babynoz said:

XxAxX said:

most of us are adult enough to know what prince is about by now. for the past forty years he has never been predictable, nor has he ever stuck to a traditional format. this is his trademark style.

i find this lack of predictability, and the easter egg hunt element of surprise! go find it, to be amusing and fun. other people seem to find it annoying and rude.

so when i read multiple angry posts from folks who are bitchfesting about what prince is doing these days it simply puzzles me that they are still here, hanging around the ORG all these years, feeling annoyed with prince, and moreover spending time to post their angry objections.

are they masochists? do tbese people also deliberately wear ill-fitting shoes that hurt their feet so they can complain about those too?? what's up with this behavior???? why stick around if they don't like what's going down? why keep on keeping on? it makes no sesne.

because, most adults who feel angry and annoyed with prince's style by now would have found another artist to follow all these years.

yet, there are some who seem to be prisoners of their own obsession. to the point where they hate everything prince does, they spend their time and energy complaining about their hate, and further blaming prince for 'making them' go to certain lengths to obtain his music.

all that complaining and griping seems like such a waste of time and energy to me that i cannot help but feel sorry for them.

i feel sorry for them because they missing out on something i consider to be huge big fun.

i also feel sorry for them because they are in a perpetually angry state over not being able to make prince become what they want him to be. this is just my point of view

[Edited 2/15/13 16:10pm]

There ya go...it's fun to you and that's what matters. Like I said, different people find different things entertaining.

I don't know about "them" or "they", but the guy who started the thread is not a serial basher...far from it, and the handful of people who fit that description thrive off of the attention they always get from offending the sensibilities of others.

I would think that most of us are adult enough to recognize and ignore a troll when we see one and to distinguish between a troll and someone who simply isn't interested in Prince's latest endeavor.

I like what I like whether or not someone else happens to agree. I don't know why I would feel sorry for somebody simply because they don't happen to share my preferences.

edited my post again, see above

let's agree to feel sorry for each other eh??

[Edited 2/15/13 17:11pm]

XxAxX said:

babynoz said:

There ya go...it's fun to you and that's what matters. Like I said, different people find different things entertaining.

I don't know about "them" or "they", but the guy who started the thread is not a serial basher...far from it, and the handful of people who fit that description thrive off of the attention they always get from offending the sensibilities of others.

I would think that most of us are adult enough to recognize and ignore a troll when we see one and to distinguish between a troll and someone who simply isn't interested in Prince's latest endeavor.

I like what I like whether or not someone else happens to agree. I don't know why I would feel sorry for somebody simply because they don't happen to share my preferences.

edited my post again, see above

let's agree to feel sorry for each other eh??

I think I'll just keep it simple...no worries,

you know i respect your point of view and of course you are entitled to your opinion. i hope i have not give the impression that not thinking like me is somehow wrong.

but you know what makes me giggle a little? it strikes me as funny that when the download involves a bootlegged outtake of a famed concert, some people are willing to jump right through hoops to get that material. but right now, when prince is offering new material on a bootleg-style hit and run basis through weird here-now-then-gone websites and through vague hints, some people are actually getting mad at him.

[Edited 2/16/13 2:57am]

ps: for those who are having fun with it: rumor is a few more new trax are up/down up?again.....

see spirit otter's thread...

SynthiaRose said:

Militant said:

So, him doing the exact same thing "was cool" before, but isn't now?

This would indicate that it's your level of interest that has changed. That's hardly Prince's fault.

That comment by Prince was short-sighted, ageist and ridiculous. Does this mean he's not talking to Larry Graham anymore (66)? Did he ignore Mavis Staples at the Grammys (73)? YOu can be progressive and forward-thinking/forward-moving at any age. IT's about personality. Just say you talk to forward-moving people. I"m not impressed with "young" people if his idea of young is those babies he invited to the Screwdriver video shooting.

XxAxX said:

here's my point of view. over the course of the past couple of months prince has once again proven himself to be quirky, fun, spontaneous and above all, creative. he's flashed a few new online personas and has offered us all cool new music and video clips for sale at uber reasonable prices from a shiny new website.

i'm really having fun with the new works.

I think it's a good sign that Prince feels inspires to create all these diversions and be playful. He's a GEmini. Let him have his silly games.

[Edited 2/14/13 9:59am]

sorry, i missed this post earlier. and yes, i'm really excited about what's happening because i think prince finally has it right.

he's mastering the art of creating a marketing buzz by using state of the art media. he's creating a web interest using mysterious new websites, twitter and facebook persona, podcasts and blogs. it's cutting edge and a little bit uncomfortable to navigate, but that's part of the fun. i might even join twitter finally just to keep up. that's out of my comfort zone but maybe i'll like it over there anyway, imo, this is kind of a cool new age of prince's art to bear witness to. he's morphing again

Militant said:

toejam said:

That stuff was cool in the 80s/90s. But nowadays

So, him doing the exact same thing "was cool" before, but isn't now?

This would indicate that it's your level of interest that has changed. That's hardly Prince's fault.

No, it indiicates that people have changed (i.e. grown up) and also that the world has changed. It's Prince who is stuck in his old ways and childish mindgames (most of which -- let's not forget -- were filtered out by his management).

Prince is smart. He realizes that you have to maintain people's attention by drip feeding over time.

Netflix just spent $100 million on a TV-series which they released IN ONE GO. They have data, you have what?

In this era, where everyone has much shorter attention spans, it works even better than ever.

Bzzt, wrong. A focused, sustained promo campaign helps in that case. Launching a new URL each week doesn't.

The fact that the interest levels for new music are higher than they've been for years

Where? This is baloney. Nobody gives a hoot. And if they did, who in their right mind would assume that 3rdEyeGirl.com is Prince's official webshop and not some rip-off artist? If it's not on iTunes, it doesn't exist, simple as that.

The 3rd eye girl viral videos,

Viral? LMAO. How many views do those things have? A couple of thousand? And I bet most of those are from the same 100 Prince famz who keep replaying them because they still haven't figured out how to use KeepVid.

the mysterious ONENPG thing

Again: LMAO.

the different websites, the Twitter accounts, the weekly Spreecast with Funkenberry and Seth,

All of these are childish beyond belief. I repeat: the fact that Prince communicates via an amateur gossip blogger tells you everything you need to know.

the Billboard magazine

You do realise that magazine gets published every week and that being on the cover of it MEANS ZILCH.

the Grammy appearance (which had Prince as the top trend on Twitter and one of the most talked about parts of the entire night)

Pur-lease. Dude wasn't even competent enough to promote his own shit on live TV.

because there's a real buzz happening

No there is not. There's zero buzz.

and the Prince FAN community is more engaged than it has been in years.

Oh for crying out loud. After being starved of music for at least a year the handful of famz he has left are "engaged". Ever heard of "hunger is the best sauce"?

Check the Prince tag on Tumblr and Instagram, peep #TEAMPRINCE on Twitter, tune into the Spreecast every week and participate in the chat. You'll soon see there's a huge level of excitement, a noticeable electrical current right now,

Nonsense. It's the same five people talking to each other.

It's funny, some people think that Prince doesn't "get" the internet anymore, I would argue that he gets it better than most.

No he doesn't. I repeat: launching a new CRAPPY URL every other week is NOT a good idea.

And even Trent Reznor, one of my favorite artists of all time and someone who is rightly heralded for using the internet probably better than anyone, even with a new major label deal, How to Destroy Angels is not generating anywhere near the excitement that Prince is right now.

There is no HTDA campaign going on now.

This is what I believe Prince meant when he said in the new article of Billboard magazine (which, by the way, completely sold out online in 3 days)

Hilarious. So deluded. Yes, they obviously have sold the millions of copies they'd printed up.

XxAxX said:

but you know what makes me giggle a little? it strikes me as funny that when the download involves a bootlegged outtake of a famed concert, some people are willing to jump right through hoops to get that material.

What hoops? You go to the blog or forum, you click on the download link, you get the download.

jimmy white and the blacks. darn!

BartVanHemelen said:

And if they did, who in their right mind would assume that 3rdEyeGirl.com is Prince's official webshop and not some rip-off artist? If it's not on iTunes, it doesn't exist, simple as that.

Perhaps the fact that it says (C) NPG Records 2013 ON THE FUCKING SITE? You buffoon. iTunes is not the be-all-and-end-all of music distribution. All the cool kids are using Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Wordpress sites. Apple's day is done.

BartVanHemelen said:

Viral? LMAO. How many views do those things have? A couple of thousand? And I bet most of those are from the same 100 Prince famz who keep replaying them because they still haven't figured out how to use KeepVid.

Yeah, try over 60,000+ views of "Chapter & Verse". If that's from the "same 100 Prince fans" I'll eat my hat.

Everyone from Perez Hilton to Nas to Howard Stern to Billboard to Antiquet to Pitchfork is talking about "Screwdriver" right now. I repeat. BUZZ. Something your tired cranky old ass can't admit that Prince has right now because you're a bitter old fuckwit who crawls this site looking to bring someone down all the time. You are pathetic, Bart. Let's take a poll, 99% of this website would agree.

BartVanHemelen said:

You do realise that magazine gets published every week and that being on the cover of it MEANS ZILCH.

Bullshit. It remains one of the most influential publications in the music industry, which I've been in for over 10 years professionally. I've been signed to Sony/BMG and EMI, worked with a number of other levels, met executives and A&R's from every label under the sun and guess what? EVERYBODY READS BILLBOARD.

BartVanHemelen said:

Nonsense. It's the same five people talking to each other.

I could list over a thousand accounts right now by name. That's a long way from "the same five people". The Spreecast alone has a couple hundred people at least every week.

Also, if it were "the same five people", I would sure love to know how those five people alone managed to get Prince to the NUMBER ONE TRENDING TOPIC on Twitter. I guess they all must have tweeted 100,000 times each, right?

Prince has more buzz now than he has in years, you just refuse to admit it because you are a sad, bitter, pathetic old man.

BartVanHemelen said:

There is no HTDA campaign going on now.

Yes there is. They just serviced a new single and video and announced pre-orders for the album which comes out in just over 2 weeks. The campaign is in full swing, but if you didn't even realize that, then congrats, you just proved my point. For as much as Trent "gets" the Internet and Prince "doesn't", Prince is sure slaying Trent right now.

Militant said:

BartVanHemelen said:

And if they did, who in their right mind would assume that 3rdEyeGirl.com is Prince's official webshop and not some rip-off artist? If it's not on iTunes, it doesn't exist, simple as that.

Perhaps the fact that it says (C) NPG Records 2013 ON THE FUCKING SITE? You buffoon. iTunes is not the be-all-and-end-all of music distribution. All the cool kids are using Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Wordpress sites. Apple's day is done.

I could list over a thousand accounts right now by name. That's a long way from "the same five people". The Spreecast alone has a couple hundred people at least every week.

Also, if it were "the same five people", I would sure love to know how those five people alone managed to get Prince to the NUMBER ONE TRENDING TOPIC on Twitter. I guess they all must have tweeted 100,000 times each, right?

Prince has more buzz now than he has in years, you just refuse to admit it because you are a sad, bitter, pathetic old man.

BartVanHemelen said:

There is no HTDA campaign going on now.

Yes there is. They just serviced a new single and video and announced pre-orders for the album which comes out in just over 2 weeks. The campaign is in full swing, but if you didn't even realize that, then congrats, you just proved my point. For as much as Trent "gets" the Internet and Prince "doesn't", Prince is sure slaying Trent right now.

School's in!

jeffreymiller said:

School's in!

Good counterperspective, that I can agree with.

Militant said:

BartVanHemelen said:

And if they did, who in their right mind would assume that 3rdEyeGirl.com is Prince's official webshop and not some rip-off artist? If it's not on iTunes, it doesn't exist, simple as that.

Perhaps the fact that it says (C) NPG Records 2013 ON THE FUCKING SITE? You buffoon. iTunes is not the be-all-and-end-all of music distribution. All the cool kids are using Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Wordpress sites. Apple's day is done.

I certainly don't want to get in the middle of this crossfire!

But I have to say that mostly diehard Prince fans associate NPG Records with PRince.

The average person who hears that Prince has a new song out and Googles to obtain it would be looking for a site that identifies itself as an official Prince site. Amazingly, 3rdEyeGirl doesn't mention Prince currently as of 2/17 on the site at all! Not in FAQs, not as an artist on the songs and there's no "this is the official site of Prince" label. That is unacceptable and bizarre to me.

A label at the bottom with the copyright would suffice. When it comes to marketing, things should be clear to any potential consumer, not just people who know all the affiliations. I don't tend to know the record labels of my favorite artists, but I do look for an official stamp on their site. The contact page lists the address of Paisley Park, but again only hardcore fans will make that connection.

I mean, a casual listener could google NPG Records to find out who owns the site, but they likely would just leave instead.

I really think it's safe to assume a casual visitor wouldn't automatically know from the copyright that the site belongs to PRince. And that's a problem. A good marketing campaign considers the general public, not just fans.

Militant said:

BartVanHemelen said:

Viral? LMAO. How many views do those things have? A couple of thousand? And I bet most of those are from the same 100 Prince famz who keep replaying them because they still haven't figured out how to use KeepVid.

Yeah, try over 60,000+ views of "Chapter & Verse". If that's from the "same 100 Prince fans" I'll eat my hat.

Everyone from Perez Hilton to Nas to Howard Stern to Billboard to Antiquet to Pitchfork is talking about "Screwdriver" right now. I repeat. BUZZ. Something your tired cranky old ass can't admit that Prince has right now because you're a bitter old fuckwit who crawls this site looking to bring someone down all the time. You are pathetic, Bart. Let's take a poll, 99% of this website would agree.

Well they aren't currently talking about Screwdriver right now. When news first circulated they mentioned it and then the talk died. In fact, Perez Hilton's blog about Screwdriver didn't even attracted any comments. Having talking heads or media talking about something intially isn't really "going viral." Viral is when the general masses take hold of it and forward it to others, talking about it, commenting on it, and keep the hype going -- not for a moment but continuously. That is definitely not happening. The fans are doing that, but circulation amongst fans who would hunt down Prince developments anyway isn't the same as going viral.

I wish Prince would attract and maintain the general public's interest for a sustained period for time with escalating popularity until it becomes a part of the current collective entertainment consciousness. That is the mark of going viral.

Let's see if he knows how to use the Jimmy Fallon visit to ignite a viral campaign/response for the new music. That would be nice.

P.S. I know you mentioned Spreecast. I attened that this week, but only learned of it due to the Org; I really don't think the general public will find out about PRince developments through that obscure and fringe venue.

[Edited 2/17/13 18:25pm]

SpiritOtter said:

SynthiaRose, How long will it take you to work out that what you might want in terms of Prince's marketing outcomes bears next to no resemblance to his aims? love, Spirit

Spirit Otter,

My post above discusses whether Prince's marketing efforts are viral or not and whether people would realize the site is official. Those are concrete topics -- not some random expression of what I want.

I"m sure I've mentioned my understanding of how PRince's personality has fed his marketing in this thread or a similar one and encouraged him to have fun with his whims. What does that have to do with the debate over the concepts of "viral" and "official" and whether the website and marketing meets the thresholds for those descriptions?

Now, I do have a different vision for Prince's marketing efforts; and they do differ from what stans have mentioned here. Neither you nor I know of PRince's aims.

I think you, however, are being willfullly disingenious about what Prince wants. I'm not so sure his aim is different from mine. I think he does was public recognition and embrace. Case in point: his Billboard interview include whining that he couldnt' get his stuff on the radio. If he just wants to circulate among fans, radio wouldn't matter. The fact that he's complaining about not being on the radio shows he'd like that exposure to the general public.

Also, his lineup of high profile appearances -- Grammys, Jimmy FAllon, the Festival, the Billboard tribute and interview -- all these things speak to his desire to reintroduce himself to the general public as he unveils new music. And if he wants that general public, he should ensure they recognize his site as official and legitimate.

[Edited 2/17/13 19:25pm]

SpiritOtter said:

SynthiaRose, Aside from all your assumptions, it is your vision which does not resemble Prince's. That you continually fail to see that shows your blind spot. love, Spirit

Yes. I said that my vision might be different. Your assumptions are presumptions as you are not inside the mind of Prince and can only speculate what he wants. I don't consider you an authority and I hope you don't. and I truly hope you aren't Anji.

And no I don't continue to have a blind spot. YOur'e projecting. Because I posted the following earlier in the thread showing I understood Prince. Spare me. YOu don't have insight and I'm not impressed with your attempts to pretend you do. This is a thread with people sharing opinions; you have only yours -- not Prince's.

SynthiaRose said in post #137:

Anyway, re: the overall message of the thread... I understand that over the years people have outgrown Prince's games. However, this is intrisically who Prince is: he is mysterious, a puzzle and very secretive. I truly don't believe these are just gimmicks for him but an expression of his personality, and I think it's bizarre to expect someone to change their persona because we are growing older.

SynthiaRose said in post 140

I think it's a good sign that Prince feels inspires to create all these diversions and be playful. He's a GEmini. Let him have his silly games.

Now, clearly, unlike yourself, I"m able to acknowledge Prince's whims and and not mistake his vision for my own. You would be good to do likewise.

I have criticized business skill. And no matter how you protest, if one is doing marketing there is a way to be effective. Clearly his efforts have had various failures and problems including a haphazard website.

SpiritOtter said:

SynthiaRose, Clearly, I have touched a nerve for you to become so personal. Perhaps you might want to step away from the computer and get some fresh air... love, Spirit

I recognize this diversion tactic. And you continue to project. I'm sure you know it's not personal. It's just that you don't have a case.

Look, debate something concrete or please stop engaging me.

.

[Edited 2/18/13 3:42am]

I think what you are seeing is the same challenge WB faced. How does one promote such a VOLUME of music? You can't. You have to choose one thing (Screwdriver) and hope it directs you to the rest.

SoulAlive said:

It's odd that,in the Billboard interview,Prince is whining about radio stations not playing his music.Years ago,he did a song called "Don't Play Me"....implying that he doesn't need or want radio to embrace his music.

Reminds me of the point he made about stores that wouldn't carry Chaka Khan's new CD on NPG just because it was alternate distribution.

He has a point! These stations can't choose anything for themselves it seems. And Prince has formatted these songs expertly.

Cinny said:

If Prince was as you say 'normal' Toejam then you would be out of a job! U'd have nothing to talk about or podcast about LOL

Enjoy his eccentricities, it's part of his appeal. Even though it can be frustrating at times, it is his essence....