Prince back with Warners, his albums being sold on iTunes/retail, REAL promises of a remaster(s), some activity on Facebook, promotion (sort of)...sounds like the wet dream of a hardcore fan...

but don't kid yourselves, Prince also seemed like he wanted to be back in the game during the 2004-2006 years, and then look what happened : the free newspaper albums + 4 years in the wilderness...

just don't get to excited and enjoy THIS moment, ok? ; carpe diem indeed

discuss...

Does he want to be back in the game? It's so obvious that he doesn't otherwise he'd have played along to promote his new albums. Instead he does nothing so that he can happily moan about record companies again when nobody will touch his next albums with a barge pole because he will do cock all to promote them.

He clearly does. He just doesn't want to appear to be chasing it.

The twitter accounts have been a non-stop trumpet of the albums chart positions ever since they were released. WB have got songs up on youtube. There are a couple of music videos out there.

Not only has he done a complete 360 on "the internet" seemingly now embracing Facebook/Twitter/Youtube/Instagram/Livestream/Soundcloud He's also decided to allow someone (Josh) to produce his latest album - while the latter could be to give Josh a platform, it seems more likely that it was to help update his sound - to appeal to a wider audience.

I'm not sure Prince ever left the game - with the possible exception of TRC.

[Edited 10/8/14 11:45am]

I think it's business as usual as far as new releases are concerned and the WB deal was more about tying up loose ends and getting his masters etc.

I think Prince feels doing promotion is verrry boring.


He prefers to just make the music.

NouveauDance said:

I think it's business as usual as far as new releases are concerned and the WB deal was more about tying up loose ends and getting his masters etc.

yeah i think WB wanted to do PR30 offered his masters back and he wanted to release PE/AOA so it felt like a compromise and very convenient. who else was going to release his new music?

bigd74 said:

NouveauDance said:

I think it's business as usual as far as new releases are concerned and the WB deal was more about tying up loose ends and getting his masters etc.

yeah i think WB wanted to do PR30 offered his masters back and he wanted to release PE/AOA so it felt like a compromise and very convenient. who else was going to release his new music?

the Daily Mirror? iTunes exclusive?

JoeTyler said:

bigd74 said:

yeah i think WB wanted to do PR30 offered his masters back and he wanted to release PE/AOA so it felt like a compromise and very convenient. who else was going to release his new music?

the Daily Mirror? iTunes exclusive?

At least more than 56,000 people would have heard the album if he gave it away with the Mirror.

I think he desperately does. Hell, just listen to the sound of "Fart Official Age". It sounds like everything else on R&B radio these days. He's gone past the point of kissing the industry's ass, he's tossing their salad.

He hasn't done a 360 on the internet. His comment was taken out of context. The internet is dead, he said, as a replacement for the old system and a way to make money.

vainandy said:

just listen to the sound of "Fart Official Age". It sounds like everything else on R&B radio these days.

I doesn't really, but if you say so.. the most "normal" (as in generic) song on AOA is U KNOW.. if you're basing your assessment of the album on that song, your generalization would be correct.

With regards to the OP's question, I don't think so if it comes at the expense of his liberty to do things at his will. Many artists put recognition and stature in the industry above anything else. While he does care about those things, he doesn't more than he loves his autonomy. That's been a consistent trait in him since the very beginnings if you read about how he managed WB the first time around.

Prince has always wanted to be back in the game, problem is, he's never willing to play to the game to get it.

He loves to pretend he is going off on some spiritual journey every few years, but keeps trying to line up a label or cause to deliver him hits without it looking like he is chasing them.

He was chasing hits in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2014, some with limited success. In all those attempts, it was always the fault of the "system", and never, in his opinion, his lack of promotion.

He expects the hits on a plate, like 1982 to 1987, but he's failed to realise that in that period, fate lined up, he was the right age, in tune with the era, hungry to promote and killer product to sell.

Sometimes I think he goes for all the unconventional release and promotional strategies because he's just so afraid of failure.

Now that it looks like the new albums won't do that well he (or, his fans) can always say, "well, it was two albums released at the same time and there were no TV appearances or anything like that". It's been like that since Emancipation, or even Come and TGE. We've had the newspaper releases, the albums given away at concerts, albums sold exclusively in just one specific supermarket chain and so on. The only albums he's really taken chances with and put them out as regular type of a releases have been the Rave Un2 Joy Fantastic and 3121 albums. The first one was a disaster and the other one did just okay, but apparently not well enough to convince him that releasing albums the "normal way" is worth it.

He might want to get "back in the game", but I think he'd just need to try to follow at least some of the rules of the game.

JoeTyler said:

Prince back with Warners, his albums being sold on iTunes/retail, REAL promises of a remaster(s), some activity on Facebook, promotion (sort of)...sounds like the wet dream of a hardcore fan...

but don't kid yourselves, Prince also seemed like he wanted to be back in the game during the 2004-2006 years, and then look what happened : the free newspaper albums + 4 years in the wilderness...

just don't get to excited and enjoy THIS moment, ok? ; carpe diem indeed

discuss...

Once again I don't understand how Prince being "back in the game" or releasing music through a medium or another should be exciting or enjoyable to me. I don't care whether an album is released alongside a roll of toilet paper or a vacuum cleaner, nor whether it is being heavily promoted or not at all for that matter. As long as the music is being released and I can listen to it that's pretty much all I care about and I think that's pretty much the only sane and mature way to behave when it comes to music once you're past high school.

Besides, there are already at least half a dozen threads running on this exact same topic at the moment, so I genuinely don't understand why reformulating the same thing with different words made u believe it was worth creating a new thread.

No offence dude, BTW, it's not about you as a person, it's about the collective nonsense going on on this forum, where we have more threads about the promotion of the albums than about their content. If I wanted to discuss marketing I'd go on an advertisers' forum.

databank said:

JoeTyler said:

Prince back with Warners, his albums being sold on iTunes/retail, REAL promises of a remaster(s), some activity on Facebook, promotion (sort of)...sounds like the wet dream of a hardcore fan...

but don't kid yourselves, Prince also seemed like he wanted to be back in the game during the 2004-2006 years, and then look what happened : the free newspaper albums + 4 years in the wilderness...

just don't get to excited and enjoy THIS moment, ok? ; carpe diem indeed

discuss...

Once again I don't understand how Prince being "back in the game" or releasing music through a medium or another should be exciting or enjoyable to me. I don't care whether an album is released alongside a roll of toilet paper or a vacuum cleaner, nor whether it is being heavily promoted or not at all for that matter. As long as the music is being released and I can listen to it that's pretty much all I care about and I think that's pretty much the only sane and mature way to behave when it comes to music once you're past high school.

Besides, there are already at least half a dozen threads running on this exact same topic at the moment, so I genuinely don't understand why reformulating the same thing with different words made u believe it was worth creating a new thread.

No offence dude, BTW, it's not about you as a person, it's about the collective nonsense going on on this forum, where we have more threads about the promotion of the albums than about their content. If I wanted to discuss marketing I'd go on an advertisers' forum.

JoeTyler said:

databank said:

Once again I don't understand how Prince being "back in the game" or releasing music through a medium or another should be exciting or enjoyable to me. I don't care whether an album is released alongside a roll of toilet paper or a vacuum cleaner, nor whether it is being heavily promoted or not at all for that matter. As long as the music is being released and I can listen to it that's pretty much all I care about and I think that's pretty much the only sane and mature way to behave when it comes to music once you're past high school.

Besides, there are already at least half a dozen threads running on this exact same topic at the moment, so I genuinely don't understand why reformulating the same thing with different words made u believe it was worth creating a new thread.

No offence dude, BTW, it's not about you as a person, it's about the collective nonsense going on on this forum, where we have more threads about the promotion of the albums than about their content. If I wanted to discuss marketing I'd go on an advertisers' forum.

JoeTyler said:

Prince back with Warners, his albums being sold on iTunes/retail, REAL promises of a remaster(s), some activity on Facebook, promotion (sort of)...sounds like the wet dream of a hardcore fan...

but don't kid yourselves, Prince also seemed like he wanted to be back in the game during the 2004-2006 years, and then look what happened : the free newspaper albums + 4 years in the wilderness...

just don't get to excited and enjoy THIS moment, ok? ; carpe diem indeed

discuss...

When has Prince really been in the game? He has done it his way to avoid to "playing the game".

AOA and PE is the first time he has released something the convential way in a long time but to not do any promotion is a travisty.

For example, if he plays a show like X Factor you will find his sales will increase overnight due to the number of people watching those shows

Its a simple process but he cant be bothered. Not sure what Warner Brothers think of that

egansmind said:

AOA and PE is the first time he has released something the convential way in a long time but to not do any promotion is a travisty.

For example, if he plays a show like X Factor you will find his sales will increase overnight due to the number of people watching those shows

Its a simple process but he cant be bothered. Not sure what Warner Brothers think of that

Or it doesn't matter.

People keep insisting he's done no promo, but he spent the first half of the year touring with 3rdeyegirl. No one single has been pushed heavily but several are out there as well as 2 videos and a possible 3rd for FnR. His music is being played during NFL games in the states and he did an hour on a talkshow during which he played several songs and dumped some dudes girlfriend for him live on air (even if it was setup), plus the Yahoo stream.

The albums dropped. At this point going on TV to promote the album is dumb. Why promote an album thats already in the top 10? Everytime someone goes to buy an album -physical or digital they see the Prince album. Albums don't make money, having a top 10 album is a status symbol and nothing more.

Once they get the details of the tour sorted out - thats the time to get on TV. They make more money from going on tour and the tour will drive album sales.

SquirrelMeat said:

Prince has always wanted to be back in the game, problem is, he's never willing to play to the game to get it.

He loves to pretend he is going off on some spiritual journey every few years, but keeps trying to line up a label or cause to deliver him hits without it looking like he is chasing them.

He was chasing hits in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2014, some with limited success. In all those attempts, it was always the fault of the "system", and never, in his opinion, his lack of promotion.

He expects the hits on a plate, like 1982 to 1987, but he's failed to realise that in that period, fate lined up, he was the right age, in tune with the era, hungry to promote and killer product to sell.

^ This. All of it.

nope, i don't think so. he's already earned some of the highest accolades a musician can attain. at this point, i see prince as having broken the mold of 'the game' and created his own game and rules to go along with it. it's like he's moved on and is now playing ping pong in three dimensions while we are all stuck in two dimensions, with all our accompanying expectations