Look, the only way I'm giving Prince money if Im' getting shit in return right here, right now. Quality shit. Lossless audio, preferably HD, etc. Not an overpriced subscription to a crummy streaming service that may cease to exist in three months time because of course only a fraction of the projected customers have subscribed, and those who did were confronted with a technological clusterfuck.

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If any idea involves the requirement that Prince invests a lot of money upfront: fuggeddaboudit. Dude simply wants to deliver a dozen or so tracks to some corporate entity in return for a ludicrous amount of money and a semi-guarantee at a hit.

BartVanHemelen said:

Polo1026 said:

This is just an idea that has been floating in my brain for a while. With the success of paid streaming music apps like Beats and others, I wonder how would Prince fair in this marketplace by creating his own app that streams his FULL catalog for a subscription price of 2.99 per month? If you could hear EVERY song Prince has ever recorded, including the vault and new material, for 2.99 per month would you subscribe?

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Pointless dreaming. Ain't gonna happen, especially not for that price.

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He ain't gonna settle for that kind of money.

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In my opinion, there are a million Prince fans worldwide that would subscribe

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Utter nonsense.

Respect your opinion but there is no reasoning behind your points at all. How could it be utter nonsense that Prince could get 1M people to subscribe for 2.99 and have his entire music library when reality is that if Prince announced a 50 date, US major City Tour, he would draw over a 1M US fans and probably have the highest grossing tour of the year.

Worldwide Prince is still a phenomenon, he's a proven ratings mover, he's not irrelevant but people aren't interested in his new music hence why interest in him is high but sales are not. But over and over, fans have shown interest in his past and his unheard music. That is what the product would be selling, the unheard and the hits of the Prince you love.

2.99 may not be the price point but subscription services are about continued and sustained revenue. It's not about the big pay day right away.

Sure the idea is something Prince himself would never allow but it's still a viable plan for him if he thought deep enough on it.

BartVanHemelen said:

Look, the only way I'm giving Prince money if Im' getting shit in return right here, right now. Quality shit. Lossless audio, preferably HD, etc. Not an overpriced subscription to a crummy streaming service that may cease to exist in three months time because of course only a fraction of the projected customers have subscribed, and those who did were confronted with a technological clusterfuck.

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If any idea involves the requirement that Prince invests a lot of money upfront: fuggeddaboudit. Dude simply wants to deliver a dozen or so tracks to some corporate entity in return for a ludicrous amount of money and a semi-guarantee at a hit.

There is no doubt everything you said here is 100% accurate and I agree with you.

Polo1026 said:

BartVanHemelen said:

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Utter nonsense.

Respect your opinion but there is no reasoning behind your points at all. How could it be utter nonsense that Prince could get 1M people to subscribe for 2.99 and have his entire music library when reality is that if Prince announced a 50 date, US major City Tour, he would draw over a 1M US fans and probably have the highest grossing tour of the year.

Worldwide Prince is still a phenomenon, he's a proven ratings mover, he's not irrelevant but people aren't interested in his new music hence why interest in him is high but sales are not. But over and over, fans have shown interest in his past and his unheard music. That is what the product would be selling, the unheard and the hits of the Prince you love.

2.99 may not be the price point but subscription services are about continued and sustained revenue. It's not about the big pay day right away.

Sure the idea is something Prince himself would never allow but it's still a viable plan for him if he thought deep enough on it.

How do you figure that 1M people would subscribe for $2.99 a month, when only about a 100,000 could be "bothered" to buy Art Official Age?

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I would speculate that your expectations of a paying fanbase are off by about 900,000 people. Honestly, I would guess more like 950,000 . . . I can see about 50,000 people subscribing to a Prince service.

Polo1026 said:

How could it be utter nonsense that Prince could get 1M people to subscribe for 2.99 and have his entire music library when reality is that if Prince announced a 50 date, US major City Tour, he would draw over a 1M US fans and probably have the highest grossing tour of the year.

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Doubtful he could do the second, and even so they're not the same thing.

If you people ar dumb enough to throw more money at Prince for something like this, you deserve for him to rob you blind. Like each of his previous online ventures, it would tank like the Buffalo Sabres.

If you haven't learned by now that Prince is a lot of talk & the safest way as a fan who isn't interested in blowing your money on a lost cause is to take a wait & see approach, you're pretty hopeless.

Comparing this to George Lucas selling off Star Wars (along with Indiana Jones, ILM & his other properties, by the way) is ludicrous. First, he had a relationship with Disney that dated back to the mid 1980s. He wanted the properties in the hands of an organization that is known for producing quality entertainment. And he also signed away the majority of his windfall to charity. Prince would do none of those things - his makeup costs too much.

LittlePurpleYoda said:

If you people ar dumb enough to throw more money at Prince for something like this, you deserve for him to rob you blind. Like each of his previous online ventures, it would tank like the Buffalo Sabres.

If you haven't learned by now that Prince is a lot of talk & the safest way as a fan who isn't interested in blowing your money on a lost cause is to take a wait & see approach, you're pretty hopeless.

Comparing this to George Lucas selling off Star Wars (along with Indiana Jones, ILM & his other properties, by the way) is ludicrous. First, he had a relationship with Disney that dated back to the mid 1980s. He wanted the properties in the hands of an organization that is known for producing quality entertainment. And he also signed away the majority of his windfall to charity. Prince would do none of those things - his makeup costs too much.

What I said was: stranger things have happened. Nobody could have predicted George Lucas selling off Star Wars, nobody. He was just as much a control freak as Prince, SW was his baby etc etc.

But wisdom prevailed.

With Prince, hopefully WB prevails.

Pentacle said:

LittlePurpleYoda said:

If you people ar dumb enough to throw more money at Prince for something like this, you deserve for him to rob you blind. Like each of his previous online ventures, it would tank like the Buffalo Sabres.

If you haven't learned by now that Prince is a lot of talk & the safest way as a fan who isn't interested in blowing your money on a lost cause is to take a wait & see approach, you're pretty hopeless.

Comparing this to George Lucas selling off Star Wars (along with Indiana Jones, ILM & his other properties, by the way) is ludicrous. First, he had a relationship with Disney that dated back to the mid 1980s. He wanted the properties in the hands of an organization that is known for producing quality entertainment. And he also signed away the majority of his windfall to charity. Prince would do none of those things - his makeup costs too much.

What I said was: stranger things have happened. Nobody could have predicted George Lucas selling off Star Wars, nobody. He was just as much a control freak as Prince, SW was his baby etc etc.

But wisdom prevailed.

With Prince, hopefully WB prevails.

"Star Wars was his baby & he was too much of a control freak?" That's a bit of revisionary history. Explain then the various Droid & Ewok cartoon series, the Ewok films, the two different Clone Wars series & the hundreds of novels & comics. While he may have had overall say in their direction, it was ultimately little more than "So & so can't die" or "This character's history is off limits." Most everything else was fair game. In reality, it was the purchase of the Star Wars property by Disney that has complicated that universe for many fans.

And many had long believed Lucas would unload Star Wars, with Disney being a logical choice as a buyer. A simple knowledge of the industry & the history of their relationship is all that would take, although insider information would certainly help.

That being said, I'd very much like to see WB prevail & I think people are reading too much into those tweets. One or two might be as "solid" as this blogger can manage, but the rest, including his comments re: Purple Rain, seem speculative.

Well, he originated those two wonderful Ewok films... But I was talking about the main film series.

Apparently I do not even have simple knowledge of the industry , I'm just looking at the things he said over the years.

About giving up Star Wars and directing smaller, art-films. Well, that never materialized.

And then writing & directing the prequels, while he should at least have given the writing duties to somebody else.
He also seemed bummed that Disney didn't follow his outline for films 7-9 (the existence of which was confirmed, denied, confirmed, denied etc for many years; both GL and Prince know how to lie pretty well...)

Polo1026 said:

BartVanHemelen said:

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Utter nonsense.

Respect your opinion but there is no reasoning behind your points at all. How could it be utter nonsense that Prince could get 1M people to subscribe for 2.99 and have his entire music library when reality is that if Prince announced a 50 date, US major City Tour, he would draw over a 1M US fans and probably have the highest grossing tour of the year.

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Wow, you sound very confident of that. No way to prove it unless he actually announces, schedules, and performs said tour.

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If he did a Musicology-like tour there's some hope there. But remember he rode into that tour on the momentum of his RRHOF induction and Grammy-openinig performance, among other publicity appearances. Plus, in 2004 it had only been 20 years since PR, not 30+ years.

you need to approach the type of entity that sets up yourlisten.com - any fool with a PaaS account can change the label to serve the content.

I would volunteer for this endeavour but all we'd be doing is scraping the data direct from one cloud bank to another.

Plus, if it were delivered on mobile you can get the camera light to flash on and off in sequence with the music, but that's some Level 8 to Level 3? business right there

Plus you have to sequence the vibrate mechanism to hit the low notes at the proper time

I don't mean to be bleak, it's just the way it is.

Cx

you know Paisley Park would not be into that business proposal.

It's like TIDAL in reverse - a health meter that buzzes you with the actual bass content of the songs you are listening too.

Live Snare into Linn Drum! LET'S GO!!!

Cx

Polo1026 said:

Respect your opinion but there is no reasoning behind your points at all. How could it be utter nonsense that Prince could get 1M people to subscribe for 2.99 and have his entire music library

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"The numbers don’t lie: Jay-Z’s Tidal music service is already a spectacular flop"

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[Edited 4/22/15 4:35am]

banishedones666 said:

Have to agree with Bart on this. 500K? His last 2 albums still haven't sold 100,000 combined yet right? Yea, it would be vault material but I believe just a little bit more people would buy that than the past 2 albums. The demand isn't there as much as it is amongst us here, which is in the minority sadly.

his last two albums sold around 175,000 copies in the first week of release....that figure doesnt include downloads (legal and not so legal) and streaming services which is where most people get their music now ....its nowhere near what he used to sell but lets not take the negativity too far as is the common theme on this website...all artists sales have collapsed...i believe he could get half a million subs if the product was good and done professionally...the vault would be a huge selling point...but..as bart said...its never going to happen...i personally would prefer proper deluxe remasters but how long have we been waiting for them

[Edited 4/28/15 4:05am]

blackbob said:

i believe he could get half a million subs if the product was good and done professionally...

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This is based on ZILCH. A one-time album purchase is nothing like a subscription. Who in their right mind would spend $3 or $5 a month for streaming access to Prince's music? Compare to Netflix, where you have access to a gazillion options for not much more money.

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Just look at the 3EG sales: Those were what, 1/4 of AOA? Just imagine that: a vast majority of Prince fans went to a store and bought Prince's latest album and couldn't be bothered to pick up another album he released on the same day.

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Monetizing the vault: that ship has sailed. Long ago. I already said 15+ years ago that Prince should have behaved like an adult in his battle with WBR: renegociated the ownership of his masters in exchange for a remaster + deluxe program.

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I've said repeatedly over the years that Prince sitting on the contents of the vault waiting for a good offer is nonsensical, since those contents reduce in value each year, in part due to the collapse of the music industry, in part because Prince's antics have driven away his audience. Releasing shit in only part of the world: that's not how you make friends.

I have pretty much all of his released stuff and a huge amount of illicit stuff - plus the ability to decide exactly what I want to listen to at any given time. Why would I pay to listen to someone else's programming?

Love the debate here on this topic because it's really the future of music and how Prince fits into it, if he fits into it at all.

Prince would have my money if there was enough up-front or guaranteed content. If there's an unreleased album per month stipulated or that content is available immediately, I'd be in.