I have my ipod full of Prince music .. burn'd all my cds n stuff ive gotten over time few yrs ago .. im good .. I wont say ill never pay to download music .. idk. We'll see where this tidal goes ..

Whether you are coming by bus or train
Shade throwers hating like they're going insane
Million dollar party to their nickel and dime
Another mother further you're committing a crime

[Edited 8/9/15 1:39am]

According to some tweets @popgomomma, Prince and Jay-Z recorded a joint album together!

[Edited 8/9/15 0:32am]

Aerogram said:

So HERE is my (drum roll) OFFICIAL POSITION on this whole matter.

So many on this site have been claiming Prince releases such lacklustre music. The last time around, AOA got leaked, so many people got it for free, then you read news about the ridiculou penny cheques artists get THEN TAYLOR SWIFT herself bitches that artists are getting a raw deal which sounds like everything Prince said was happening is being recognized as a problem by older and newer artists.

With this release, Prince is practically giving away an album to a cause. He knows it will upset his fans that he's releasing music in such an exclusive, restrictive manner that forces you to pony up money so that artists get a better deal out of streaming. At the same time, he saw much of the Org get his last WB release well in advance, he knows the fight is on, not only from people who want free stuff but also the streaming services.

He is using his prestige to put his money where is mouth is. The artists on Tidal are for the most part very wealthy and they see the industry is broken, they want another model and I think it is needed. Whether Tidal is it is another story, but who can love music and condone its creators being fleeced and penny-pinched? Musicians are exploited in terms of their neck-breaking contracts that can make them loan slaves or multimillionnaires. Over the years, they have added streaming to the options, but it is yet another example of the creators getting a raw deal. Prince is taking a stand and since so many here only expect vastly substandard stuff to be released, you have to wonder about the commotion. At least we learned that most of the Org will be getting the album after all, one way or another. The hoopla shows that Prince has kept fans hungry for more, no matter how they say they piss on whatever he's been doing since Lovesexy.

This being Prince, expect something on Spotify and Apple Music. This is happening because someone explained streaming to Prince -- God help us, he got curious and those are the days of streaming wild.

[Edited 8/8/15 13:57pm]

[Edited 8/9/15 1:17am]

So once again Prince chooses a distribution method to upset the masses. It's to be expected now.

It doesn't bother me because I'll get my free trial, record the album and have it for keeps. If it comes out to buy later, I'll buy it. I don't listen to enough music for a monthly subscription to be worth it and haven't bought an album since AOA/PE, so any streaming option would be a complete waste of money for me.

And why is anyone interested in the phase one part of the title? Do we think there will be a phase II? Maybe the album with Stare will be phase II but I won't be expecting anything. A Part I on something Prince related really doesn't mean there will be a II. Maybe I'll start getting excited at some point after we get The Work Part II or something more than 3121 the music.

However it's distributed I'm very much looking forward to the new music, I loved Hardrocklover and am very much looking forward to September 7th.

anyone have a high res image of the new album cover?

thanks in advance

bluefish said:

Aerogram said:

So HERE is my (drum roll) OFFICIAL POSITION on this whole matter.

So many on this site have been claiming Prince releases such lacklustre music. The last time around, AOA got leaked, so many people got it for free, then you read news about the ridiculou penny cheques artists get THEN TAYLOR SWIFT herself bitches that artists are getting a raw deal which sounds like everything Prince said was happening is being recognized as a problem by older and newer artists.

With this release, Prince is practically giving away an album to a cause. He knows it will upset his fans that he's releasing music in such an exclusive, restrictive manner that forces you to pony up money so that artists get a better deal out of streaming. At the same time, he saw much of the Org get his last WB release well in advance, he knows the fight is on, not only from people who want free stuff but also the streaming services.

He is using his prestige to put his money where is mouth is. The artists on Tidal are for the most part very wealthy and they see the industry is broken, they want another model and I think it is needed. Whether Tidal is it is another story, but who can love music and condone its creators being fleeced and penny-pinched? Musicians are exploited in terms of their neck-breaking contracts that can make them loan slaves or multimillionnaires. Over the years, they have added streaming to the options, but it is yet another example of the creators getting a raw deal. Prince is taking a stand and since so many here only expect vastly substandard stuff to be released, you have to wonder about the commotion. At least we learned that most of the Org will be getting the album after all, one way or another. The hoopla shows that Prince has kept fans hungry for more, no matter how they say they piss on whatever he's been doing since Lovesexy.

This being Prince, expect something on Spotify and Apple Music. This is happening because someone explained streaming to Prince -- God help us, he got curious and those are the days of streaming wild.

[Edited 8/8/15 13:57pm]

[Edited 8/9/15 1:17am]

Yes, a great post, but I would think if this were the case Prince would have come out and said so....

I'm more inclined to go with Bart's obvious answer: it's all about him and the money.

But if Prince reads this site, he can now put a great spin on it!

It's obvious (at least to me) that this new album is directed to a small group of people a.k.a. us prince fans. It is an experimental album, so probably not the taste of a big audience. That is why he does not make it a large album release and uses art official age artwork. Also obviously with TIDAL he can release it under the conditions he wants. He does not expect to make a lot of money of this release; of course he knows it will be pirated. I think he just wants to make a statement with the release of this album and make the real monee in an other way, like playing the songs (or one or two of them) during concerts. 'phase one'is not explained to make it even more mystical.

Personally I hope this album will not be another boring bad release. I love Hardrocklover but I hate stare. That song (stare) is so fucking amateuristically bad !! And exacty that song was released to a big audience on Spotify???!!!! Prince knows how to make his career but he also seems to know how to kill it.

[Edited 8/9/15 1:50am]

Polo1026 said:

njoy said:

Prince knows how to make his career but he also seems to know how to kill it.

[Edited 8/9/15 1:50am]

It seems people have been proclaiming that he seems to be killing his career since the name change, or maybe even all the way back to Around The World In A Day following up Purple Rain. Yet somehow, despite all the terrible decisions, he is still here and still releasing new music.

Isn't it time we all just accept that he does whatever he wants and no matter what we may all agree would be 'better' won't make any difference? I'm just happy that he's still releasing new music which I can enjoy. I don't need the validation of a number one album or universal approval by the critics I just need the new music.

MIRvmn said:

Well seems like Prince now said that the album will be released in physical format and available for download and that's a good thing

MIRvmn said:

Well seems like Prince now said that the album will be released in physical format and available for download and that's a good thing

Nooo, this is terrible, how can I be angry now?

KingSausage said:

MIRvmn said:

Well seems like Prince now said that the album will be released in physical format and available for download and that's a good thing

Where did he say this?

TheEnglishGent said:

TheEnglishGent said:

njoy said:

Prince knows how to make his career but he also seems to know how to kill it.

[Edited 8/9/15 1:50am]

It seems people have been proclaiming that he seems to be killing his career since the name change, or maybe even all the way back to Around The World In A Day following up Purple Rain. Yet somehow, despite all the terrible decisions, he is still here and still releasing new music.

Isn't it time we all just accept that he does whatever he wants and no matter what we may all agree would be 'better' won't make any difference? I'm just happy that he's still releasing new music which I can enjoy. I don't need the validation of a number one album or universal approval by the critics I just need the new music.

It's taking one sentence and putting my words out of context. That it what this is.

ok, that's more like it

njoy said:

TheEnglishGent said:

It seems people have been proclaiming that he seems to be killing his career since the name change, or maybe even all the way back to Around The World In A Day following up Purple Rain. Yet somehow, despite all the terrible decisions, he is still here and still releasing new music.

Isn't it time we all just accept that he does whatever he wants and no matter what we may all agree would be 'better' won't make any difference? I'm just happy that he's still releasing new music which I can enjoy. I don't need the validation of a number one album or universal approval by the critics I just need the new music.

It's taking one sentence and putting my words out of context. That it what this is.

It's taking one sentence, which many people have been proclaiming for many years and discussing the point. That's what it is.

bigd74 said:

All that Panic and we can now relax. What a twat

.

We're going on 20 years of Prince not following up on promises and you lot still haven't learned your lesson.

.

Prince "announcing" anything doesn't mean shit until the product is in your hands. He once dismissed as "rumors" a PRESS RELEASE HE HIMSELF PUT OUT.

kapo74 said:

It seems the album will be available for download on Tidal. In that case, do you pay a one time amount of cash, or do you still have to join Tidal?

.

Which part of READ THEIR FAQ is so hard?

herb4 said:

Aerogram said:

So HERE is my (drum roll) OFFICIAL POSITION on this whole matter.

So many on this site have been claiming Prince releases such lacklustre music. The last time around, AOA got leaked, so many people got it for free, then you read news about the ridiculou penny cheques artists get THEN TAYLOR SWIFT herself bitches that artists are getting a raw deal which sounds like everything Prince said was happening is being recognized as a problem by older and newer artists.

Funny thing was, I listened to AOA and PE for free and then went out and bought them.

You're also skipping over the point that Prince could just sell this stuff directly to us, milk what he has left and make it easy. See my rather long winded post a page or two back.

The internet and technology are designed to make things EASIER and SIMPLER, not HARDER and more complex, yet here we are. Prince's entire base is saying "fuck it. I'll get it for free somewhere since he wants to be a giant pain in the ass about it" and they're not wrong.

.

But then Princey wouldn't be "special" and "unique" and "revolutionary". And that's what these famz cling to. They actually don't care about the music, they know it's rather mediocre. So they cling to these insane ideas that Prince's brainfarts are innovative business schemes which will rock the music industry. And they blame the inevitable failure on the fact that we weren't ready for this new and exciting distribution method.

.

For 15+ years we've said that Prince should have an easy to use website where everything is available. Instead we get puzzles and CDs that are only available in some countries. And when he's back on a major label, he sells what, 150,000 worldwide? And the famz claim that it's all good, he's just as popular, "nobody's selling millions" (ignoring that several artists do).

herb4 said:

Aerogram said:

So HERE is my (drum roll) OFFICIAL POSITION on this whole matter.

So many on this site have been claiming Prince releases such lacklustre music. The last time around, AOA got leaked, so many people got it for free, then you read news about the ridiculou penny cheques artists get THEN TAYLOR SWIFT herself bitches that artists are getting a raw deal which sounds like everything Prince said was happening is being recognized as a problem by older and newer artists.

Funny thing was, I listened to AOA and PE for free and then went out and bought them.

You're also skipping over the point that Prince could just sell this stuff directly to us, milk what he has left and make it easy. See my rather long winded post a page or two back.

The internet and technology are designed to make things EASIER and SIMPLER, not HARDER and more complex, yet here we are. Prince's entire base is saying "fuck it. I'll get it for free somewhere since he wants to be a giant pain in the ass about it" and they're not wrong.

It's hilarious to me that half the people pposting in this thread that support this move are saying that, on the one hand, we don't understand streaming, tech, and the modern internet but 95% of those people are saying "Fuck it. Why jump through hoops? I know where to download it for free anyway."

If Prince doesn't want to make it easy for us to HAND HIM our money than he doesn't deserve it. I at least hope the record is good though. I've been encouraged with what I've been hearing lately. But keep it up and before long you'll be down to KCOOLMUZIQ's 401k plan and credit card balance to pay for your new clothes and gold canes.

But, good on you Prince. Congrats, you giant pain in the ass. I'll let you know how I like the album once I obtain it through the usual methods at my disposal. Have it your way like you always do.

If you weren't so good (and your are the best) I'd have checked out a long time ago.

I know a lot of people bought AOA/PLEL but many others bragged they did not and pissed on both releases. I'm happy to see so many here being offended at this deal, it does show that whatever most say here about his allegedly horrible output, they want to hear it after all. Prolly only to see how bad it is like an accident by the side of a highway.

The problem is that Prince and the vast majority of established artists are not earning enough just from selling records or streaming. Hit singles can bring in cash but radio formats tend to put those out of the reach of older acts while album sales have plummeted as piracy has increased and streaming created a third front where artists lose money. So as soon as they hit it big, artists need to make sure they won't depend solely on their recordings, they go out and tour, they endorse something, they invest in real estate. For people like Madonna, Jay-Z and most likely Prince, a new album brings well under 5 percent of what they'll be making annually, even if it's a little more successful than usual.

So Prince knows his stuff will be on Torrent somewhere just like the last time around and I doubt that he thinks he can get even 20 % of his hardcore fanbase on Tidal but that's how he wants to release his album at this point, an album that likely would not have brought in much money in the first place and that a lot of longtime fans will dismiss and shelve.

So there you have it, why Prince is willing to experiment with this one record. The exclusive is probably not forever so we'll see on September 7 -- my advice is to stock up on popcorn.

Exactly. Guilty as charged for being bamboozled by the ephemeral NPGMC (though I enjoy having the downloaded tracks now — which I got later for free....).

There's a bootleg market out there where "fanatics" will drop a bundle for a few mediocre songs, but that's no way to release an official release for the rest of us. The sub par streaming JayZ did on the Rally4Peace set justified a redress, perhaps this is it: For no money out of his pocket and only a short period of work gathering the songs, Prince gathers a new set of songs — 90% prerecorded from the vault(?) — and JayZ gets an opportunity to redeem himself.

"HitNRun" — though the Washington DC concert was OFF THE HOOK — sounds like more of a gimmick — the simplistic cartoonish reworking of brilliant AOA cover reflects this.

"FreeUrself" sounds like the title of an album with a soul and mission — the gorgeous water color brushed by a wonderful female artist hints at something exceptional; hopefully "FreeUrself" is coming out later — a brilliant album delayed from release much like the BlackAlbum and The Gold Experience.

RodeoSchro said:

tab32792 said:

lol this place is hilarious. you want new music. it's announced complete with a release date and people still complain. people still buy cds?

I prefer an album or a CD, or a file I can download.

I'm not going to pay whatever Tidal costs just to listen to the new Prince album, unless maybe if the membership includes the ability to download the album so that I own it forever.

Those of us that paid of NPGMC songs that went away when the NPGMC did know what I'm talking about.

The deal with me is this - you sell me something, I own it. I'm not buying a license to listen to something for a finite period of time. If I'm going to spend money on art, I'd better own that art.

It's almost as if Prince doesn't have faith in himself and the non-musician techies and lawyers around him to self publish. It would be so easy if he hired the right people and he'd make a bundle.

V10LETBLUES said:

With the state of the music industry as it is, I don't blame Prince for trying out diffrent avenues to make his music available. It certainly limits his market exposure. But with as big a name as he is, I wonder why he hasn't just set up his own online store. A no BS webstore with a basket and a checkout. Music and merch. It would certainly make it easier for consumers and cut out a lot of the middle men.
Anyway wish him best and look forward to the new album. I already like his two new tracks better than most anything in the past 5 years

Noodled24 said:

luvsexy4all said:

wow...definately most negative thread all year....

Yup.

Prince: "Here are two free songs, and the new album is practically free"

Fans: "What a fucking rip off, Prince... you've gone too far this time!! Why should we go to that website to get your music, can't you put it on a different website and just eat the hoasting and PR costs yourself?"

.

So much bullshit in so few words.

.

Yes, the immense costs of hosting. Literally CENTS for gigabytes and data transfers. You do know you can actually look up how much those things cost @ Amazon, Azure, etc, right?

.

Moreover, I bet plenty of companies would have loved to collaborate with Prince, but then again the past has taught us that no such thing is possible (just read the bullshit those idiots who created LotusFlow3r.com had to put up with) and thus we're now in a situation where Prince is requesting offers from streaming sites.

BartVanHemelen said:

herb4 said:

Funny thing was, I listened to AOA and PE for free and then went out and bought them.

You're also skipping over the point that Prince could just sell this stuff directly to us, milk what he has left and make it easy. See my rather long winded post a page or two back.

The internet and technology are designed to make things EASIER and SIMPLER, not HARDER and more complex, yet here we are. Prince's entire base is saying "fuck it. I'll get it for free somewhere since he wants to be a giant pain in the ass about it" and they're not wrong.

.

But then Princey wouldn't be "special" and "unique" and "revolutionary". And that's what these famz cling to. They actually don't care about the music, they know it's rather mediocre. So they cling to these insane ideas that Prince's brainfarts are innovative business schemes which will rock the music industry. And they blame the inevitable failure on the fact that we weren't ready for this new and exciting distribution method.

.

For 15+ years we've said that Prince should have an easy to use website where everything is available. Instead we get puzzles and CDs that are only available in some countries. And when he's back on a major label, he sells what, 150,000 worldwide? And the famz claim that it's all good, he's just as popular, "nobody's selling millions" (ignoring that several artists do).

Sorry Bart you can't accuse others of clinging because you're already the worst clinger in Prince.org's history with your relentless muti-decade crusade against what you'd think was Satan's spawn and not just the allegedly irrelevant no-good has been you claim he is.

jdcxc said:

Impress you...Negro pleez. You have to show me you have any taste in music. All I hear is your rantings and complaints as it relates to marketing and distribution. Prince is not predictable, but I would take his 37-year artistic journey over any other artist with a similar tenure. Give me some names. And the fact that you deny some of the great P music since 1989 shows your tin ear.

.

I've posted plenty of names plenty of times.

.

Here's a handful of them: Ariel Pink, Caribou, Jim O'Rourke, Leftfield, Panda Bear, Son Lux, Allah-Las, Blur, Alison Wonderland, Cannibal Ox, COIN, Courtney Barnett, Earl Sweatshirt, Hudson Mohawke, Kamasi Washington, LA Priest, Mbongwana Star, Rae Morris, Speedy Ortiz, Tame Impala, Taxiwars, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Viet Cong, Wire,...

feeluupp said:

The funny and sad thing about you BART... After all this chastising, and your pompous know it all attitiude and your ultimate disdain for PRINCE... At the end of the day your just going to listen to his album... So what's the point of all this negativity for the past 15 years in the end if your just the biggest hypocrite on this place... You've spent so much time researching PRINCE, reading all hisbooks, the Per Nilsen, the Alex Han books... It's like you're his secret lover that got rejected and your hell bent on bashing him...

Must get lonely in Europe when your all alone.

.

Gotta love all that projection.

feeluupp said:

Guitarhero said:

So your sayin Bart is the number one fam

OFC... In order to be a FAN/FAM you have to research and study as much as BART has... So in the end he's just the biggest HYPOCRITE... He's read all the books, researched every little thing about him, yet he's not a FAN/FAM... Sorry BART go get some excercise besides spreading "THE TRUTH" here. You're outdated anyway.

.

According to your logic, someone who researches Hitler must be a Hitler fan.