linus4000 said:

Or telling us he does not sell tickets to his shows? Nowadays most shows don`t sell out completely...

I was just criticising the corporate bullshit from Kobalt Music Group. If we all know that most acts don't sell out shows, why should we accept such lies?

Kobalt might be artist friendly, but it sure is not consumer friendly. It looks like they think we're stupid.

linus4000 said:

Lotusflow3r sold more than 530 000 copies in the US alone...and yes, the price was reduced at a later time, but not at the beginning when it sold more than 400 000 copies...

and i don`t buy a record from an artist or a group, even for a cent, if i don`t like the music to some point....

We all know Prince isn`t selling like in the 80ies or till 92, but what is the point in telling this again and again...

All the big artists from 70ies, 80ies, even now madonna, don`t sell as much as timberlake, katy perry or coldplay...except maybe bon jovi...

Or telling us he does not sell tickets to his shows? Nowadays most shows don`t sell out completely...

here in germany there were some tickets left for beyonce, springsteen etc..but if the concerts are nearly full they make their money and that is the same with his shows...He mada lot out of the W2A tour...

Even some lovesexy shows back then were not sold out...so what?

Just relax and enjoy the music while it is still coming out

[Edited 5/26/13 5:11am]

This story has 2 b told every few months. Its ridiculous how Prince so called fans turn on him all the time. Yet "not relevant any more Prince" keeps getting offered mega deals like this & laughs his way to the bank...

IstenSzek said:

it'll be interesting to see how long Kobalt will remain in bussiness now they've

signed prince.

you know, 'the prince curse' and all where everyone and every company that

works with prince tails off into obscurity or goes bust.

Prince's terms of "Pact" are "I" take all and "U" get fuck all.

I understand how some people - present/actual prince fans or not - are disappointed with prince &/or "less than enthusiastic" about this latest "big announcement".

what is frustrating to a lot of people is that clearly.. prince

HAD

the talent & musicianship & vision to be the GREATEST musician/singer/performer of ALL TIME.

better than the Beatles.

better than Michael Jackson.

BETTER THAN ANYBODY YOU COULD PUT UP AGAINST HIM.

for real.

his arrogance and unwillingness to do anything substantial outside of music

(e.g., visit a zoo for a few hours, take a week-long boat ride on the Amazon River, etc.)

laid the foundation for him to become musically stagnant.

(there were other factors & circumstances that also contributed, but to me the two mentioned are very prominent..)

IT CANNOT BE ARGUED AT ALL

that Prince's BEST/MOST EXCITING period of music was

1980 - 1987.

I know this firsthand. I

LIVED & BREATHED & HUNG on every brilliant note, every groan, every nasty guitar lick.

you cannot put a price on what it was like to be a PRINCE fan back then.

for those of you who missed it back then - too bad.

(& I say that with genuine sympathy.. not with some sort of "fuck-you-loser-for-being-born-too-late attitude..)

so.. anyone who thinks that the music "prince" puts out now is worth anything..

well.. YES.. it is worth "something" considering how much

TOTAL CRAP

is passed of as "music" today.

because of what he's put out over the course of the entirety of his career,

prince can only be judged against himself,

against what he's put out about every 10 years or so

(or.. at whatever interval/s you want to use).

(I think I read it somewhere here on the org)

that prince said (sometime in the last 12 years or so)

that he "pushed the envelope off the table"

meaning - I presume - that he & his music challenged the world with its originality, etc.

if prince said that - I would agree with him that he DID - from '80 to '87 - push the envelope off the table.

the thing about pushing the envelope off the table - that 1st time - is that

you can't go back & do that again.

minimally, you can't "go back & do it again" with the same verocity or impact or power.

prince - for better or worse - is a musician.

what else is he going to do at this point in his life -

work as a chef in his own strictly vegan restaurant

(as intriguing as that might sound..)

addendum:

I stopped being a "die hard prince fan" in 2000;

right about when he started calling himself "prince" again

& admitting that the whole "name change thing" had more to do with

"severing undesirable relationships" than some sort of "spiritual awakening" or "rebirth"

by 2000, the overall quality of his music had ALREADY DIMINISHED SUBSTANTIALLY

so for me.. his little admission closed & locked the door.

I "quit prince cold turkey".. you could say.

I had no anger or hostility towards him.

I didn't think he "owed me" anything for being a loyal/die-hard fan for about 20 years.

I simply got on with my life

& got into other music

made by people with a better hold on reality.

addendum II:

this new/great music deal

m i g h t

propel prince into some sort of popular music (pseudo-) relevance..

but I'm not holding my breath.

mltijchr said:

I understand how some people - present/actual prince fans or not - are disappointed with prince &/or "less than enthusiastic" about this latest "big announcement".

what is frustrating to a lot of people is that clearly.. prince

HAD

the talent & musicianship & vision to be the GREATEST musician/singer/performer of ALL TIME.

better than the Beatles.

better than Michael Jackson.

BETTER THAN ANYBODY YOU COULD PUT UP AGAINST HIM.

for real.

his arrogance and unwillingness to do anything substantial outside of music

(e.g., visit a zoo for a few hours, take a week-long boat ride on the Amazon River, etc.)

laid the foundation for him to become musically stagnant.

(there were other factors & circumstances that also contributed, but to me the two mentioned are very prominent..)

IT CANNOT BE ARGUED AT ALL

that Prince's BEST/MOST EXCITING period of music was

1980 - 1987.

I know this firsthand. I

LIVED & BREATHED & HUNG on every brilliant note, every groan, every nasty guitar lick.

you cannot put a price on what it was like to be a PRINCE fan back then.

for those of you who missed it back then - too bad.

(& I say that with genuine sympathy.. not with some sort of "fuck-you-loser-for-being-born-too-late attitude..)

so.. anyone who thinks that the music "prince" puts out now is worth anything..

well.. YES.. it is worth "something" considering how much

TOTAL CRAP

is passed of as "music" today.

because of what he's put out over the course of the entirety of his career,

prince can only be judged against himself,

against what he's put out about every 10 years or so

(or.. at whatever interval/s you want to use).

(I think I read it somewhere here on the org)

that prince said (sometime in the last 12 years or so)

that he "pushed the envelope off the table"

meaning - I presume - that he & his music challenged the world with its originality, etc.

if prince said that - I would agree with him that he DID - from '80 to '87 - push the envelope off the table.

the thing about pushing the envelope off the table - that 1st time - is that

you can't go back & do that again.

minimally, you can't "go back & do it again" with the same verocity or impact or power.

prince - for better or worse - is a musician.

what else is he going to do at this point in his life -

work as a chef in his own strictly vegan restaurant

(as intriguing as that might sound..)

addendum:

I stopped being a "die hard prince fan" in 2000;

right about when he started calling himself "prince" again

& admitting that the whole "name change thing" had more to do with

"severing undesirable relationships" than some sort of "spiritual awakening" or "rebirth"

by 2000, the overall quality of his music had ALREADY DIMINISHED SUBSTANTIALLY

so for me.. his little admission closed & locked the door.

I "quit prince cold turkey".. you could say.

I had no anger or hostility towards him.

I didn't think he "owed me" anything for being a loyal/die-hard fan for about 20 years.

I simply got on with my life

& got into other music

made by people with a better hold on reality.

addendum II:

this new/great music deal

m i g h t

propel prince into some sort of popular music (pseudo-) relevance..

but I'm not holding my breath.

this is excellent news. BiGThUmBxUp

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/1563829/the-deal-kobalts-royalty-play-with-prince

Hmmm... there is still nothing on Kobalt's site under their roster nor under new signings.

Giovanni777 said:

Hmmm... there is still nothing on Kobalt's site under their roster nor under new signings.

this news is on their site.......this may be the biggest music group...they have the most incredible artist tlisted..trent,beck,sonic youth etc

With Prince's new mega partnership deal with Kobalt Muziq Group, Eye'm pretty sure Prince christened them as his new muziq publishing group to handle,publish & distribute his royalties 4 his old & new catalog, which before had no publishing deal. Since he opted not 2 renew his publishing deals with Warner/Chappell Muziq & Universal Muziq Publishing Group.

Kobalt is number #2 behind Sony's/Atv Muziq publishing co owned by Mj's estate! After adding Prince, Eye'm sure in the future Kobalt will be number one. Especially next year the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain. Also in the works the new sampler set in the works by Morris Hayes. Which will make Prince millions. Since he never offered this b 4. His catalog is highly sought after since he gets a lot of request 2 sample his "MasterPieces" a lot

It is turning out 2 b a big year 4 Prince like he promised!!!!

With

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

With Prince's new mega partnership deal with Kobalt Muziq Group, Eye'm pretty sure Prince christened them as his new muziq publishing group to handle,publish & distribute his royalties 4 his old & new catalog, which before had no publishing deal. Since he opted not 2 renew his publishing deals with Warner/Chappell Muziq & Universal Muziq Publishing Group.

Kobalt is number #2 behind Sony's/Atv Muziq publishing co owned by Mj's estate! After adding Prince, Eye'm sure in the future Kobalt will be number one. Especially next year the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain. Also in the works the new sampler set in the works by Morris Hayes. Which will make Prince millions. Since he never offered this b 4. His catalog is highly sought after since he gets a lot of request 2 sample his "MasterPieces" a lot

It is turning out 2 b a big year 4 Prince like he promised!!!!

With

Kool--

What you describe is, I suppose, potentially a big year for Prince's pockets, if he ever delivers anything significant. I'll pick up a 3rd Eye Girl album when it shows, and I really liked Andy's album. But "a big year", honestly, has to include a real Prince album--anything less than that would make the beginning of the year talk a joke. A sample set doesn't mean anything to me (or to Prince outside of cash)--except maybe annoyance if I suddenly start recognizing Prince samples in poor tracks (yes, there might be a few good ones, but there's no reason to assume that I won't be just as likely to hear them on tracks I myself don't care for). If the publishing leads to something happening with the old catalog--okay. That's cool, I guess--but it will have to be more than just making it available again, even if things are remastered.

We're almost half the way through the year, and the momentum dropped right through the bottom of the bucket. I'm a music fan, not a business fan. I'll get excited when the music comes again (and I will get excited. I'm not a naysayer--I just can't get thrilled by contract signing announcement and a bit of speculation).

It's turning out to be "here's another suggestion that something might happen, but whether it will be big or not really depends on whether any of us, Prince included, is still all that hyped enough to care by the time it does" kind of year.

I hope so, but all the good press from earlier in the year, and even the TV appearances, can only hold so long without a real product to sell. And a series of shows for a few hundred at a time, or even some European festivals, isn't what I mean.

Well in order 2 have something big U need a support system. He has that now. Plus a US tour starting this week....

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Well in order 2 have something big U need a support system. He has that now. Plus a US tour starting this week....

True--but I'm not ready to say it's a big year until we see what it's supporting. If it's just a tour... he doesn't need Kobalt to pull those off, and I almost certainly won't be able to attend a show myself, so it might be big for Prince, but not for me.

However, although I said I'm a music fan and not a business fan, I'm currently reading David Byrne's book How Music Works, which includes some interesting material comparing various business models and discussing Byrne's own experiences with them (ranging from 360 degree deals to complete DIY), breaking down some ways the money situation shakes out. It was actually really interesting--I was still more intrigued by discussions about what was going on when Talking Heads was laying down tracks for Remain in Light, but hearing just how everything broke down (so much here, so much there, so much to that company for design, etc) was a bit eye-opening for me. In discussing how he and Brian Eno went pretty much D.I.Y. for their Everything That Happens album, for which they had to start from scratch building up distribution channels and relationships with the various companies they had to work with for different parts of the process, and how much time and money that sort of "getting started" stuff ate up--it made me think more about how Prince really needs to find some way to stick with some plan for handling the business side of things. Whether it's Kobalt (and since he's started this deal, I hope he dedicates himself enough to it to make it work), or something more independent in the future, he needs to have things set for the long term so he doesn't have to keep beginning over, working out the same kind of bugs over and over again.

Like I said, I'm hopeful. Kobalt's established, they seem (from what I've seen) to know what they're doing with bands that have a built-in fanbase in order to push beyond that base, and still provide the artists with artistic and financial freedom while they take care of the business.

[Edited 6/11/13 12:32pm]

EddieC said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Well in order 2 have something big U need a support system. He has that now. Plus a US tour starting this week....

True--but I'm not ready to say it's a big year until we see what it's supporting. If it's just a tour... he doesn't need Kobalt to pull those off, and I almost certainly won't be able to attend a show myself, so it might be big for Prince, but not for me.

However, although I said I'm a music fan and not a business fan, I'm currently reading David Byrne's book How Music Works, which includes some interesting material comparing various business models and discussing Byrne's own experiences with them (ranging from 360 degree deals to complete DIY), breaking down some ways the money situation shakes out. It was actually really interesting--I was still more intrigued by discussions about what was going on when Talking Heads was laying down tracks for Remain in Light, but hearing just how everything broke down (so much here, so much there, so much to that company for design, etc) was a bit eye-opening for me. In discussing how he and Brian Eno went pretty much D.I.Y. for their Everything That Happens album, for which they had to start from scratch building up distribution channels and relationships with the various companies they had to work with for different parts of the process, and how much time and money that sort of "getting started" stuff ate up--it made me think more about how Prince really needs to find some way to stick with some plan for handling the business side of things. Whether it's Kobalt (and since he's started this deal, I hope he dedicates himself enough to it to make it work), or something more independent in the future, he needs to have things set for the long term so he doesn't have to keep beginning over, working out the same kind of bugs over and over again.

Like I said, I'm hopeful. Kobalt's established, they seem (from what I've seen) to know what they're doing with bands that have a built-in fanbase in order to push beyond that base, and still provide the artists with artistic and financial freedom while they take care of the business.

[Edited 6/11/13 12:32pm]

This is what Prince has been looking 4 since his start as an independent artist & he has finally found it...

[Edited 6/12/13 10:14am]

...this is the half of the year...except for the the release later this year (maybe?) of the Album of 3rdeyegirl..i don't see nothing coming from this DEAL with Kobalt or whatever, this will not BE THE BIG YEAR that everybody are waiting for years....BIG YEAR for Prince maybe in term of money (1st at the Bank as he said)..but nothing will come...neither this year or the other ones, his site 3rdeyegirl & co are Born/Death in the same time....Except for his presence on stage Prince is became a boring Artist to follow (no interresting studio project )....Prince is close from retirement ...this is what i think!!

Boring Times

the new thing is touring WITHOUT a release....and Prince has always got us hard and wont make us come

We're seeing tracks credited to Prince getting released (with track numbers), a planned 3rd Eye Girl CD and now NPG reheasring for the summer shows. Seems there's a lot going on and planned output from all sides.

This thread is seven pages long, and there are only about a dozen posts about the actual topic!!

.

Short and sweet: When you schedule two shows a night in a city, then have to cancel the second show due to low sales, and are able to accomodate everyone at the first show...your tour didn't sell out!! And when tickets are being flogged at 50% off the day of the show, that's another sign your tour didn't sell out!

.

Back on topic...

.

"[Prince] will release music by newly signed artists, as well as his own recordings and other Prince-produced material." So is he going to start doing production work for artists who are not simply his proteges? Maybe PP will start seeing some activity?

.

Somebody in this thread described this as a "megadeal", but I didn't see any dollar amounts quoted in any of the articles? Maybe this is just speculation from the same people who swear P made millions off the LOL tour?

.

I'm with imago, I expect this will go the way of most recent projects! But who knows, maybe he will prove us wrong!

mltijchr said:

I understand how some people - present/actual prince fans or not - are disappointed with prince &/or "less than enthusiastic" about this latest "big announcement".

what is frustrating to a lot of people is that clearly.. prince

HAD

the talent & musicianship & vision to be the GREATEST musician/singer/performer of ALL TIME.

better than the Beatles.

better than Michael Jackson.

BETTER THAN ANYBODY YOU COULD PUT UP AGAINST HIM.

for real.

his arrogance and unwillingness to do anything substantial outside of music

(e.g., visit a zoo for a few hours, take a week-long boat ride on the Amazon River, etc.)

laid the foundation for him to become musically stagnant.

(there were other factors & circumstances that also contributed, but to me the two mentioned are very prominent..)

IT CANNOT BE ARGUED AT ALL

that Prince's BEST/MOST EXCITING period of music was

1980 - 1987.

I know this firsthand. I

LIVED & BREATHED & HUNG on every brilliant note, every groan, every nasty guitar lick.

you cannot put a price on what it was like to be a PRINCE fan back then.

for those of you who missed it back then - too bad.

(& I say that with genuine sympathy.. not with some sort of "fuck-you-loser-for-being-born-too-late attitude..)

so.. anyone who thinks that the music "prince" puts out now is worth anything..

well.. YES.. it is worth "something" considering how much

TOTAL CRAP

is passed of as "music" today.

because of what he's put out over the course of the entirety of his career,

prince can only be judged against himself,

against what he's put out about every 10 years or so

(or.. at whatever interval/s you want to use).

(I think I read it somewhere here on the org)

that prince said (sometime in the last 12 years or so)

that he "pushed the envelope off the table"

meaning - I presume - that he & his music challenged the world with its originality, etc.

if prince said that - I would agree with him that he DID - from '80 to '87 - push the envelope off the table.

the thing about pushing the envelope off the table - that 1st time - is that

you can't go back & do that again.

minimally, you can't "go back & do it again" with the same verocity or impact or power.

prince - for better or worse - is a musician.

what else is he going to do at this point in his life -

work as a chef in his own strictly vegan restaurant

(as intriguing as that might sound..)

addendum:

I stopped being a "die hard prince fan" in 2000;

right about when he started calling himself "prince" again

& admitting that the whole "name change thing" had more to do with

"severing undesirable relationships" than some sort of "spiritual awakening" or "rebirth"

by 2000, the overall quality of his music had ALREADY DIMINISHED SUBSTANTIALLY

so for me.. his little admission closed & locked the door.

I "quit prince cold turkey".. you could say.

I had no anger or hostility towards him.

I didn't think he "owed me" anything for being a loyal/die-hard fan for about 20 years.

I simply got on with my life

& got into other music

made by people with a better hold on reality.

addendum II:

this new/great music deal

m i g h t

propel prince into some sort of popular music (pseudo-) relevance..

but I'm not holding my breath.

No offense but that's a lot to have to say about someone/something you "quit cold turkey" 13 years ago.