Prince has no clue how to promote himself. With absolutely no experience managing an act, and no experience in advertising or promotion, he could have done several things to bring some attention to the project:

1. Made it one CD with 75-79 minutes of the best songs instead of 2 cds that add up to 93 minutes. If it had to be 2 cds, he could've done the track list however he wanted, and made the extra room on the discs for "bonus" tracks...like Screwdriver, RnR Love Affair, etc...CD sales are falling fast, and not filling them up is dumb.

2. Make a video for whatever the lead single would be, and promote the heck out of it on You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, A baseball World Series commercial...and maybe an NFL commercial...something..

3. Go on a promo tour including SNL, The Tonight Show, Today Show, and other Daytime talkshows. Maybe even strike a deal with Oprah to have a one hour special program to air on real TV...not some over long boring Yahoo internet thing with a dumb woman who fumbled and bumbled her way to become the "Lovesex that's my Jam!" Girl.

4. On the day the talkshow promo spots are done, have a show in that city billed as a "Practice rehearsal" for a tour that would be announced to start 2 weeks after the day of the album release. He could have booked 3-5 Arena shows where maybe 300 VIP tickets were $150-$500 or so, and had the other 17000-25000 seats at $19.99, and maybe even a few thousand of those at $10. These shows would be cheap for the average Joe, and get them excited about Prince again.
5. Have one or two songs on a soundtrack for a hit movie.

6. Book a 90 show tour covering 40-70 cities. He's 56 now, and taking a bit of a rest to have mulitple shows in big cities makes sense. And put the tickets on sale FAR FAR in advance, so you can sell out EVERY SINGLE SHOW. Use my ticket pricing strategy to at least get more fans in the seats, and have a lot of merchandise to cover any possible shortfalls for having a lot of $25 tickets.

7. He'd never do this: Have the full original Time open up, and play a full 60 minute set, and for his show, have a combo of 3EG and NPG, and have band members from his past play at least a guest role if not more, like The Eagles did. Not saying a full blown Revolution or SOTT band reunion we all would love, but at least have some familiar faces show up.

8. Make the shows legendary. No Prince Karaoke, No long medleys, No crowd flunkys like Shelby shouting at the top of their lungs...make it a serious but fun show that puts a primary focus on the musicianship. We won't get another SOTT show, but structure it like that as much as posssible, and have Prince sing as much as possible. No holding the microphone for crowd to sing. No Play That Funky Music, no over predictable setlists...YES, he has to play the hits, but a 150 minute show with 100 minutes of hits, 30 minutes of recent material, and 20 minutes of rare songs that might rotate to give the shows some sort of spontaneous feeling would do wonders for all business things Prince!

9. Obvious one: Worked better with Warners to have the Purple Rain remaster out by the end of the summer. And instead of having 5 different versions of the release like some artsts do for reissues..just have a 2 disc deluxe version for $15, and then have a massive Box Set for $100, but make it worth the money. No stupid book...look, I love books, but we have the Purple Rain movie for all of the visuals, and our old Tour Books, etc. Just pack it with extra discs, and DVD. Make somebody go...WOW! I get all this! Not like the Sting box set that came out a few years back with some book, 2 CDs, 1 DVD, and a ridiculous price tag...give value...and make the booklet nice, but not a centerpiece.

10. After about 20 shows of the 90 or so show tour, create a DVD and Blu Ray showcasing the tour, and make it a two disc set: One showing the regular main show, and the bonus disc showing The Time, and 10-15 Prince songs performed rarely.

Pretty much none of these things would ever happen, as Prince's idea of promotion for an album is to do a talk show or two, and then ignore the album forever. Sad, but true.

And for 2015? As the tour winds down, release a box set with all the officially released albums from 78-96 in one huge box set, with bonus discs of all the single mixes, and most of the remixes(We don't need 20 mixes of Gangster Glam), and DVDs of all the videos, and at the same time, just empty the damn vault in another Box Set of 20 or so discs with a bunch of DVDs of live performances, extra videos...

As far as single disc remasters? None. Just make a few 2 Disc versions of the 5 best selling albums. If you want the others, you gotta buy the box sets. Makes perfect sense. Nobody is gonna camp outside Best Buy for a symbol reissue, or as much as it hurts to say it...a Lovesexy or Dirty Mind reissue.

Whinge whinge whinge.
2014 WAS a huge Prince year and as with any other huge Prince year, he did it his way, not your way.

All of your marketing ideas are ideas he's already done.
The people who are wishing that Purple Rain would sell 30 billion copies AGAIN should reapply for high-school as well.

coulda, shoulda, woulda ... in the end, he did what he wanted... did he succeed his goal? you'd have to ask him? my guess is, his bank ain't hurt'n. maybe he likes being this semi-underground artist?

.

I'm glad to have new music, it was a nice release. I expected a little more after four years, but whatevs, he's the man. There are some stellar sounds to explore & I'm digging it.

.

Even though I don't care for they're initial release, I hope 3EG sticks around for at least another album or two to see how they develop & see what else they churn out.. but huh, let's be wise with the vocal choices shall we...

Looks like I'm getting the typical Over-Positve fan responses I actually expected.

"Whatever Prince does is by far the best thing."

"I love the Lovesex that's my jam girl."

"Tony M was a true artist. His rapping about Manure on My Name Is Prince is great"

"Your ideas are awful."

Well..haven't actually got those responses yet, but trust me, they are coming. There are TONS on this site who think my ideas are awful, and the above statements are accurate...lol

stillwaiting said:

thedoorkeeper said:

KingSausage said:

thedoorkeeper said:

thedoorkeeper said:

He had a numbr one record. Yes we all know it doesnt take much to reach number 1 these days

He realsed 2 CD's in 1 year

I hate to say it, but thats as huge of a year we might ever see again from the little man

thedoorkeeper said:

90 three hour shows and make the rounds promoting the cd plus traveling from city to city - you ever consider Prince might want to have a life? He has done this kind of non-stop touring/promotion before and he don't like it. He has the money, the prestige, the fame - what would he gain from this kind of tour that he doesn't already have? The joy of constant traveling? The comfort of ever changing hotel living?

NO. 2 and a half hour shows. And having multiple dates in the same cities, as I mentioned, would give him all the rest he nees. 90 shows from Oct 2014-Dec 2015...in 15 months is not unrealistic, and is nowhere near constant traveling.

And he will bitch to Warners about not promoting the albums enough eventually if he hasn't already. He doesn't understand that he has to assume that responsibility.

And you later said my ideas were unrealistic...not really. U2 are all just a few years younger than Prince, and they have made tons of TV spots, for what I consider to be among their weakest album in ages. But they believe in it, and are willing to work to promote it.

Most of my ideas are very realistic, but Prince is far too lazy to do any of them. It's sad, because he's the best musician on the planet, but he's not willing to do the work...bad pun intended.

KingSausage said:

Your ideas are spot on. Hell, #9 practically gave me a chubby.

Thanks. I knew if you read this, you'd be on board! A long time ago, I used to hope that by my association with some music business people I know, that I could somehow luck out and work for him, but I know in my heart, that if I did, I would have been fired after about a week...if not earlier. Common sense is not welcome to those with mental blocks on trying to make things right. If I did work for Prince now, he'd at least get some financial value out of his vault before the revenue potential dries up. It's sad, he could have made a ton on that vault, but its value decreases as each year passes.

stillwaiting said:

I think 2014 would have been a perfect year to focus on the Purple Rain 30th anniversary.

June---the release of the Purple Rain remastered,multi-disc set (and possibly a separate release of the Syracuse concert on blu-ray and DVD)

July---the beginning of a 'Prince and the Revolution' summer reunion tour that lasts two months (with The time as opening act)

August---special screenings of Purple Rain in select theatres (in big cities like L.A. and NY)

...

[Edited 11/14/14 20:14pm]

KingSausage said:

stillwaiting said:

Thanks. I knew if you read this, you'd be on board! A long time ago, I used to hope that by my association with some music business people I know, that I could somehow luck out and work for him, but I know in my heart, that if I did, I would have been fired after about a week...if not earlier. Common sense is not welcome to those with mental blocks on trying to make things right. If I did work for Prince now, he'd at least get some financial value out of his vault before the revenue potential dries up. It's sad, he could have made a ton on that vault, but its value decreases as each year passes.

Working for Prince would be fucking terrible.

Probably would. I'd still do it though. And I'd be fired really quick, unless Prince had some weird change of heart where he wanted some actual revenue for the tracks rotting in the vault, and wanted to find out that selling tickets 3 hours before showtime had a tiny bit to do why some of the 3EG Club shows had to GIVE AWAY tickets!

If the 1% chance he actually listened to me, It might be a great job for me, and a way to peddle my own songs to him...(PIPE DREAM ALERT!!!!)

But in the real world, Prince will likely continue to fumble and bumble promotion, maybe he'll make the Lovesex that's my jam girl his Manager, and let her direct his bio-pic, and be in charge of fact checking

[Edited 11/14/14 20:18pm]

stillwaiting said:

KingSausage said:

stillwaiting said:

But in the real world, Prince will likely continue to fumble and bumble promotion, maybe he'll make the Lovesex that's my jam girl his Manager, and let her direct his bio-pic, and be in charge of fact checking

[Edited 11/14/14 20:18pm]

Whoa! He's got a fact checker finally?

Oh no, you're buying into some of my sarcastic BS. ( I know, not really!)

Prince probably would need to hire a fact checker on his own bio-pic, and he probably would hire Lovesex That's My Jam Girl. It's a mouthful, but that's what I'm gonna call her from now on.

stillwaiting said:

Prince has no clue how to promote himself.

stillwaiting said:

Prince has no clue how to promote himself. With absolutely no experience managing an act, and no experience in advertising or promotion, he could have done several things to bring some attention to the project:

1. Made it one CD with 75-79 minutes of the best songs instead of 2 cds that add up to 93 minutes. If it had to be 2 cds, he could've done the track list however he wanted, and made the extra room on the discs for "bonus" tracks...like Screwdriver, RnR Love Affair, etc...CD sales are falling fast, and not filling them up is dumb.

2. Make a video for whatever the lead single would be, and promote the heck out of it on You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, A baseball World Series commercial...and maybe an NFL commercial...something..

3. Go on a promo tour including SNL, The Tonight Show, Today Show, and other Daytime talkshows. Maybe even strike a deal with Oprah to have a one hour special program to air on real TV...not some over long boring Yahoo internet thing with a dumb woman who fumbled and bumbled her way to become the "Lovesex that's my Jam!" Girl.

4. On the day the talkshow promo spots are done, have a show in that city billed as a "Practice rehearsal" for a tour that would be announced to start 2 weeks after the day of the album release. He could have booked 3-5 Arena shows where maybe 300 VIP tickets were $150-$500 or so, and had the other 17000-25000 seats at $19.99, and maybe even a few thousand of those at $10. These shows would be cheap for the average Joe, and get them excited about Prince again.
5. Have one or two songs on a soundtrack for a hit movie.

6. Book a 90 show tour covering 40-70 cities. He's 56 now, and taking a bit of a rest to have mulitple shows in big cities makes sense. And put the tickets on sale FAR FAR in advance, so you can sell out EVERY SINGLE SHOW. Use my ticket pricing strategy to at least get more fans in the seats, and have a lot of merchandise to cover any possible shortfalls for having a lot of $25 tickets.

7. He'd never do this: Have the full original Time open up, and play a full 60 minute set, and for his show, have a combo of 3EG and NPG, and have band members from his past play at least a guest role if not more, like The Eagles did. Not saying a full blown Revolution or SOTT band reunion we all would love, but at least have some familiar faces show up.

8. Make the shows legendary. No Prince Karaoke, No long medleys, No crowd flunkys like Shelby shouting at the top of their lungs...make it a serious but fun show that puts a primary focus on the musicianship. We won't get another SOTT show, but structure it like that as much as posssible, and have Prince sing as much as possible. No holding the microphone for crowd to sing. No Play That Funky Music, no over predictable setlists...YES, he has to play the hits, but a 150 minute show with 100 minutes of hits, 30 minutes of recent material, and 20 minutes of rare songs that might rotate to give the shows some sort of spontaneous feeling would do wonders for all business things Prince!

9. Obvious one: Worked better with Warners to have the Purple Rain remaster out by the end of the summer. And instead of having 5 different versions of the release like some artsts do for reissues..just have a 2 disc deluxe version for $15, and then have a massive Box Set for $100, but make it worth the money. No stupid book...look, I love books, but we have the Purple Rain movie for all of the visuals, and our old Tour Books, etc. Just pack it with extra discs, and DVD. Make somebody go...WOW! I get all this! Not like the Sting box set that came out a few years back with some book, 2 CDs, 1 DVD, and a ridiculous price tag...give value...and make the booklet nice, but not a centerpiece.

10. After about 20 shows of the 90 or so show tour, create a DVD and Blu Ray showcasing the tour, and make it a two disc set: One showing the regular main show, and the bonus disc showing The Time, and 10-15 Prince songs performed rarely.

11. Come to my house for a private concert, tuck me in at night and sing me a lullaby medley of all my favorite songs while rubbing my back to let me know how special I am.

Pretty much none of these things would ever happen, as Prince's idea of promotion for an album is to do a talk show or two, and then ignore the album forever. Sad, but true.

And for 2015? As the tour winds down, release a box set with all the officially released albums from 78-96 in one huge box set, with bonus discs of all the single mixes, and most of the remixes(We don't need 20 mixes of Gangster Glam), and DVDs of all the videos, and at the same time, just empty the damn vault in another Box Set of 20 or so discs with a bunch of DVDs of live performances, extra videos...

As far as single disc remasters? None. Just make a few 2 Disc versions of the 5 best selling albums. If you want the others, you gotta buy the box sets. Makes perfect sense. Nobody is gonna camp outside Best Buy for a symbol reissue, or as much as it hurts to say it...a Lovesexy or Dirty Mind reissue.

I don't know, I think you went too far with #11.

Other than that, oh yeah, he sucks for not doing all that stuff...

SoulAlive said:

KingSausage said:

In the end, who could really ask for more than the Yahoo livestream? . .

I know. It lived up to all my funkspectations--no matter how high or low.

stillwaiting said:

Prince is far too lazy to do any of them. It's sad, because he's the best musician on the planet, but he's not willing to do the work...bad pun intended.

I don't think you get to being the best musician on the planet by being lazy.

Listen, I love Prince. His music and shows have give a lot to me over the years. I was lucky to see him twice in London this year. They were great shows and I feel he likes the short notice smaller venues, I certainly do. The two albums are good, esp AOA. I feel lucky to get hear new Prince music and experience the live shows. I don't think he needs massive sales or lots of TV promotion for his fans. Maybe some fans wish he were more mainstream popular to justify their liking of Prince to others. It seems to me that Prince is in a good place right now. Likes his band members, can reherse, record or perform when he wants to. Yes, he could go for a massive promotion push, but that's up to him. Maybe he'd prefer people listening to his new music that getting yet more credit for work he did 30 years ago.

KingSausage said:

SuperSoulFighter said: