What Prince really hates about Youtube (and the Internet in general),is that he can't control it.On the Internet,fans can find what they want and use it anyway they want to.Prince is a notorious control freak.When it comes to his music,he wants to control what people see and what they listen to.It's too bad that he doesn't realize the promotional opportunities that Youtube could provide for him.

SoulAlive said:

What Prince really hates about Youtube (and the Internet in general),is that he can't control it.On the Internet,fans can find what they want and use it anyway they want to.Prince is a notorious control freak.When it comes to his music,he wants to control what people see and what they listen to.It's too bad that he doesn't realize the promotional opportunities that Youtube could provide for him.

Exactly, which is why he is always the burden when it comes to the business choices and promotion and distribution of his albums in terms of a commercial work. Which we all know Prince is all about now a days...

feeluupp said:

SoulAlive said:

What Prince really hates about Youtube (and the Internet in general),is that he can't control it.On the Internet,fans can find what they want and use it anyway they want to.Prince is a notorious control freak.When it comes to his music,he wants to control what people see and what they listen to.It's too bad that he doesn't realize the promotional opportunities that Youtube could provide for him.

Exactly, which is why he is always the burden when it comes to the business choices and promotion and distribution of his albums in terms of a commercial work. Which we all know Prince is all about now a days...

The irony is...Prince uses Youtube himself,to find footage of artists that he admires He watches old James Brown videos on Youtube but he doesn't want his fans to do the same,lol.

[Edited 9/27/15 13:38pm]

feeluupp said:

Noodled24 said:

Yes.

As a fan I'd love nothing more than for Prince to dump 3 weeks of videos on YouTube.

However there is no incentive for him to perform this data dump of music/videos that could well be considered his retirement fund. There will come a time when Prince can't or won't perform anymore. He will however still want a car to match his new shoes.

Nobody is falling over themselves to watch the video for 1999. Like most of Prince's music videos, it's dated, low budget and just not very good. Despite that, typing "Prince [insert song] video" into google will in most cases return search results which include a link to the videos. Just not via YouTube.

Where he has underutilized YouTube is in his promotion of 3EG. It's a great place to give the girls some experience on camera, so they don't "do a Prince" and fall appart when interviewed.

[Edited 9/27/15 7:06am]

... IT'S HIS LEGACY.

Everything is dated it's 2015, but 1999 is his legacy. Purple Rain, When Doves Cry, etc... That's his legacy NOT easily ACCESSABLE to the general public and the new genertaion.

think you mean "IT'S HIS LEGACY". More to the point, said legacy exists with or without Youtube. Also "Legacy" is a term generally reserved for when someone dies.

So let's call it what it is. His back catalog. It's as easily accessible as it's ever been. While some CD's are out of print, they're not difficult to find. Anyone who's interested is a google search away from being able to buy any album on any medium, or torrent his entire discography.

If his back catalog is to be viewed as his legacy when he dies. Why would he give it away for fractions of a cent per stream? So that in 5 years he'll earn enough for a night out at a fancy resturant? OR Don't give it away for free now... because in another 5/10 years he won't be performing anymore. All the stuff he didn't give away can be repackaged and sold. His back catalog is his retirement fund.

Noodled24 said:

feeluupp said:

... IT'S HIS LEGACY.

Everything is dated it's 2015, but 1999 is his legacy. Purple Rain, When Doves Cry, etc... That's his legacy NOT easily ACCESSABLE to the general public and the new genertaion.

think you mean "IT'S HIS LEGACY". More to the point, said legacy exists with or without Youtube. Also "Legacy" is a term generally reserved for when someone dies.

So let's call it what it is. His back catalog. It's as easily accessible as it's ever been. While some CD's are out of print, they're not difficult to find. Anyone who's interested is a google search away from being able to buy any album on any medium, or torrent his entire discography.

If his back catalog is to be viewed as his legacy when he dies. Why would he give it away for fractions of a cent per stream? So that in 5 years he'll earn enough for a night out at a fancy resturant? OR Don't give it away for free now... because in another 5/10 years he won't be performing anymore. All the stuff he didn't give away can be repackaged and sold. His back catalog is his retirement fund.

u dont get the point... ur the kind of prince fan that are just too outdated to realize how much damage he has done to his visibility along with his back catalouge.

he can't even sell over 10,000 copies of his album anymore, because to the new generation he is to unaccessable.

Prince hates things that he can't control That's the bottom line.He didn't invent the Internet,he didn't invent Youtube so therefore,he's "against" it.Just like he controls his women,he wants to be in complete control of his music and how it is viewed and listened to,lol.If he had his way,he would try to control what CDs that we play in our own homes....LMAO

"I made 'Dirty Mind' when I was young and clueless....I don't want y'all listening to it now" : )

warning2all said:

People keep referring to his back catalog/ Vault/ videos as his "legacy". But look at his sales of "Hitnrun"-- this is where his approach has put him: there really isn't any demand for his music anymore; he's seen to that, by almost wiping our his own visibility. So, unless some label or streaming site ponies up big $$$ to sell his "legacy", he's devalued it by his own handiwork. Prince is running out of business partners eager to sell his music, when it is proving not to be profitable. His last profitable venture was probably "Musicology" over 11 years ago.

Thank you!!! Finally!!! Someone understands!! Rather than a typical FAM response, sales don't matter, why do you care so much, YouTube doesn't matter... Etc...

YouTube is just one example of the many outlets in this modern day state and time that PRINCE continues to push away. It's a shame back in the 80's he was a revolutionary, now he's simply out dated and he shouldn't be because he is one of the greatest living artists in music history.

His LEGACY to the new generation and the one after and the one 30 years from now, where you can't even access with ease his concert performances of 1999 Tour, Purple Rain Tour, Lovesexy Tour... A new fan of any artist, the first thing they do is search on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify. But the FAMS here are always saying if you wan't his catalouge, or his performances on tape buy them on CD, buy the concert footage on eBAY... This is 2015!! Where is the accessability and visibility for an artist with that kind of musical legacy he has created. He keeps and keeps and keeps on sabotaging his own visibility to the point where you want to stream your new album where it's only allowed on one platform that isn't even moderately successfull yet, has the lowest amount of subcribers, then you release it phsyically and get 6,000 some physical sales... And the next album? The one after?

The fams will say why do you care he gets paid upfront. Duh!! It's his album, ofc he gets paid upfront. The issue isn't how much he's selling or making, the problem is he is hurting himself by the rejection of using social media for his own exposure, and maintaing his legacy. Everything now a days is available and supposed to be visible. Search YouTube, the only Youtube stuff u can find is a handful of crap videos on Prince. Cream is still up, so is Breakfast Can Wait... I'm sure that will attract the younger audience when they YouTube search Prince and get the Daffey Duck voice on Breakfast Can Wait...

He needs to get with it, not for the sake of himself, but for the sake of his future, because if this album sells 6,000 in the first week, the next album sells what? Then the one after that... No one buying your music means there is no more demand.

Let the FAMS start dancing and crying about sales, sales is just an example of how his lack of exposure to the NEW AGE is hurting him. We all know you older fans have ur boots, collections, vinyls, cd's, etc... Time only goes forward, not backward.

warning2all said:

People keep referring to his back catalog/ Vault/ videos as his "legacy". But look at his sales of "Hitnrun"-- this is where his approach has put him: there really isn't any demand for his music anymore; he's seen to that, by almost wiping our his own visibility. So, unless some label or streaming site ponies up big $$$ to sell his "legacy", he's devalued it by his own handiwork.

Very good point.

BartVanHemelen said:

trax said:

Sure. If he does not want his music to reach the masses he has that right. Its his decision. The less popular he is I think the better because he just just keep cranking out the music. If he is popular he has to put out less and do the whole propmotional thing which slows down the output. I don't know why peple get so caught up with he has to have hits and sell millions. I would rather him keep releasing 3-4 albums a year and noone ever know except the die hards. Its great!!

.

You're talking about a fantasy that has never existed.

Is this not what is happening right now?

I'll just say it. As a kid growing up in the late 80s, early 90s songs like Everyday People and Family Affair were being sampled and covered by the different hot acts - all over radio and TV. I had NO idea who the person or group was that recorded these tunes as they had vanished from the public eye. A familiar situation is developing and its unfortunate.

It's a huge mistake that has cost him the chance to connect with an entire generation of potential fans.

feeluupp said:

Noodled24 said:

think you mean "IT'S HIS LEGACY". More to the point, said legacy exists with or without Youtube. Also "Legacy" is a term generally reserved for when someone dies.

So let's call it what it is. His back catalog. It's as easily accessible as it's ever been. While some CD's are out of print, they're not difficult to find. Anyone who's interested is a google search away from being able to buy any album on any medium, or torrent his entire discography.

If his back catalog is to be viewed as his legacy when he dies. Why would he give it away for fractions of a cent per stream? So that in 5 years he'll earn enough for a night out at a fancy resturant? OR Don't give it away for free now... because in another 5/10 years he won't be performing anymore. All the stuff he didn't give away can be repackaged and sold. His back catalog is his retirement fund.

u dont get the point... ur the kind of prince fan that are just too outdated to realize how much damage he has done to his visibility along with his back catalouge.

Your basis for that being what?

he can't even sell over 10,000 copies of his album anymore, because to the new generation he is to unaccessable.

That's not an accurate figure though is it? Given how the album was released.

Anyway, "inaccessable" is the word you're looking for and thats blatently not true. What exactly are you saying is so hard to find?

He certainly isn't going to start selling millions overnight simply because people can watch the video for TMBGITW on youtube.

smokeverbs said:

eyewishuheaven said:

Pretty sure Prince didn't make a dime out of me watching Let's Go Crazy on 'Video Hits' after school in 1984. These are promotional videos. They should be free. If the people can't watch him, they'll just watch somebody else...

Video Hits, every weekday on Channel 9? And Good Rockin Tonight every Friday night? *cheers*

:chesterfield:

Read SoulAlive's post, it sums it up all.

No one said he would sell millions if someone watches his music videos on YouTube... But it sure wouldn't hurt to have his legendary stuff like When Doves Cry music video up for the general public to see... Visibility is exposure, exposure is visibility. This is the SOCIAL MEDIA AGE.

Noodled24 said:

feeluupp said:

Your basis for that being what?

he can't even sell over 10,000 copies of his album anymore, because to the new generation he is to unaccessable.

That's not an accurate figure though is it? Given how the album was released.

Anyway, "inaccessable" is the word you're looking for and thats blatently not true. What exactly are you saying is so hard to find?

He certainly isn't going to start selling millions overnight simply because people can watch the video for TMBGITW on youtube.

How about this? By not having his videos up there, not only is losing out on potential exposure of his dull & insipid new music, not to mention videos from his standout years, whenever the topic comes up in conversation, he’s also the prime example of an artist who not only doesn’t share their content (& lacks a significant web presence) but also goes after fans who do anything with visual, audio, or video content that relates to him? So, not only does he consistently appear to be behind the times & out of touch with modern marketing methods (there’s no method to his madness here, apologists), he looks like a maximum dickweed.

warning2all said:

People keep referring to his back catalog/ Vault/ videos as his "legacy". But look at his sales of "Hitnrun"-- this is where his approach has put him: there really isn't any demand for his music anymore; he's seen to that, by almost wiping our his own visibility.

There isn't any demand because he's 60. What was Stevie Wonders last chart topping hit? Sting? The Stones?

So, unless some label or streaming site ponies up big $$$ to sell his "legacy", he's devalued it by his own handiwork. Prince is running out of business partners eager to sell his music, when it is proving not to be profitable. His last profitable venture was probably "Musicology" over 11 years ago.

Prince hasn't devalued his back catalog. It's worth more now than it would be if he just said "fuck it" and uploaded everything to Youtube.

If I have an unreleased Prince album. Lets call it "album X" - Chances are if I asked, you'd give me $20 for a copy of it, because you can't get it anywhere else. If I uploaded "Album X" to YouTube you wouldn't give me a penny for it because it's on YouTube for free.

feeluupp said:

Read SoulAlive's post, it sums it up all.

No one said he would sell millions if someone watches his music videos on YouTube... But it sure wouldn't hurt to have his legendary stuff like When Doves Cry music video up for the general public to see... Visibility is exposure, exposure is visibility. This is the SOCIAL MEDIA AGE.

The video for When Doves Cry is online. If you Google it you can watch it. That's no differrent to going to YouTube and searching for it there.

Name one legacy artist, who embraced youtube and suddenly started topping the charts again?

LittlePurpleYoda said:

How about this? By not having his videos up there, not only is losing out on potential exposure of his dull & insipid new music, not to mention videos from his standout years, whenever the topic comes up in conversation, he’s also the prime example of an artist who not only doesn’t share their content (& lacks a significant web presence) but also goes after fans who do anything with visual, audio, or video content that relates to him? So, not only does he consistently appear to be behind the times & out of touch with modern marketing methods (there’s no method to his madness here, apologists), he looks like a maximum dickweed.

You think having the video for TMBGITW on YouTube would boost sales of HitNRun?

Any evidence for that? Can you name one artist who's chart topping days are behind them, who uploaded all their OLD videos to youtube and suddenly became the flavour of the month again?

Seems like it's just fans bitching about not getting everything they want for free. Not to mention the fact ALL HIS VIDEOS ARE ONLINE. Instead of searching on Youtube search on Google. Boom! every Prince video. You're welcome.

MrWilson said:

Brat White Van Man you just don't understand. Prince wants to keep his artistic intellectual ownership of his art. It's very simple. He cares for it.

.

He doesn't give one flying fuck. He cares about the income it generates, that's all.

trax said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

You're talking about a fantasy that has never existed.

Is this not what is happening right now?

.

Pleas eprove that "he just just keep cranking out the music". HNR is his first new album in about a year and consists mainly of songs dating back a year.

.

I would rather him keep releasing 3-4 albums a year

.

This has never happened. Unless you count the 1980s, i.e. the period in which he was most popular and was funded by a major label and was managed by a highly competent team.

I think we can tell that not having videos on YouTube and basically denying an entire culture that is interested and would love to embrace him, he has definitely impacted sales for HITNRUN. Watching an old video like TMBGITW could inspire a nostalgic purchase of the new album, but I guess we'll never know.

feeluupp said:

warning2all said:

People keep referring to his back catalog/ Vault/ videos as his "legacy". But look at his sales of "Hitnrun"-- this is where his approach has put him: there really isn't any demand for his music anymore; he's seen to that, by almost wiping our his own visibility. So, unless some label or streaming site ponies up big $$$ to sell his "legacy", he's devalued it by his own handiwork. Prince is running out of business partners eager to sell his music, when it is proving not to be profitable. His last profitable venture was probably "Musicology" over 11 years ago.

His LEGACY to the new generation and the one after and the one 30 years from now, where you can't even access with ease his concert performances of 1999 Tour, Purple Rain Tour, Lovesexy Tour...

Is there ANY living artist who has full concert videos of their previous tours up on youtube?

Do you not understand economics? He's got videos, people want videos - So you think he should put them online for free so that in 10 years when he's not performing he can't sell them because he's given away all the gold?

A new fan of any artist, the first thing they do is search on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify. But the FAMS here are always saying if you wan't his catalouge, or his performances on tape buy them on CD, buy the concert footage on eBAY... This is 2015!!

Yes, it's 2025 and people still buy products with currency. So sfter searching YouTube IF you're a fan and have any real interest you then start buying stuff.Or you torrent his entire dicography. It doesn't get any easier.

Where is the accessability and visibility for an artist with that kind of musical legacy he has created.

Everywhere, type Prince into Google.... he's real invisible right?

I can't even be bothered replying to the rest of that rant. You sound like a 10 year old whining because you can't have everything for free. You have no understanding of social media, and a limp grasp on economics. You keep making specaularly dull points, and making bizarre claims about how if he just uploaded his videos to youtube (even thought they're all online anyway) then he'd suddenly undergo some revival and start selling millions again - like he rarely did in his prime.

[Edited 9/29/15 7:26am]

JKOOLMUSIC said:

I think we can tell that not having videos on YouTube and basically denying an entire culture that is interested and would love to embrace him, he has definitely impacted sales for HITNRUN. Watching an old video like TMBGITW could inspire a nostalgic purchase of the new album, but I guess we'll never know.

Well then google it. It's not like anyone is stopping anyone watching it.

Well my FB PAGE and INSTAGRAM does have more followers than PRINCE...

Noodled24 said:

feeluupp said:

Yes, it's 2025 and people still buy products with currency. So sfter searching YouTube IF you're a fan and have any real interest you then start buying stuff.Or you torrent his entire dicography. It doesn't get any easier.

Where is the accessability and visibility for an artist with that kind of musical legacy he has created.

Everywhere, type Prince into Google.... he's real invisible right?

I can't even be bothered replying to the rest of that rant. You sound like a 10 year old whining because you can't have everything for free. You have no understanding of social media, and a limp grasp on economics. You keep making specaularly dull points, and making bizarre claims about how if he just uploaded his videos to youtube (even thought they're all online anyway) then he'd suddenly undergo some revival and start selling millions again - like he rarely did in his prime.

[Edited 9/29/15 7:26am]

Noodled24 said:

JKOOLMUSIC said:

I think we can tell that not having videos on YouTube and basically denying an entire culture that is interested and would love to embrace him, he has definitely impacted sales for HITNRUN. Watching an old video like TMBGITW could inspire a nostalgic purchase of the new album, but I guess we'll never know.

Well then google it. It's not like anyone is stopping anyone watching it.

Can u GOOGLE JERK?

nOODLE.

Right? If I want to see a shitty rip of a VHS recording of MTV in 1996, I'll Google the TMBGITW video. Kids go crazy for VHS rips, so retro.

feeluupp said:

Well my FB PAGE and INSTAGRAM does have more followers than PRINCE...

Noodled24 said:

Did you just try to brag about the number of FB Friends you have? That's kind of a cringe. Even with you being such a popular boy, I doubt you'd find ten thousand people willing to buy your album.

I've done a lot of work in SEO over the years. I'm well aware of how social networking works. I'm also aware that if Prince gave even a passing fuck about how many followers he had - he could spend 5K and quadruple his number of follwers by next week. There are companies who do just that.

Who needs real fans when you can buy 'em? We heard that line like 20 years ago (the first time)