him.

4. appearing as a guest at other people's gigs, also makes him look cheap. like a sidekick. it doesnt suit him. he's PRINCE, not so-and-so's patsy boy. it's pointless.

5. no more than 5 dates per tour, maybe you misread me the first time. we agree on this point.

6. magazine covers and enclosed interviews cheapen his entire legacy. his interviews these days expose his psychology, smart people see straight through it, and for that reason, he's better off keeping his mouth shut and letting his music do the talking.

he's PRINCE, not some attention seeking promotional crazy whore.

7. no more newspapers, i should have been clearer. giving CD's away via newspapers cheapens him, cheapens his music, and cheapens his entire legacy.

8. never let anyone else produce an album for him. he's PRINCE. not a conformist to the music industry set of producers who will cut their way through his trademark 'DIY' approach to recording.

doing it all himself is what shot him through the roof. musically subjegating himself to a lesser musicians production opinion is musical suicide.

terry lewis or whoever suggested he use protools, worst advice ever.

9. no more proteges, i agree. pointless waste of time. transparent egoic exercise in futility.people want to hear PRINCE, not whomever he considers worthy of attention.

if they've got what it takes, they'll make it on their own.

10. album art is entirely his choice.

11. music videos, take em or leave em. the big whatever. unless he plans on using technology no one has ever seen before, it's all been done before.

12. a one page website.

13. distribution deals only.

Billmenever said:

If I were Prince's Manager, I'd keep a well supplied stock of asprins available just in case.

maybe he's already taking them lol. that would explain the 'calm that has come over his life'.

squirrelgrease said:

The first thing I would do is hire some fucking security and lock the gates to Paisley Park.

oh he will when CJ walks right in and makes herself at home lol

...commit suicide!

funkomatic said:

...commit suicide!

lol nah. it wouldnt be so bad. think of it as a hobby.

Keep causally suggesting he should work with some worth while producers and explaining the money to be made from the vault.

fambam93 said:

Nd when I say how can anyone manage prince..I don't mean as a musician but as a person..you just can do it..he knows too much about his self worth to control him or what he does with his music.

management isnt about control.

as for prince's self-worth, i havent seen him honoring it much lately.

he knows his price, but apparently he's totally blind to his own true value.

robinhood said:

fambam93 said:

he's older now..he still knows his potential..I think that his fans think that he should do things with his life to further his career, but maybe that's just not what he wants for the latter half of his life.. As long as he's happy, he can do whatever he wants..and he can do it on his own.

if you guys got the chance to work with prince on the few times that i have, trust me none of you would want to be his manager.

jackson35 said:

if you guys got the chance to work with prince on the few times that i have, trust me none of you would want to be his manager.

Bria?

fambam93 said:

robinhood said:

management isnt about control.

as for prince's self-worth, i havent seen him honoring it much lately.

he knows his price, but apparently he's totally blind to his own true value.

True..but he's older now..he still knows his potential..I think that his fans think that he should do things with his life to further his career, but maybe that's just not what he wants for the latter half of his life.. As long as he's happy, he can do whatever he wants..and he can do it on his own.

fair to say its not just some of his fans that think he should do things to further his career.

in his case, management should be about preservation.

-preserving his physical health

-preserving his ability to create

-preserving his artistic integrity

-preserving the true value of his legacy

any 'manager' worth their salt would do just that, and anyone around him who currently isnt even considering ANY of those things, is not qualified to be around him, IMHO.

if PRINCE is not thinking about any of those things, then i would have to disagree with you and say no, he can't do it on his own.

my original 9 points and subsequent 13 points still stand.

it isnt about control.

its about respect.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

First I'd do this...

"never start with the head, the victim gets all fuzzy" - the joker

robinhood said:

what would you do?

if i were his manager:

1. no more interviews. dont need em.

2. no more photos. dont need em.

3. no more fashion parades. dont need em.

4. no more guest appearances at other people's gigs. dont need em.

5. no more than 5 dates per 'tour'. dont need any more than that.

6. no more magazines. dont need em.

7. no more newspapers. dont need em.

8. no more surprise releases to internet radio. dont need em.

9. one, very simple, one-page website.

dont need more than one page. put whatever he wants on that page, whenever he likes. a song one week, a video the next, an answer to a question, whatever, etc...

isolate the source. create the magnet. and magnetize.

and he would say "you're fired". And I'd agree with him.

madhouseman said:

robinhood said:

what would you do?

if i were his manager:

1. no more interviews. dont need em.

2. no more photos. dont need em.

3. no more fashion parades. dont need em.

4. no more guest appearances at other people's gigs. dont need em.

5. no more than 5 dates per 'tour'. dont need any more than that.

6. no more magazines. dont need em.

7. no more newspapers. dont need em.

8. no more surprise releases to internet radio. dont need em.

9. one, very simple, one-page website.

and he would say "you're fired". And I'd agree with him.

more than happy to leave it in the hands of those who view Prince as purely a commodity that should be pimped out until there's nothings left of it.

they'll be happy i'm sure, to make so much money and gain so much fleeting prestige, while his entire legacy gets flushed down the commercial drain pipe of transient and highly unnecessary fodder.

mm sounds good.

Wildboy your advise is dead on. i agree totally. I also agree with the post that he should allow someone else to produce his music and work with other artists. The last few albums have no memorable material. i may plan one or two songs but keep jumping back to the older stuff in the 80 early 90's at then 3121 and Musicology. Anything since that has been absolutely crap imho.......

Wildboy said:

Wow, Ummmm.....I'm not trying to be a hater, But I think your first 7 bullet points are the exact opposite of what Prince should do if he wants to be successful.

While I do agree that Prince should stop releasing strange songs like P&G and C&E, The rest of this sounds like career suicide.

1 No more interviews. Interviews (while boring and cliche, especially for hardcore fans who've read all the interviews before) are an essential part of raising a musicians profile right before the release of an album. It goes back to the old marketing data that you have to hear about a product 6 times before you'll go out and buy it. An interview here, a performance on Ellen or Leno or whatever, see him on the cover of a few magazines and websites and voila, huge spike in album sales.

2. No More Photos- While I do agree Prince has been taking some pretty cheeseball pictures as of late, as his manager, it would be my job to make sure that didn't happen. While P was managed by spaghetti inc his photo shoots were usually more tasteful than they are today.

3. No more Fashion Parades- Uhhhhh..... Have you ever seen Prince? He has dressed in a unique way since he was 17 (at least in the pics I've seen) and he's worn high fashion type stuff since 85'. His unusual clothing serves as a reference point for his unusual music and lifestyle. The cats eccentric

4. No More Guest Appearances at Other Peoples Gigs- While I don't think this is essential for Prince's success I don't see how it's hurting him either.

5.- No more 5 Date Tours- This is the WORST ADVICE EVER! While I obviously don't know all the ins and outs of Prince's finances, I do have some vague concepts about the modern music industry. Now adays (for big acts especially) Musicians make MOST of their money performing live in venues, and while Cds obviously generate revenue, they are seen as almost a promotional tool for the upcoming tour. For sure Prince makes big money when a CD goes gold, but the amount of $$$ it takes to promote that CD, press it, get it into stores Etc makes it not as profitable as you might expect.

Furthermore, Prince is over 50, and the days of him Drag assing from city to city on a traditional tour are over (Musicology was a last hurrah of sorts imo). Princes new 'Tours' consist of him either setting up in a venue for a specific amount of time (Club 3121 in vegas or 21 Nights) or doing a few dates close together in a specific area. This keeps Prince from getting over exposed (as happened in the mid 90's when Prince did the "Gold Experience" Tour. He had toured Europe 6 times in 10 years, and was rewarded with half filled venues and had to leave his stage behind eventually just to brake even). Prince's mini tours are profitable and unlike with album releases Prince isn't Over exposing himself.

6. No more Magazine- See point number one. To us Hard Core fans these are beyond useless. But to the casual fan who went to the musicology tour and picked up the 3121 cd and hasn't really thought about P since, These news stand advertisements serve as reminders "Hey, remember this Guy! He's got a new CD coming out soon!" And you'll see them ever time you go buy groceries. Magazine Cover stuff is Essential for established acts who aren't necessarily as hot as they once were to advertise their new material.

7. No More Newspapers- See point above.

If I were Prince's manager I would have a much different list:

1) Let someone Else Produce an Album for you- We all know that P would never let this happen. He's produced himself for 30 years and he'll be damned to let someone like Timbaland produce an album for him (no matter how good it would be). But Hypothetically what if Prince HAD TO listen to me ha ha ha. With each and every album release, Prince's discography is getting known less and less for it's quality and more and more merely for it's quantity. Prince needs more 3121 and less Planet Earth. Most of Prince's best work (PR, 1999, SOTT) came when he was working closely with other musicians and experimenting with their styles. Whether we want to admit it or not, a lot of Prince's best stuff were collaborative efforts. Prince left to his own devices becomes self indulgent and stale.

2) Quit talking about religion- What P does in the Privacy of his own home is his own bussiness. But the casual Fan doesn't want this watchtower crap rammed down their throats. BTW, how does it make sense for a guy to sing "Dance Music Sex Romance" and then 5 minutes later grill a crowd about the bible? Keep your religion to yourself Mr. Nelson

3) Start making sexy music and Swear if need be- More in the vein of Black Sweat and Guitar. Prince has it in him to make sexy dance music that can be played on the radio and have name recognition with the public at large, but he needs to blow the dam and let his old school nastiness come out.

4) No More Proteges- It's been 20 years since Prince had a meaningful side project. It's time to give it a rest. These exercises take away from Prince's creative juices at a time when I feel he doesn't have enough creative juices to spare. Also, as we clearly saw with Prince's live rendition of elixir, his versions of tracks are often FAR superior to the women he's giving them to. Elixir (the song) would have fit nicely on LF imo. Also I can't even keep these girls straight. For a while I though that Bria was Manny was Tamar. These Girls don't have the personality or chops of a Sheila E or a Vanity and money and energy should not be given to them.

5) Get album art that doesn't suck- LotusFlow3r and Planet Earth both had TERRIBLE cover art. LF is laughably bad and it's tough for the casual listener to take music serious when it's packaged so poorly. Even 3121 and Musicology had so so album covers. More art like SOTT and less like Gold Experience. I work with kids, and I know some 14yr olds who can whip up better computer art then that rink-a-dink LF cover in a few hours. That album cover was Hideous.

6) Make music videos that are made to interest new fans- With the songs Musicology, Call My Name, Black Sweat and TAC Prince spent a lot of money producing high class videos that looked good. He needs to keep this up but make sure the songs are one's people actually want to hear. More Black Sweat less TAC (pretty song but it would never have been a hit).

That's it. My six stage approach to helping Prince's career. Didn't mean for it to be such an essay

[Edited 6/26/10 8:07am]

like clockwork

1. I'd sit with Prince and discuss where he wanted to go next; what his objectives are/were

2. I would construct a strategic plan with specific goals, benchmarks and outcomes

3. Propose the plan to Prince

4. Review the plan daily to determine if we're on course

5. Possibly enlist a focus group for some feedback

6. Check back with Prince to make sure we're on the same page and the goals and methods have not changed

7. Tweak the plan, if necessary, and to add unforseeable opportunities or issues to address

8. Check off achieved goals

9. Remind Prince (in a nice way) how lucky he was to have me

10. Begin working on next plan

11. Start over at #1

[Edited 6/28/10 22:25pm]