He deserves so much more...

When you look at artists like Madonna, U2, Janet Jackson, Bruce Springstein... They always "accomplish" more in terms of sales, grammy's, etc...

How can Sign O' The Times just sell 1 million in USA

How can Prince just have 7 Grammys while U2 has 22.

I think after Purple Rain where he achieved super stardom and selling over 21 million albums worldwide, his genius took over him and just as an artist in the purest form couldn't keep from recording more... Where as most artists have a mega hit they will wait a couple years and the next album will sell mega well... But Prince always did things his way. It's a shame though cause his music should have garnered so much more success.

With the expection of Purple Rain 21m and Batman 11m he never achieved the commercial recognition he deserves.

Musically there's no denyting he is one of the besst of all time, I just wish his art was granted more success.

What went wrong?

[Edited 11/13/14 11:38am]

Quality does not = sales.

Commercially, Prince failed where those others succeeded because they were willing to promote in a coherent and comprehensive manner.

CharismaDove said:

Prince has has more worldwide hits than any of those artists except Madonna and U2. Prince has sold more than Janet.

Not true.

SquirrelMeat said:

Quality does not = sales.

Commercially, Prince failed where those others succeeded because they were willing to promote in a coherent and comprehensive manner.

I know quality doesn't equal sales... And for many years especially here, Prince fans always look the other way when it comes to sales. I never said quality equals sales.

Perfect example, Sign O The Times is one of the greatest albums of all time, it barely went double platinum in U.S.A. World wide just selling 4 million.

I agree, I think Prince is one of the worst promoted artists. The lack of internet exposure really is killing him, you have to evolve with time, he does not set the trends anymore like he used to. Just the fact you search on YouTube and can't find Kiss, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain... It's scary. Imagine in 20-30 years, non of the mass new generation will know about him, unless they are "true" music lovers and dig deep...

I think if he waited a year or two after Purple Rain releasing a solid album whatever he was recording at the time, hell I wish sometimes he just released Sign O The Times in 1986 vs. ATIAD and Parade, I think that would've been another 20m+ seller and would have redirceted his whole career in a whole different light... I can only dream perhaps.

feeluupp said:

SquirrelMeat said:

Quality does not = sales.

Commercially, Prince failed where those others succeeded because they were willing to promote in a coherent and comprehensive manner.

I know quality doesn't equal sales... And for many years especially here, Prince fans always look the other way when it comes to sales. I never said quality equals sales.

Perfect example, Sign O The Times is one of the greatest albums of all time, it barely went double platinum in U.S.A. World wide just selling 4 million.

I agree, I think Prince is one of the worst promoted artists. The lack of internet exposure really is killing him, you have to evolve with time, he does not set the trends anymore like he used to. Just the fact you search on YouTube and can't find Kiss, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain... It's scary. Imagine in 20-30 years, non of the mass new generation will know about him, unless they are "true" music lovers and dig deep...

I think if he waited a year or two after Purple Rain releasing a solid album whatever he was recording at the time, hell I wish sometimes he just released Sign O The Times in 1986 vs. ATIAD and Parade, I think that would've been another 20m+ seller and would have redirceted his whole career in a whole different light... I can only dream perhaps.

No one can dispute P's quality.

But you know he ain't 'doing the work' when Taylor Swift has already sold nearly twice as many records.

SquirrelMeat said:

feeluupp said:

I know quality doesn't equal sales... And for many years especially here, Prince fans always look the other way when it comes to sales. I never said quality equals sales.

Perfect example, Sign O The Times is one of the greatest albums of all time, it barely went double platinum in U.S.A. World wide just selling 4 million.

I agree, I think Prince is one of the worst promoted artists. The lack of internet exposure really is killing him, you have to evolve with time, he does not set the trends anymore like he used to. Just the fact you search on YouTube and can't find Kiss, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain... It's scary. Imagine in 20-30 years, non of the mass new generation will know about him, unless they are "true" music lovers and dig deep...

I think if he waited a year or two after Purple Rain releasing a solid album whatever he was recording at the time, hell I wish sometimes he just released Sign O The Times in 1986 vs. ATIAD and Parade, I think that would've been another 20m+ seller and would have redirceted his whole career in a whole different light... I can only dream perhaps.

No one can dispute P's quality.

But you know he ain't 'doing the work' when Taylor Swift has already sold nearly twice as many records.

Yea it's sad indeed, Taylor Swifts new album sold 1.7m in just 2 weeks, and she is BLAHH. An average artist, nothing special, just mastered the art of promotion with the tweens and new age social media. She's just the "IN" thing for now...

Prince always does things his way, that's the problem. I remember Bono saying in his book, something about, someone needs to tell Prince his genius is not working today, so someone needs to direct him something like that... He should've had bigger hits. Man Lovesexy, Parade, all those albums sold nothing...

I agree his disdain for playing the game as instructed got in his way. But, yeah that means other artists have surpassed him in sales. And sales isn't everything until, it IS.

He's doing what's necessary now though and it's working for him - so maybe he'll change that going forward

PS I dont think the re-issue should be purple rain...it SHOULD BE

SOTT
Parade
LoveSexy
ATWIAD


these should be re-issued imo (if you're asking) - they still sound new

[Edited 11/13/14 11:58am]

terrig said:

I agree his disdain for playing the game as instructed got in his way. But, yeah that means other artists have surpassed him in sales. And sales isn't everything until, it IS.

He's doing what's necessary now though and it's working for him - so maybe he'll change that going forward

Sales as we all no doesn't indicate the quality cause look at all the crap artists who "sell" Brittney Spears for example.

However, if his music wants to be heard... Sales is releveance. Sales means your relevant, and the more relvance the more people hear your music. At the end that's what every artist wants to be especially Prince. I remember Alan Leeds in an interview saying Prince always asked me why he wasn't taken seriously as an artist, and always complained about the sales especially with Sign O' The Times... The low sales was the motivation to make a middle finger style f u album, The Black Album.

feeluupp said:

terrig said:

I agree his disdain for playing the game as instructed got in his way. But, yeah that means other artists have surpassed him in sales. And sales isn't everything until, it IS.

He's doing what's necessary now though and it's working for him - so maybe he'll change that going forward

Sales as we all no doesn't indicate the quality cause look at all the crap artists who "sell" Brittney Spears for example.

However, if his music wants to be heard... Sales is releveance. Sales means your relevant, and the more relvance the more people hear your music. At the end that's what every artist wants to be especially Prince. I remember Alan Leeds in an interview saying Prince always asked me why he wasn't taken seriously as an artist, and always complained about the sales especially with Sign O' The Times... The low sales was the motivation to make a middle finger style f u album, The Black Album.

I agree with you 100%...I edited my post above and I'll add here that if he re-issued the other albums they'd sell like crazy now. Back then there was TOO MUCH AWESOME for the public to process at athe time...they literally couldnt keep up. So some stellar works of art got lost in Princes own blaze of glory.

[Edited 11/13/14 12:07pm]

For example just in 1986 alone

Prince- Parade: 4m

Janet Jackson- Control: 15m

Madonna- True Blue: 25m

CharismaDove said:

Prince is certified for 62 million units while Janet is in the 50-million area. So yes he has outsold her. And I expect Janet would be shifting 'Parade' numbers if she released 1 LP a year.

If your counting just U.S.A. then maybe but worldwide Janet has sold over 150M.

Janet Jackson:

Control- 15m

Rythm Nation - 20m

Janet- 25m

The Velvet Rope- 11m

All For You- 8m

There are so many factors to his comparitive sales...no one could pinpoint in one paragraph or two.

But being a controversial black artist is America, who blends genres, likes to piss people off(I do too, not knocking him), is androgynous, challenges conventional wisdom...And clearly has a disdain for promoting his albums. That in a nutshell is why he'll never sell as many albums as U2, MJ, Madonna, etc.

Whenever I travel cross-country(about twice a yr) - the average white rural American barely knows who he is.

His lack of promotion for AOA - a great album IMO - is just another example of how little promotion he puts into each release. Where are the talk show performances? Where are the ads? I don't get it.

The industry is about airhead lyrics, women that must expose their bodies every time they perform and bubblegum music opposed to talent. The industry has problems with artists provoking thoughts of substance regarding today's issues. When Prince discovered he was being used and mistreated by the industry he stepped away and the industry punished Prince by not playing his music as much on radios and portraying him as weird or crazy.

Prince has talent, he drops knowledge and has creative control over his work. He is a threat to the industry because he is not their “slave” anymore. I heard some of today’s artists are actually buying their own cds so their “sales” amount looks good. I totally agree Prince deserves more but when you go against the system well this is what happens. The good news is Prince continues to do music and he keeps blessing the world with it.

This sums up my earlier response:

blacklist (or black list) is a list or register of entities or people who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition.

m33kn3ss said:

The industry is about airhead lyrics, women that must expose their bodies every time they perform and bubblegum music opposed to talent. The industry has problems with artists provoking thoughts of substance regarding today's issues. When Prince discovered he was being used and mistreated by the industry he stepped away and the industry punished Prince by not playing his music as much on radios and portraying him as weird or crazy.

I think he did a pretty good job of that himself.

SquirrelMeat said:

m33kn3ss said:

The industry is about airhead lyrics, women that must expose their bodies every time they perform and bubblegum music opposed to talent. The industry has problems with artists provoking thoughts of substance regarding today's issues. When Prince discovered he was being used and mistreated by the industry he stepped away and the industry punished Prince by not playing his music as much on radios and portraying him as weird or crazy.

I think he did a pretty good job of that himself.

Yes I think at the point of 1993, 1994 was the start of that weird period, honestly I hated that period including TGE. I just hate it. Hate everything the look, the antics, and the music was just average.

His last real hit was The Most Beautiful Girl, and by 95-99 Prince or TAFKAP was really just a a joke to the industry, every talk show every interview always adressed him as what to call him rather than talk about his musical genius and legacy he created... I'm so glad the mid 90's are done with and all those album are out of print.

CharismaDove said:

I also wish Prince sold Madonna numbers, but he's still one of THE most famous and regarded in the Top 5 of the eighties. Hits-wise, he WAS the most successful of the 80s. He had more hits in America 1980-2000 than anyone else. He's sold approximate 100+ million records. Constantly in the best of all time lists, winning lifetime achievement awards, etc. Celebrities go crazy for this guy, a lot of his fans are young. I think he did fine.

yes, all of that, but he still deserves MORE...i understand the OP's thinking. When you are the best in the world at what you do, it deserves recognition of the highest order. Mostly of his own doing, people haven't been exposed to his magnificent catalogue. He just rolls along, however. The general public are the ones who are missing out.

Revolution said:

CharismaDove said:

I also wish Prince sold Madonna numbers, but he's still one of THE most famous and regarded in the Top 5 of the eighties. Hits-wise, he WAS the most successful of the 80s. He had more hits in America 1980-2000 than anyone else. He's sold approximate 100+ million records. Constantly in the best of all time lists, winning lifetime achievement awards, etc. Celebrities go crazy for this guy, a lot of his fans are young. I think he did fine.

yes, all of that, but he still deserves MORE...i understand the OP's thinking. When you are the best in the world at what you do, it deserves recognition of the highest order. Mostly of his own doing, people haven't been exposed to his magnificent catalogue. He just rolls along, however. The general public are the ones who are missing out.

Exactly, that was my original thought, he is the best, and he deserves so much more.

Sign O The Times was Prince's masterpiece and he felt very depressed after it didn't sell well, so sales did play a factor for Prince's career at that time, he became depressed, experimented with cocaine, and ended up recording The Black Album...

feeluupp said:

How can Sign O' The Times just sell 1 million in USA

What went wrong?

[Edited 11/13/14 11:38am]

So much of the public only like Prince's Purple Rain music.

I remember hanging out on a friends porch and blasting the SotT album and the same friends that were head over heels for the PR album couldn't stand anything on SotT's besides the title track and U Got the Look. They hated his orange outfit, his new look (hair-glasses), and his music was now irrelevant to them. Lovesexy was the final nail in the coffin for many of them...

Even Carol, who I saw Purple Rain 4 times with at the theatre, dropped him...

feeluupp said:

Revolution said:

yes, all of that, but he still deserves MORE...i understand the OP's thinking. When you are the best in the world at what you do, it deserves recognition of the highest order. Mostly of his own doing, people haven't been exposed to his magnificent catalogue. He just rolls along, however. The general public are the ones who are missing out.

Exactly, that was my original thought, he is the best, and he deserves so much more.

Sign O The Times was Prince's masterpiece and he felt very depressed after it didn't sell well, so sales did play a factor for Prince's career at that time, he became depressed, experimented with cocaine, and ended up recording The Black Album...

I luv The Black Album so I'm pleased with fate.

feeluupp said:

SquirrelMeat said:

I think he did a pretty good job of that himself.

Yes I think at the point of 1993, 1994 was the start of that weird period, honestly I hated that period including TGE. I just hate it. Hate everything the look, the antics, and the music was just average.

His last real hit was The Most Beautiful Girl, and by 95-99 Prince or TAFKAP was really just a a joke to the industry, every talk show every interview always adressed him as what to call him rather than talk about his musical genius and legacy he created... I'm so glad the mid 90's are done with and all those album are out of print.

I couldn't disagree more. I witnessed his live shows at Glam Slam and Paisley(late 92-97) during this same time period and it was truly amazing. One brilliant show after another, week after week.

In the press he might have been labeled an outcast and seemed aloof, but his output(The Undertaker, The Gold Experience, Welcome 2the Beautiful Experience, and Emancipation to name a few) and live performances were captivating.

It's weird that so many of today's artists are getting hit songs by ripping off Prince's sound.

he likes to be quirky

he made a choice when he made around the world in a day... it set the path for the career that followed

it's his own doing

not saying it's a bad thing

m33kn3ss said:

The industry is about airhead lyrics, women that must expose their bodies every time they perform and bubblegum music opposed to talent. The industry has problems with artists provoking thoughts of substance regarding today's issues. When Prince discovered he was being used and mistreated by the industry he stepped away and the industry punished Prince by not playing his music as much on radios and portraying him as weird or crazy.

Prince has talent, he drops knowledge and has creative control over his work. He is a threat to the industry because he is not their “slave” anymore. I heard some of today’s artists are actually buying their own cds so their “sales” amount looks good. I totally agree Prince deserves more but when you go against the system well this is what happens. The good news is Prince continues to do music and he keeps blessing the world with it.

The aliens have landed!!