When Prince was releasing album after album of sub-par music in the mid-90's everyone criticized him for not taking his time and putting out properly paced and prepared music. Now he's being criticized for doing what people wanted him to do then. Prince fans are insane..

i think there are two markets prince could/should release music to...

1. Us the hardcore fans who follow him and know where to download the latest 'snacks'.

2. The general public who only know there's an album out when it's advertised (properly) which is understandable.

so he could release albums like chocolate invasion, slaughterhouse, NEWS, c-note, xpectation in an online shop (FOR US) and at the same time release the big albums (musicology, 3121, plectrum electrum) to mass market. keeps everyone happy. it's sort of what he's been doing, but i'd like him to address this in a better way than what he's doing. in conclusion there is no reason not to release the 'fanbase' albums as we would buy them even if he released one a month. so his argument about waiting is flawed.

[Edited 3/8/14 2:40am]

[Edited 3/8/14 2:40am]

strawberrybubblegum said:

The vault is most probably ideas of songs that in his head are not finished, not mixed not anything. Just random thoughts in his head and he goes back to them maybe years later as he said he thinks oh this piece would go very well with XYZ. This is why we don't hear it. Also why do people think if he dies we will all of a sudden have access to this vault?..

The vault does not reside in Prince's Mind Palace! It physically exists.

Freedom means just that - freedom to do whatever you want, whether that be dump anything and everything out there or do nothing at all.

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Prince isn't the type of artist who has talked freely in public about his own artistic hurdles like some musicians do because it seems he feels he has to be the Wizard of Oz at all times. But I'm sure he's taken stock of his body of work and doesn't always think "my next one is my best one" despite the P.R. bullshit he spouts in interviews (what else is he going to say?)

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I think between feeling less inspired in the studio over the years, and the weight of his considerable past achievements to try to live up to, or sidestep or match in terms of uniqueness or ignore completely (as if!) - I think he's used the legitimate reason of the imploding music business and the explosion of the internet as an excuse not to release an album a year recently. Obviously he still finds joy in live performance, I don't think that is just a nice pay cheque to him - but in the studio? I'm not so sure, I think he finds it more difficult to be inspired there than he used to, and imo the evidence speaks for itself.

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For a long time fans were crying out for him to slow down and put something of merit out, even if it took 3 or 4 years without an album. Now he's doing that (desired results pending) and people are crying out for the opposite for him to get back on the hobby horse and slog out an album every year, at least.

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Since 20Ten, we did get Superconductor, a bunch of singles and downloads at least 2 or 3 official websites came and went, loads of silly side orders for us obsessives only like all the streams and radio-only tracks and youtube jiggerpokery, which to me kind of equates with going to a record fair and picking up a bootleg out-take set or two like I would've done 20 years ago. And for 2014 we have the 3EG album (which sounds more Prince-led than initially touted) and the Liv Warfield album round the corner and Spring has only just sprung, so who the heck else knows what. So chin up, eh

lezama said:

When Prince was releasing album after album of sub-par music in the mid-90's everyone criticized him for not taking his time and putting out properly paced and prepared music. Now he's being criticized for doing what people wanted him to do then. Prince fans are insane..

Do you mean mid-2000s? Mid-90s was hardly album-after-album of sub-par music. That started after Emancipation (or including Emancipation, depending on who you ask). Stuff like Chaos & Disorder and The Vault: OF4S are cleary marked Contractual Obligations.

Se7en said:

lezama said:

When Prince was releasing album after album of sub-par music in the mid-90's everyone criticized him for not taking his time and putting out properly paced and prepared music. Now he's being criticized for doing what people wanted him to do then. Prince fans are insane..

Do you mean mid-2000s? Mid-90s was hardly album-after-album of sub-par music. That started after Emancipation (or including Emancipation, depending on who you ask). Stuff like Chaos & Disorder and The Vault: OF4S are cleary marked Contractual Obligations.

Oops you're right, i wanted to say late 90s (post-Emancipation). Thx

Byron said:

No...being emancipated means having freedom. Which in this case means Prince having the freedom to release as much or as little as he desires, with no one else dictating it to him. At the time he made the comment 18 years ago, he wanted to release a lot of music, and that's exactly what he did. 15 years after that, he did not want to release as much music, and that's exactly what he's done. I see no inconsistency between the statements.

This.

And that the day of releasing albums all the time has come to an end, since album sales are down. I think his model of releasing music (albums) every year has to change to perhaps ever 2 to 3 years. Unless of course he does digital downloads only-that would reduce cost. But it would also reduce profit (illegal downloads.).

kewlschool said:

Byron said:

No...being emancipated means having freedom. Which in this case means Prince having the freedom to release as much or as little as he desires, with no one else dictating it to him. At the time he made the comment 18 years ago, he wanted to release a lot of music, and that's exactly what he did. 15 years after that, he did not want to release as much music, and that's exactly what he's done. I see no inconsistency between the statements.

This.

And that the day of releasing albums all the time has come to an end, since album sales are down. I think his model of releasing music (albums) every year has to change to perhaps ever 2 to 3 years. Unless of course he does digital downloads only-that would reduce cost. But it would also reduce profit (illegal downloads.).

Okay--what?

People illegally download material released in physical form. Lots. I'm confused.

EddieC said:

kewlschool said:

This.

And that the day of releasing albums all the time has come to an end, since album sales are down. I think his model of releasing music (albums) every year has to change to perhaps ever 2 to 3 years. Unless of course he does digital downloads only-that would reduce cost. But it would also reduce profit (illegal downloads.).

Okay--what?

People illegally download material released in physical form. Lots. I'm confused.

Because an established act like Prince has collectors of his work wanting something they can hold like a record or disc. If he only did down loads less people would buy his work legally, because there is nothing to hold in their in hand. So, in a sense, it doesn't own any value to them. So stealing it by down load is okay to them.

But with sales down over all for albums, it's not cost effective to release an album a year in a physical format. Yes, people still do steal music by illegal downloads, it however, (I believe) would just increase with out releasing a physical format. The hard core fans want the disc or record in their hands that adds up to a lot in sales (see Lotusflower sales).

So, if he wants to release more music every year, he has to release it digitally to keep costs down.

kewlschool said:

EddieC said:

Okay--what?

People illegally download material released in physical form. Lots. I'm confused.

Because an established act like Prince has collectors of his work wanting something they can hold like a record or disc. If he only did down loads less people would buy his work legally, because there is nothing to hold in their in hand. So, in a sense, it doesn't own any value to them. So stealing it by down load is okay to them.

But with sales down over all for albums, it's not cost effective to release an album a year in a physical format. Yes, people still do steal music by illegal downloads, it however, (I believe) would just increase with out releasing a physical format. The hard core fans want the disc or record in their hands that adds up to a lot in sales (see Lotusflower sales).

So, if he wants to release more music every year, he has to release it digitally to keep costs down.

Actually, that makes sense. Thanks.

donnyenglish said: