perhaps he has finally accepted the fact that even excellent albums like Lotus or 20Ten are doomed to fail without a proper distribution/marketing campaign

I just hope he signs a deal with a label or something

Rebeljuice said:

Prince claims that the reason he recorded Lovesexy was because he didnt want the Black album to be the last thing he ever did if he died right there and then. But in the same vain, if he has now retired from the studio does he really want 20Ten to be the last thing he ever did? Is he really that proud of it that he can call it a day and retire on a high? I hope not. Whilst better than MPLSound, it is hardly one to treasure.

I hope there is at least one more great album in him and I would rather wait 4 years, with no other releases whatsoever, rather than get a mediocre samey samey album every year with dull horns, old and tired jazz infused slow funk tunes, boring formulaic ballads and production techniques that sound tired, samey and overdone.

I think most of his hard core fans are waiting for that album (and have been waiting fruitlessly for nearly 20 years now). Can he do it? maybe. Should he try? Absolutely!

Leaving the market alone for a few years may be the way to achieve it.

... and in the meantime Prince, please come to Africa and give us a few shows. I have no doubt you will find a different inspiration here that you may find fantastically brilliant! Afterall... music, like humans, have their origins right here.

does that mean that he was considering suicide at that time?, because right after it Come had Prince 1958-1993 on it. If he was concerned about it being his last it kind of sounds that way. 20Ten as his last album wouldn't be a bad thing i liked the album but I truly hope it isn't his last because I want to see him live a very long life with many new albums and eras :p.

IstenSzek said:

in the meantime he could release individual songs he feels good about through other and

interesting ways.

Good idea. Old outtakes, extended but not too re-dressed.

But 2014?

He'll be sorry if the world ends on the 21st of December 2012.

he should have made a 1999ish album regarding the 2012 hysteria :p.

If you want a good album, you're going to have to wait for it.

It's crazy, people always want an album every year and wonder why they think it's so "hit and miss" and sounds "rushed". Damn right it's rushed. You were begging for a new album as soon as the last one got released.

Patience is key, so hold your titties.

Damn messege boards.

JoeTyler said:

perhaps he has finally accepted the fact that even excellent albums like Lotus or 20Ten are doomed to fail without a proper distribution/marketing campaign

I just hope he signs a deal with a label or something

Excuse me!!! Lotusflow3r went gold with only one distributor and debut @ #2 on the hot 100 & the "MasterPiece" 20T3N was distributed to over a million peeps boo boo. That is hardly a failure. Also neither had any hit singles. think Prince has done pretty well coming up with ways to get his product out...

Red Hot Chili Peppers usually release albums years apart.

In the last month or so they've release two EPs and just announced that they'll be putting out a string of 7"/digital singles in 2012. 18 songs in total.

Times are changing, to be sure. Sucks for me, because I'm still a fan of a good long album if the songs are worth listening to.

Also, as has kind of been covered. Prince released A LOT of music from 2000-2010. I mean, like, A LOT. I'm not really bothered by the wait, which is actually even longer since his last album didn't see release in the U.S. Whatever. We know he's recorded. He'll release something eventually.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

JoeTyler said:

perhaps he has finally accepted the fact that even excellent albums like Lotus or 20Ten are doomed to fail without a proper distribution/marketing campaign

I just hope he signs a deal with a label or something

Excuse me!!! Lotusflow3r went gold with only one distributor and debut @ #2 on the hot 100 & the "MasterPiece" 20T3N was distributed to over a million peeps boo boo. That is hardly a failure. Also neither had any hit singles. think Prince has done pretty well coming up with ways to get his product out...

Get outta heeeerrrreee. Lotusflow3r was on sale for as low as 99 cents. It was $2.99 for months. 20Ten never saw release in the States, regardless of how many people were forced to recieve it in their newspaper. The point is that some of us are tired of silly games. Since he left WB he's been touting how original and different he is with this stuff. Well you know what? He's not anymore. The music business is smaller now and there are plenty of labels that do cool, different stuff all the time. When he stops worrying about how much money he's going to get paid up front and starts caring about the quality of what he's releasing again it will be painfully obvious. I would go so far as to say the best tracks from Lotusflow3r and MPLSound show that.

Cerebus said:

Lotusflow3r was on sale for as low as 99 cents.

I'm sure the number of us that paid the $77 for the club membership more than makes up for the amount of people that got it for 99c.

Besides, the amount the retailer sells it for doesn't matter, they still bought the stock from Prince. That's no different than how the major labels work. Sales figures only mean the amount of records shipped to retailers, not how many sell.

With that considered, Prince going gold with this method would still have netted him far more money than going gold with, say, Rave Un2. And whatever the retailer sells it for is irrelevant, so there's no grounds there for you to diminish the achievement.

Why should he put out another CD? So 'his fans' can listen to it 300 times on the first day and declare it a failure, shelve it and then 5 years down the line recant and say how much they love it and it's almost a classic.

Militant said:

Cerebus said:

Lotusflow3r was on sale for as low as 99 cents.

I'm sure the number of us that paid the $77 for the club membership more than makes up for the amount of people that got it for 99c.

Besides, the amount the retailer sells it for doesn't matter, they still bought the stock from Prince. That's no different than how the major labels work. Sales figures only mean the amount of records shipped to retailers, not how many sell.

With that considered, Prince going gold with this method would still have netted him far more money than going gold with, say, Rave Un2. And whatever the retailer sells it for is irrelevant, so there's no grounds there for you to diminish the achievement.

Did you get the CD for the price of the website/"club" membership? All I got was a lousy t-shirt and a download. I never got the physical CD - I had to buy that seperately. At least that's my memory of the fiasco.

Also, hell yes it diminished the achievement. Retailers (Target, anyway ) couldn't move them, which means they won't buy that many in the future.

And for like, the 1000th time, Prince would make the most money if he actually ran his own independent record label like a professional (see Righteous Babe Records, Sub Pop, Dischord, JagJaguar or about bajillion others). But he's never done that, because it's huge amounts of work. So long as all he wants is a paycheck we're going to keep getting weird distribution deals.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

JoeTyler said:

perhaps he has finally accepted the fact that even excellent albums like Lotus or 20Ten are doomed to fail without a proper distribution/marketing campaign

I just hope he signs a deal with a label or something

the "MasterPiece" 20T3N

smoothcriminal12 said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

the "MasterPiece" 20T3N

smoothcriminal12 said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

the "MasterPiece" 20T3N

I feel SO much like bringing out "for me to poop" on line back

aardvark15 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

I feel SO much like bringing out "for me to poop" on line back

smoothcriminal12 said:

Militant said:

Cerebus said:

Lotusflow3r was on sale for as low as 99 cents.

I'm sure the number of us that paid the $77 for the club membership more than makes up for the amount of people that got it for 99c.

Besides, the amount the retailer sells it for doesn't matter, they still bought the stock from Prince. That's no different than how the major labels work. Sales figures only mean the amount of records shipped to retailers, not how many sell.

With that considered, Prince going gold with this method would still have netted him far more money than going gold with, say, Rave Un2. And whatever the retailer sells it for is irrelevant, so there's no grounds there for you to diminish the achievement.

Preach!!!!

HonestMan13 said:

Why should he put out another CD? So 'his fans' can listen to it 300 times on the first day and declare it a failure, shelve it and then 5 years down the line recant and say how much they love it and it's almost a classic.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Agree with what someone else said. Doesn't make any since 4 him 2 release a new "MasterPiece" album with the way the music industry is 2day it would be a waste. He is better off doing what he does now play music on stages across the world. He makes more money that way. Plus Keeps fresh & in top playing mode.. mean look what happen 2 Madonna. Her latest set a record 4 plummeting down the charts. Its a flop..

Uh, wasn't that "someone else," you?

HonestMan13 said:

otishendryx said:

HonestMan13 said:

Why should he put out another CD? So 'his fans' can listen to it 300 times on the first day and declare it a failure, shelve it and then 5 years down the line recant and say how much they love it and it's almost a classic.

Hahahaha

I can't wait to hear another album. Every Prince fan is different, most of my friends are mainstream old school fans, but give me anything from musicology onwards, it is all brilliant to me!

Giovanni777 said:

Another possibility would be that he's been reinforcing his international fan base as part of a plan for a major distribution...

And there it is

I think Prince realised just how limited his hardcore fanbase was during the whole Lotusflow3r website debacle (although we could argue the cost of membership was the real issue)

Prince already stated at time of release of 20en that he had more projects ready. Surely it's reasonable to deduce that DISTRIBUTION is one factor, and SALES another.

20Ten was poorly received in the main. Exactly how would Prince release an albums worth of material he deems good? Surely he's exhausted the newspaper distribution method now that newspapers are seing sales slumps themselves (people favour online)

This w2 gh tour has been going since 2010 - from U.S, to Canada, Europe, Australia - he realises he needs to build up his fanbase to make any future major release (including back catalogue/ remastes etc feasible)

^ I maybe missing the point here but hasn't Prince always had an international fan base? especially in europe.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

If I'd released some of the best albums of all time I'd get sick of my new albums being largely irrelevant too.

smoothcriminal12 said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

This is all too much