i think the low point had to be around 1998... New Power Soul era was just the low point....

the ONLY shows i havent been to since 1984..

maybe im personalizing!

I don't know if I'd call it a "career low point" but every artist sees their main fan base

grow up, have kids, get a beer gut(ouch), lose some hair(damn!) --and then die off (take my lipitor everyday).

I used to be obsessed with finding his new music- and I still love it when I get to hear it.

But with 3 kids, a mortgage, my job...trying to keep up with his

'website of the month' is nearly impossible - much less downloading his new songs.

That said, if he played at an arena near me - at a reasonable price(The Dakota was not) - I'd be there in a heartbeat. While I still have one.

Maybe it's a miss-match of the tech and the fanbase.

Not to say the fanbase are old fuddy-duddies, we've certainly had long enough to jump on the internet train considering Prince has been putting stuff out online for a very long time now - but you've got fans in their 40s,50s and up - do they want to be following his breadcrumb trail idea of marketing new product - for most of us the days of flicking through Smash Hits for the pull-out poster are gone, do you know what I mean.

We're the hard.core of the hardcore here, regular forum-users - but if he put out a record and promoted it like yesteryear, I'm sure the active fanbase would rise as the dormant fanbase would come out of the woodwork.

We all might still like to play his reindeer games, but in the real world people have kids and mortgages and icky things like that fill up their time, not everyone can be F5-ing whatever website is up this week.

SuperSoulFighter said:

excited said:

i was thinking the same thing recently, i was really suprised that montreux took so long to sell out! i would say it was a good indicator of hardcore fan levels

Are you sure? It can also be an indicator of there being a financial crisis going on and with concerts getting more expensive every year... Secondly, being totally devoted to a pop star is more of young people's thing. There's still plenty of "casual" fans who dig this man's music and don't even know what 3rdEyeGirl is. Which is probably for the better... WE'RE the crazy ones!

of course finances play a part, but still i would still expect him to have enough obsessive fans in europe to quiickly snap up tix for montreux. that wasn't the case tho!.. incredible imo.

I don't know why people are complaining that Prince doesn't have enough fans. If he had millions of "active fans," his concert tickets would be more expensive and the chances of seeing him play in a small venue would be nonexistent. I'm hoping his fan base dwindles down to the number needed to play a game of basketball at Paisley Park.

IstenSzek said:

electricberet said:

I don't know why people are complaining that Prince doesn't have enough fans.

This thread is not about complaining. I'm just asking the question. I'm not even saying it's a bad thing, having less fans than he used to.

NouveauDance said:

Maybe it's a miss-match of the tech and the fanbase.

Not to say the fanbase are old fuddy-duddies, we've certainly had long enough to jump on the internet train considering Prince has been putting stuff out online for a very long time now - but you've got fans in their 40s,50s and up - do they want to be following his breadcrumb trail idea of marketing new product - for most of us the days of flicking through Smash Hits for the pull-out poster are gone, do you know what I mean.

We're the hard.core of the hardcore here, regular forum-users - but if he put out a record and promoted it like yesteryear, I'm sure the active fanbase would rise as the dormant fanbase would come out of the woodwork.

We all might still like to play his reindeer games, but in the real world people have kids and mortgages and icky things like that fill up their time, not everyone can be F5-ing whatever website is up this week.

Playing those little hide and go seek games of looking for songs when you're in your teens and 20s might be fun but when you get up in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, whether you have time to look for them or not, you just get tired of it because it's stupid. This ain't Romper Room or Sesame Street, we're grown and these silly hide and seek games are stupid. I guess next, he'll start including a lollipop as a bonus once you find a track or maybe a balloon.

vainandy said:

Playing those little hide and go seek games of looking for songs when you're in your teens and 20s might be fun but when you get up in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, whether you have time to look for them or not, you just get tired of it because it's stupid. This ain't Romper Room or Sesame Street, we're grown and these silly hide and seek games are stupid. I guess next, he'll start including a lollipop as a bonus once you find a track or maybe a balloon.

My point exactly Andy.

Internet figures definitely don't give a true picture of the level of fan interest.

For a real life example, I saw a Kate Bush tribute act and got talking to the couple next to me who were maybe in their late forties. For those who don't know, Kate hasn't toured since 1979 and probably never will, so this was the closest thing to it. The man was a fan of Kate, and his wife wasn't but she was dragged along. He seemed knowledgeable, saying her first album was his favourite etc., and we talked about the songs we'd like to see performed.

I mentioned I'd been to a meetup in 2005 via getting together with folk from the web forum and his ears pricked up, "What?", so I gave him the address and he put it into his phone there and then. He seemed genuinely surprised and thrilled that there was such a thing out there.

A google search would have brought up the forum if he'd cared to search. It's surprising to me that a fan of Kate wouldn't be knowledgeable about fan resources on the net, but I'm sure the same applies to Prince, hence why he sells out venues but we on the org are very few.

I'd also say, Prince has missed the ball with naming his web sites stupidly and abandoning them...as has been said, his fanbase are growing up but he's not doing the same. I do wonder if he had a family of his own like many of his fans, would he still have the time to be concocting all these schemes or would he 'settle down' and use the net properly?

[Edited 2/27/13 3:52am]

vainandy said:

NouveauDance said:

Maybe it's a miss-match of the tech and the fanbase.

Not to say the fanbase are old fuddy-duddies, we've certainly had long enough to jump on the internet train considering Prince has been putting stuff out online for a very long time now - but you've got fans in their 40s,50s and up - do they want to be following his breadcrumb trail idea of marketing new product - for most of us the days of flicking through Smash Hits for the pull-out poster are gone, do you know what I mean.

We're the hard.core of the hardcore here, regular forum-users - but if he put out a record and promoted it like yesteryear, I'm sure the active fanbase would rise as the dormant fanbase would come out of the woodwork.

We all might still like to play his reindeer games, but in the real world people have kids and mortgages and icky things like that fill up their time, not everyone can be F5-ing whatever website is up this week.

Playing those little hide and go seek games of looking for songs when you're in your teens and 20s might be fun but when you get up in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, whether you have time to look for them or not, you just get tired of it because it's stupid. This ain't Romper Room or Sesame Street, we're grown and these silly hide and seek games are stupid. I guess next, he'll start including a lollipop as a bonus once you find a track or maybe a balloon.

hey, i'm a fuddy duddy in my 50s and i love the games. the games are fun, and i go out of my way for fun i bet there are more like me out there

XxAxX said:

hey, i'm a fuddy duddy in my 50s and i love the games. the games are fun, and i go out of my way for fun i bet there are more like me out there

But you're on here - the hardcore. We're talking originally about the people who aren't active.

NouveauDance said:

XxAxX said:

hey, i'm a fuddy duddy in my 50s and i love the games. the games are fun, and i go out of my way for fun i bet there are more like me out there

But you're on here - the hardcore. We're talking originally about the people who aren't active.

oh. well, since i don't have all the songs/albums yet, i figured i wasn't so hard core as all that

XxAxX said:

NouveauDance said:

But you're on here - the hardcore. We're talking originally about the people who aren't active.

oh. well, since i don't have all the songs/albums yet, i figured i wasn't so hard core as all that

You're f-ing hardcore and you know it!

NouveauDance said:

XxAxX said:

oh. well, since i don't have all the songs/albums yet, i figured i wasn't so hard core as all that

You're f-ing hardcore and you know it!

errant said:

How many "active" fans does anyone ever have outside of their 2 to 10 year peak? Nut everyone is a nutjob on the internet looking to fill whatever void there is in their soul or life by populating web forums, facebook fan pages, or tracking down every scrap of information or obscure internet track from thier favorite artist. Even during his '80s heyday, Prince had some relatively abysmally selling singles that even had a great remix and an unreleased b-side on them.

Good point.

There's no silver bullet with Prince.

However, a few things

1. Pick a website name and stick with it. Prince.com or Prince.biz or Prince.whatever would work. Just pick it, stick with it, and that's a start. This stupid ass prince2013 or 3rdeyegirl nonsense won't last. The greater outside audience is bombarded with other options than to follow Prince.

2. Instead of attacking the org or gagging the org, feed the org news updates. It's by far been the most consistently popular Prince website of all time.

3. Do more t.v. performances to promote ACTUAL ALBUMS AVAILABLE EASILY, and stop doign interviews---his interviews are so fucked up and useless, I don't know why he bothers. They don't help in promoting shit.

4. Stop with the protege album nonsense. You're old. It's clearly visible. Nobody cares about that Hugh Heffnor crap anyways--it's getting creepy these days.

5. If your shit don't sell, it's not the Internet--it's your shit. Release better shit.

6. Can it really hurt you to open up a little and do a documentary? This 'mysterious' act is tired and played out. We get it--you're short, self-concious and can't take a joke--all these things would be fascinaing in light of the things you've accomplished despite.

7. Re-release remasters in tandum with new 'and really good' material.

8. Sell well made, stylish merchandise. Fuck that ear moon-wrap madness. Give us high quaility t-shirts that aren't embarassing. Fans will pay for that stuff if it's quality. Also, figure out your distribution channels and customer service because it has sucked so much ass in the past, I don't even know where to start.

9. You've single handedly turnd more men gay in your lifetime than any other person alive. Would it pain you to acknoledge them?

10. You're going to die in the next 2 or 3 decades, probably. And many of the fans who have afforded you the pampered lifestyle you enjoy may do so prior to this. Would it pain you to release some of the stuff from the vault to show your appreciation? It's not like you'd be giving it away for free--they're paying for it.

Finally, stop being a douche-waffle. The general public knows it when you are, and this turns folks off.

vainandy said:

NouveauDance said:

Maybe it's a miss-match of the tech and the fanbase.

Not to say the fanbase are old fuddy-duddies, we've certainly had long enough to jump on the internet train considering Prince has been putting stuff out online for a very long time now - but you've got fans in their 40s,50s and up - do they want to be following his breadcrumb trail idea of marketing new product - for most of us the days of flicking through Smash Hits for the pull-out poster are gone, do you know what I mean.

We're the hard.core of the hardcore here, regular forum-users - but if he put out a record and promoted it like yesteryear, I'm sure the active fanbase would rise as the dormant fanbase would come out of the woodwork.

We all might still like to play his reindeer games, but in the real world people have kids and mortgages and icky things like that fill up their time, not everyone can be F5-ing whatever website is up this week.

Playing those little hide and go seek games of looking for songs when you're in your teens and 20s might be fun but when you get up in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, whether you have time to look for them or not, you just get tired of it because it's stupid. This ain't Romper Room or Sesame Street, we're grown and these silly hide and seek games are stupid. I guess next, he'll start including a lollipop as a bonus once you find a track or maybe a balloon.

What? Things Prince did when you were younger (and was cool) isn't as cool to you now that you are older?

All of this just adds to the theory that Prince's fans have changed more than he has.

skywalker said:

vainandy said:

Playing those little hide and go seek games of looking for songs when you're in your teens and 20s might be fun but when you get up in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, whether you have time to look for them or not, you just get tired of it because it's stupid. This ain't Romper Room or Sesame Street, we're grown and these silly hide and seek games are stupid. I guess next, he'll start including a lollipop as a bonus once you find a track or maybe a balloon.

What? Things Prince did when you were younger (and was cool) isn't as cool to you now that you are older?

All of this just adds to the theory that Prince's fans have changed more than he has.

We sure have. We've changed for the better and he's changed for the worst.

NouveauDance said:

Maybe it's a miss-match of the tech and the fanbase.

Not to say the fanbase are old fuddy-duddies, we've certainly had long enough to jump on the internet train considering Prince has been putting stuff out online for a very long time now - but you've got fans in their 40s,50s and up - do they want to be following his breadcrumb trail idea of marketing new product - for most of us the days of flicking through Smash Hits for the pull-out poster are gone, do you know what I mean.

We're the hard.core of the hardcore here, regular forum-users - but if he put out a record and promoted it like yesteryear, I'm sure the active fanbase would rise as the dormant fanbase would come out of the woodwork.

We all might still like to play his reindeer games, but in the real world people have kids and mortgages and icky things like that fill up their time, not everyone can be F5-ing whatever website is up this week.

I've read this line a few time on the ORG and I have to say I find it hard to believe people can't manage to pay their mortgage(the no looking for Prince music clause) and raise their kids(is little Jimmy going to grow up and be a meth addict if you spend time looking for an mp3 of Screwdriver?) and still do a google search. Even more that life has graciously allowed those same people adequate time to post on the ORG on a regular basis about someone whose games you have no time for.

imago said:

imago said:

There's no silver bullet with Prince.

However, a few things

1. Pick a website name and stick with it. Prince.com or Prince.biz or Prince.whatever would work. Just pick it, stick with it, and that's a start. This stupid ass prince2013 or 3rdeyegirl nonsense won't last. The greater outside audience is bombarded with other options than to follow Prince.

2. Instead of attacking the org or gagging the org, feed the org news updates. It's by far been the most consistently popular Prince website of all time.

3. Do more t.v. performances to promote ACTUAL ALBUMS AVAILABLE EASILY, and stop doign interviews---his interviews are so fucked up and useless, I don't know why he bothers. They don't help in promoting shit.

4. Stop with the protege album nonsense. You're old. It's clearly visible. Nobody cares about that Hugh Heffnor crap anyways--it's getting creepy these days.

5. If your shit don't sell, it's not the Internet--it's your shit. Release better shit.

6. Can it really hurt you to open up a little and do a documentary? This 'mysterious' act is tired and played out. We get it--you're short, self-concious and can't take a joke--all these things would be fascinaing in light of the things you've accomplished despite.

7. Re-release remasters in tandum with new 'and really good' material.

8. Sell well made, stylish merchandise. Fuck that ear moon-wrap madness. Give us high quaility t-shirts that aren't embarassing. Fans will pay for that stuff if it's quality. Also, figure out your distribution channels and customer service because it has sucked so much ass in the past, I don't even know where to start.

9. You've single handedly turnd more men gay in your lifetime than any other person alive. Would it pain you to acknoledge them?

10. You're going to die in the next 2 or 3 decades, probably. And many of the fans who have afforded you the pampered lifestyle you enjoy may do so prior to this. Would it pain you to release some of the stuff from the vault to show your appreciation? It's not like you'd be giving it away for free--they're paying for it.

Finally, stop being a douche-waffle. The general public knows it when you are, and this turns folks off.

Simple and clean.

imago said:

9. You've single handedly turnd more men gay in your lifetime than any other person alive. Would it pain you to acknoledge them?

HonestMan13 said:

I've read this line a few time on the ORG and I have to say I find it hard to believe people can't manage to pay their mortgage(the no looking for Prince music clause) and raise their kids(is little Jimmy going to grow up and be a meth addict if you spend time looking for an mp3 of Screwdriver?) and still do a google search. Even more that life has graciously allowed those same people adequate time to post on the ORG on a regular basis about someone whose games you have no time for.

You don't have to take everything quite so literally you know.

I'm all like: Why can't we just dance, why can't we just dance?

And you're all like: Ah'm talkin' bout'chuuuuu, Ah'm talkin' bout'chuuuuu!

skywalker said:

vainandy said:

Playing those little hide and go seek games of looking for songs when you're in your teens and 20s might be fun but when you get up in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, whether you have time to look for them or not, you just get tired of it because it's stupid. This ain't Romper Room or Sesame Street, we're grown and these silly hide and seek games are stupid. I guess next, he'll start including a lollipop as a bonus once you find a track or maybe a balloon.

What? Things Prince did when you were younger (and was cool) isn't as cool to you now that you are older?

All of this just adds to the theory that Prince's fans have changed more than he has.

some are not happy wth the new approach, i.e. files instead of an album, and the perceived 'games'. i agree that an album is easier, but i am loving the surprise element of new songs that just pop up, and i like following clues around the internet.

interesting that this new project has so many different reactions.

[Edited 2/28/13 4:40am]

imago said:

9. You've single handedly turnd more men gay in your lifetime than any other person alive. Would it pain you to acknoledge them?

10. You're going to die in the next 2 or 3 decades, probably. And many of the fans who have afforded you the pampered lifestyle you enjoy may do so prior to this. Would it pain you to release some of the stuff from the vault to show your appreciation? It's not like you'd be giving it away for free--they're paying for it.

Finally, stop being a douche-waffle. The general public knows it when you are, and this turns folks off.

Oh my days!!

[Edited 2/28/13 4:41am]

I can't be the only orger here that loves toejam's org name.

Shit,:

toejam

dumbass

Tittypants

BriaVelveta

All brilliant

both slabs off poo .. aka screwdriver and rnrlove affair had prominent mention in Rolling Stone .. picutre of prince in his ugly ass pjs and all .. even hyping this crap as listenable .. so yes in fact there is a silver bullet .. its that his music is pure crapola .. dung .. fecal matter ... prince releases this shit to make NPS sound better .. and it does .. i will take come on, the one, wasted kisses .. hell even freaks on this side and push it up over all this new horrible diarhea .. prince can't even sell to his hardcore active fanbase or whatever you want to call it .. much less anyone who can choose justin beiber over prince nonsense .. it is time to impeach prince of his name .. refuse to acknowledge him until he puts out music worthy of the prince name .. and burn his pj's .. they are by far his worst fashion statement ever .. well the golden pjs were pretty bad .. but the 2010 3rd eye girl pjs are worse .. this guy is sleeping still .. as for his proteges .. they aren't great .. but they are better than prince songs these days .. sad