Listening to The Chocolate Invasion. Still hate it...but at least it was different. With the stars of my generation leaving the planet so quickly I'm concerned that he's one of the few true artists left.

The music industry wasn't always about teens and twenty somethings. Back in the 60s and 70's, even the early 80's, very young acts were the minority. Now you rarely see older acts getting signed or backed by a major. As long as new young acts have a track with a thumping beat and look good with their shirts off (or pants or bras off as the case may be) they can become stars. The music industry is polished crap, and getting worse every year. As talented as Prince is I don't think he would have a snowball's chance of getting signed today.

No-record companies today wouldn't even recognize his genius all they sign is garbage.

53 year old playing plastic sounding pop songs with lyrics about how funky he is?

No!

If he whored himself out as much as current "artists", then yes.

TheDigitalGardener said:

53 year old playing plastic sounding pop songs with lyrics about how funky he is?

No!

I think you misunderstood the question. Was not asking about 53 y/o Prince but 19 y/o Prince.

FunkiestOne said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

53 year old playing plastic sounding pop songs with lyrics about how funky he is?

No!

I think you misunderstood the question. Was not asking about 53 y/o Prince but 19 y/o Prince.

Ahh, sorry.

I'll still stick with no.

FunkiestOne said:

If he whored himself out as much as current "artists", then yes.

the perfect reply. . .

Probably not. Let's say Prince was the same 19 year old in 2012 as he was in the 70's. Major labels wouldnt know what to do with him. These days, the few acts that do get signed to majors need to have a smash out the gate. So even if he did get signed because some rare a&r took a chance, you can bet after "For you" he would have gotten his walking papers. Let's go the route of another label realizing his genius and giving him a second shot. Although "Prince" had a hit with "I wanna be your lover" the album still didnt move units, so again the door would be calling. This current climate is not condusive to finding talented unique artist. Thank God for the internet and indies.

TheDigitalGardener said:

FunkiestOne said:

I think you misunderstood the question. Was not asking about 53 y/o Prince but 19 y/o Prince.

Ahh, sorry.

I'll still stick with no.

yes...he would have been signed ....talent like his cannot be ignored...

I think he would but most likely on a non-major label, who would then be kicking themselves 3 - 4 albums later when he blew up.

There are a lot of "underground" acts that are quite popular, but not on major labels who have strong followings. I feel Prince would fall into this same category. I think it would be the same as it was in teh 70's where he would acquire a small but loyal fan base, have an album that gets a good notice, and then another that just shoots him into the stars.

Question I have is what type of music would he be focusing on if he came out today.

HA.

No.

WinterIsComing said:

Probably not. Let's say Prince was the same 19 year old in 2012 as he was in the 70's. Major labels wouldnt know what to do with him. These days, the few acts that do get signed to majors need to have a smash out the gate. So even if he did get signed because some rare a&r took a chance, you can bet after "For you" he would have gotten his walking papers. Let's go the route of another label realizing his genius and giving him a second shot. Although "Prince" had a hit with "I wanna be your lover" the album still didnt move units, so again the door would be calling. This current climate is not condusive to finding talented unique artist. Thank God for the internet and indies.

I'd have to agree with your assesment. Anything is possible but chances are he wouldn't even be given the time to develop into the artist we know and love. I'm not sure that even a good indie label would sign him. When you're working with a small group of people who have limited funds I would think you'd need to be a bit more open minded than he appears to be. I think he would be recording and releasing his own music on the internet.

I don't know if he'd be signed but I'm sure he would be using YOUTUBE to his advantage!!

I'll be the contrarian here because I think a young Prince probably would be signed today. His early stuff was quite poppy (Soft and Wet, I Wanna be Your Lover, I Feel for You). Plus, labels would like the fact that he played so many instruments and was still a teenager. So, I say yes. Now he might not have gotten much label promotion, though.

[Edited 3/9/12 12:47pm]

Of course he would be signed

The real question is, would he be dropped after his first album?.

Probably.

I Agree With this Thread! Sgmusic, This is the smarter thread that I've Readed So far!

Well, I'm 15 years Old And I believe With every fiber of my Body That Today's Music Is Crap. I prefer the Old school Music And I Always will do.

You ask me if prince would be signed nowadays?

If he were A Junkie Naked Alcoholic, Who sings Stupid songs About Different shapes of lipstick, THEN Maybe He would.

Today, to be an artist The Important Thing Isn't how much Talent you have, But How Much Skin do you Show

PEACE!

I think so. He had the talent, and the looks.

TheDigitalGardener said:

53 year old playing plastic sounding pop songs with lyrics about how funky he is?

No!

Didn't MPLSound already come out?

Yeah, but would he be inspired to record, knowing he would not make any money and his music would be distributed for free!!!

yes there are plenty of singer/songwriters being signed today Bruno Mars for instance has a versatilty that reminds me of Prince.

Well, if Prince was 18 today, he'd probably be making different music than the 18-year-old Prince of 1976 was making.

He'd still be the best around, and I'm sure he'd get signed.

No. But I don't think many artists/bands from the 70s would get signed today.

RodeoSchro said:

Well, if Prince was 18 today, he'd probably be making different music than the 18-year-old Prince of 1976 was making.

He'd still be the best around, and I'm sure he'd get signed.

^^ Agree with that, and Blackbob and BlynDiamond and the others who say yes. With the way that he can play live, massive talent, his determination, and that risktaking that makes "rocknroll" so sexy and youthful, he could not be ignored.

Not as performer. The A&R guys would say he was too short, not black enough, not white enough, and too focused on musicianship. Then they would turn around and hire him to write and produce for tall white guys and he’d probably still do pretty well.

Prince got signed at a time when record companies would give an artist the chance to record a couple of albums just to find their feet and develop. These days that wouldn't happen, there's just not the money that there used to be, and an artist has to be fully devloped and ready to go before they get signed.

I don't believe that 19-year old Prince would get signed today. Dirty-mind era Prince would though - without a doubt!

fishwillbite said:

Prince got signed at a time when record companies would give an artist the chance to record a couple of albums just to find their feet and develop. These days that wouldn't happen, there's just not the money that there used to be, and an artist has to be fully devloped and ready to go before they get signed.

I don't believe that 19-year old Prince would get signed today. Dirty-mind era Prince would though - without a doubt!

Really? What I notice are "artists" getting signed before they are ready. They just make an album and are thrust into doing "live" performances without knowing what they're doing! I've seen a couple of acts who had hits that sounded OK, polished, and good delivery, but then when they performed them, it was a hideous mess. No stage presence, no ability to actually sing or play live (kinda like &y), don't even know where the lights, camera, other people on stage, are. And who knows how ready and capable they are in the studio - probably all the stuff written and done for them.

nyse said:

FunkiestOne said:

If he whored himself out as much as current "artists", then yes.

the perfect reply. . .

true! and they wouldn´t let him produce his own records!!!

fishwillbite said:

Prince got signed at a time when record companies would give an artist the chance to record a couple of albums just to find their feet and develop. These days that wouldn't happen, there's just not the money that there used to be, and an artist has to be fully devloped and ready to go before they get signed.

I don't believe that 19-year old Prince would get signed today. Dirty-mind era Prince would though - without a doubt!

Yep... record companies used to give artists a chance to find their footing. Artists like India Arie OR (fill in the blank with any other talented singer songwriters you can think of) don't stand a chance up against the Rhianna or Katy Perry, + (the latest hip hop artist guest spot) formula of today.

sibly74 said:

No. But I don't think many artists/bands from the 70s would get signed today.

true