KingSausage said:

Prince may not be lighting up the charts or promoting his new albums. And he's defintely not a critical darling, at least in terms of his recorded output. But he seems to be trendy and cool right now in a way that he hasn't been in a long time. He gets standing ovations at bullshit award ceremonies. He does cameos on TV shows. People tweet about him, even if they haven't bought one of his albums in decades. He still makes the news, with or without merit. He's got a trendy hipness right now, a very high level of credibility. Why can't he capitalize on this? Other artists would be all over this shit in an instant. I don't believe it's because he doesn't want to. He's desperate for hits. This is his moment. His star hasn't risen this high in a long time. He got himself back in the game with his Musicology PR stunts. Can he do it again?

Easy question to answer: management. Prince is essentially his own manager and either doesn't ahve the patience or willingness to follow conventional ways to exploiting his status as a cool legendary musician into higher sales and visibility with current music consumers. His effort to establish a presence on social media (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) were short-lived and even then, his posts were aloof. News about Art Official Age and Plectrum didn't break on his own sites, it broke on Dr. Funkenberry and Good Morning America. Not shooting a music video for "Clouds" and "This Could Be Us" hampered the campaign for AOA because the YouTube/Spotify generation have been alienated by his stance on "free goods", thus removing his music from those sites. In order to accomplish what you described Prince would have to do what Santana did when he released Supernatural: follow the advice of somebody like Clive Davis to the letter and trust in their knowledge of the pop market.

bashraka said:

doesnt need to....put God on the map again

I think that's exactly where he's headed, and that AOA was him testing the waters.

Song on Rita Ora's album? Song on Rihanna's album? Live performance and studio collab with Kendrick Lamar? Heavily contemporary tracks like Ex's Face?

This is where it's all heading.

Some decent management would be good, definitely.

I think he's doing everything short of digging deep into his closet and wearing his old threads.

In order for Prince to truly capitalize on his coolness, he needs to introduce the young generation to his catalog...his remastered catalog, and to allow them to see him as he was, back when he was truly relevant. Unfortunately, Prince doesnt want anyone to remember how cool he used to be, he wants them to think he's cool now. Not working...he gets props from our generation, and the young generation says, "Why does everyone think Prince is so cool?" Unfortunately, Prince doesnt make it easy for them to find out. That, plus the lack of management previously mentioned.

I think he is fully "capable", it's just a question of whether he wants to or not. I don't buy the notion that he desperately needs this for him to be happy. He's very smart even though tons of people here think he's stupid for about everything he does nowadays. If he really wanted to be as cash greedy as he is often rumored to be he could easily hire an PR and management team. According to so many people here he would bury his controlling ways in the name of paper and more greenbacks. But I don't see it that way. He wants to do things as he always done them. On his terms, his way. That may take longer and not be as smooth as a ride. But he's capable, just not willing at this point to play the game by conventional standards. At least not yet

[Edited 3/15/15 14:22pm]

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[Edited 3/15/15 14:14pm]

Even with professional PR and management teams, Prince has made some fucking ridiculous decisions.

I feel like the stars are aligned for Prince right now in some ways. He has enough cool factor going on that if he somehow released a song that the masses liked and magically found interest in promoting his work, he take off.

Of course, since nobody buys music anymore this is largely a moot point. But maybe the fact that has so much attention (e.g. non-fans caring about his appearances on lameass award shows) means this is the last best chance he's going to have for promoting his remasters.

SuperSoulFighter said:

Remasters?

I know. I can still dream though, right?

KingSausage said:

Even with professional PR and management teams, Prince has made some fucking ridiculous decisions.

I feel like the stars are aligned for Prince right now in some ways. He has enough cool factor going on that if he somehow released a song that the masses liked and magically found interest in promoting his work, he take off.

Of course, since nobody buys music anymore this is largely a moot point. But maybe the fact that has so much attention (e.g. non-fans caring about his appearances on lameass award shows) means this is the last best chance he's going to have for promoting his remasters.

Here's something to consider. Prince has ALWAYS made ridiculous business decisions. Look at his choices from after Purple Rain all the way to Batman. Not THE most "normal" path for a rock star capable of anything.

SuperSoulFighter said:

Remasters?