What if Prince is deliberately creating a collectibles market for his albums by releasing them only in certain countries and not others to create some sort of, gah the words escape me, but a way of promoting that he is indeed still releasing albums by printing such small amounts so that the ebayers are buying/selling albums like 20ten at premium prices, maybe ultimately creating some sort of free advertising for himself if the buying/selling/trading thing creates a frenzy for this one album he hasn't seen in a long time?

Does this make sense?

Purpleaxxe1972 said:

What if Prince is deliberately creating a collectibles market for his albums by releasing them only in certain countries and not others to create some sort of, gah the words escape me, but a way of promoting that he is indeed still releasing albums by printing such small amounts so that the ebayers are buying/selling albums like 20ten at premium prices, maybe ultimately creating some sort of free advertising for himself if the buying/selling/trading thing creates a frenzy for this one album he hasn't seen in a long time?

Does this make sense?

maybe ...

but i dont think thats the case

i just think he wanted to get payed upfront

since when did collectibles come with trashy newspapers?

Purpleaxxe1972 said:

What if Prince is deliberately creating a collectibles market for his albums by releasing them only in certain countries and not others to create some sort of, gah the words escape me, but a way of promoting that he is indeed still releasing albums by printing such small amounts so that the ebayers are buying/selling albums like 20ten at premium prices, maybe ultimately creating some sort of free advertising for himself if the buying/selling/trading thing creates a frenzy for this one album he hasn't seen in a long time?

Does this make sense?

Yes. But I don't think it's true.

If however, he came out and said that his next album was only to be released in the USA through a certain record chain and the only way anyone else around the world could get it was via the record chain's online store, I could see this working in his favour as all sales would count towards the US chart and no doubt get him to no.1.

The only issue with that is he doesn't care about charts (apparently), and the internet is dead (blah blah).

I was thinking more along the lines of smaller print runs. I'm sure there's more demand worldwide and that smaller printing of one album, as a freebie with a rag or no, could create demand worldwide for this one album thus free advertising on ebay or wherever for it. I'm a comic book collector and the same thing happens when an independant creates a book with the shorter print run like the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. The series got so popular that the original #1 is worth money and created demand for it. When subsequent issues are released the print runs are increased as demand warrants, thus more profit for the company or individual who created it. That's why I was wondering if he could be testing the waters a bit in the collectability market for this release in small numbers to see if the aftermarket demand will warrant release elsewhere. It will probably be some time before we see a U.S. release because of the leftovers of the newspapers/magazines with the CD attached gets sold and determined if there is enough demand to issue 20ten to the rest of us.

Collectibility relies on rarity. With oodles of copies printed - and any number of international avenues for obtaining same - there is nothing rare about 20TEN or any of his recent releases.

It's a nice thought, but unrealistic IMO.I don't think there's any buzz created by this on eBay etc, other than for fans/collectors outside the geographical areas where the album is released.

I think it just boils down to burning a lot of bridges, and a mix of distrust/ignorance/fear/lethargy where the business/promotion end of the 'business' is concerned.

Prince has stated he wants cash upfront for albums, and it seems the only people currently willing to offer that without much in return, other than a couple of spreads and an interview, are newspapers.

How long that will continue, one can only wonder; it seems to me like Prince is making hay whilst the sun shines with this particular gimmick, because it surely can only bring diminishing returns for print media in the long term. That is, there's only so many hits shows and "return to form" albums that can be boosted on the back of this form of distribution before interest starts to wane.

Does anyone know what the total print runs were for each of the papers and the Rolling Stone? I'm curious how many total printed there were.

20ten not coming out in the us kind of makes me feel good in a way..i feel like I have more of an exclusive secret album almost...that alot of people cant get. Now I just wish I had it on vinyl...

Purpleaxxe1972 said:

Does this make sense?

In a word: NO.

I think what is happening with Prince's recent method of distribution may be akin to those AOL discs that couldn't be avoided for years. Giving music away to people that have no desire to listen to it, or worse, are completely ambivalent towards the product is really only creating a perception that his output is an artless commodity. I believe it to be a slippery slope with a tasty payday up front, but a world of career suicide on the other side.

Creating a collectibles market has little/no immediate financial gain for Prince, which seems to be his only way of conducting business these days. If he wanted to do that, he has loads of unreleased material in his catalog that he can dabble into at a more controlled rate for that purpose. Imagine if there were only 5,000 copies of 20Ten printed...that creates a demand, making the physical CD a rarer item.

I think what is happening with Prince's recent method of distribution may be akin to those AOL discs that couldn't be avoided for years.

LMFAO...exactly.

Creating a collectible market for himself would be independently releasing his own CDs and vinyl, on his own label, in limited quantities, with pressing and piece numbers.

Pressing one, with exclusive lithograph, 1 of 5,000

Pressing two, no lithograph, 1 of 10,000

Pressing three, unlimited

By doing that he's made pressings one and two collectible.

I thought about this after One Nite Alone... piano went expensive on Ebay. But as a bussiness model, no, I don't think it's a good idea.

Most media deal with high first copy costs. Suppose he only made one copy of his new album. The price would have to be ludacris to make some money of it. Music/newspapers/magazines start to make money when they sell a lot of the same thing.

squirrelgrease said:

I think what is happening with Prince's recent method of distribution may be akin to those AOL discs that couldn't be avoided for years. Giving music away to people that have no desire to listen to it, or worse, are completely ambivalent towards the product is really only creating a perception that his output is an artless commodity. I believe it to be a slippery slope with a tasty payday up front, but a world of career suicide on the other side.

I believe you are right. If he continues using this method, he'll probably end up where you say. And, if his output does become an artless product, it won't be worth it to any newspaper to pay Prince up front.

The part I hate the most is that Prince has no incentive whatsoever to promote an album when he's paid up front. And when he forgets about an album, I find myself forgetting about it, too.

If he doesn't care about "20Ten" enough to tour behind it, or even play the songs from it when he does put on the odd show, then it sends a real bad message to me.

At first, I thought Prince was a genius doing this, but now I'm seeing unintended consequences out the wazoo.

Sander said:

I thought about this after One Nite Alone... piano went expensive on Ebay. But as a bussiness model, no, I don't think it's a good idea.

Most media deal with high first copy costs. Suppose he only made one copy of his new album. The price would have to be ludacris to make some money of it. Music/newspapers/magazines start to make money when they sell a lot of the same thing.

Yeah. If Prince does indeed create a collectible market, it doesn't benefit him. It benefits those of us that bought "ONA Piano" for $10, or got it with our "ONA Live" DVD, and now want to sell it.

Prince gets nothing from the resale transaction.

Prince's business model is similar to radiohead's now I think. The album supports live performances (or a tour), where the real money is being made.

This of course, means he's going to have to stay on the road often to generate the funds he needs.

I personally like the newspaper idea as it distributes a CD out to millions of potential listeners who otherwise would never walk into a CD store or go on iTunes and download your stuff.

The issue is that 20Ten, even though it's a decent enough album, simply has now wow factor to it. It's simply a bad way to onboard new fans. It doesn't have enough going for it---and the packaging is way fem and will turn off some customers straight away.

But like several of you have said on this thread, it's as if he's doing it because he's burned so many bridges before, or he's trying to get the quick upfront buck before his payoff.

He's pushing product. And at this point in his career, I think he's seeing his art as just that...product.

^^ Yes, to a lot of what y'all are saying. But if he did what I suggested above he could sell pressings one and two for vastly inflated prices. Thereby making himself more money as he is almost assured of those smaller collectible pieces selling out quickly.

PicklesMcMillan said:

Purpleaxxe1972 said:

What if Prince is deliberately creating a collectibles market for his albums by releasing them only in certain countries and not others to create some sort of, gah the words escape me, but a way of promoting that he is indeed still releasing albums by printing such small amounts so that the ebayers are buying/selling albums like 20ten at premium prices, maybe ultimately creating some sort of free advertising for himself if the buying/selling/trading thing creates a frenzy for this one album he hasn't seen in a long time?

Does this make sense?

maybe ...

but i dont think thats the case

i just think he wanted to get payed upfront

since when did collectibles come with trashy newspapers?

& if I'm not mistaken hasn't every album P's done been released in the States?

TheVoid said:

I personally like the newspaper idea as it distributes a CD out to millions of potential listeners who otherwise would never walk into a CD store or go on iTunes and download your stuff.

How is this relevant to any actual business model? He is following the same business model software companies do when they produce covermount versions of their products. The difference is that those products WILL eventually be used and, likely, by tons of people because they are relevant to the magazine they are mounted on.

Prince's album being mounted on a gossip rag does not mean people will actually -play- the CD. It means people will possess it shortly prior to getting rid of it. I think the nature of the magazine is irrelevant to Prince because, like you said, its him shilling a product and if he can drop a half assed album (like 20TEN) into a magazine, people will listen and then go to the show.

Except that's not what is happening. The people who would've bought 20TEN anyway are now snapping up the newspapers or whatever and boosting that business' sales, but as far as garnering new fans with 20TEN - it ain't happening and his recent ticket sales slump proves this.

Purpleaxxe1972 said:

What if Prince is deliberately creating a collectibles market for his albums by releasing them only in certain countries and not others to create some sort of, gah the words escape me, but a way of promoting that he is indeed still releasing albums by printing such small amounts so that the ebayers are buying/selling albums like 20ten at premium prices, maybe ultimately creating some sort of free advertising for himself if the buying/selling/trading thing creates a frenzy for this one album he hasn't seen in a long time?

Does this make sense?

I see what you are saying, but the only people that are upset about it not being released in the US are die-hards who have to have everything official. For the casual listener, they can just go online and download it for free. If they like fine, if not DELETE! All it takes now is for one person to buy a cd and upload it for the rest of the world to hear for free, and I'm sure Prince knows this. He doesn't have enough fans left to make him a guaranteed multi platinum seller, hence the payout up front.

squirrelgrease said:

I think what is happening with Prince's recent method of distribution may be akin to those AOL discs that couldn't be avoided for years. Giving music away to people that have no desire to listen to it, or worse, are completely ambivalent towards the product is really only creating a perception that his output is an artless commodity. I believe it to be a slippery slope with a tasty payday up front, but a world of career suicide on the other side.

Great post. I agree with every bit of it.