Aerogram said:

Pentacle said:

yes....

Prince has the money and power to do what he want, yet he'll continue to stoop down to the lowest common denominator, i.e. fans such as yourself.

Furthermore, the words 'Prince' and 'business sense' in one sentence is just too funny.

Well, now I'm going to buy tickets for my favorite band who always play what THEY want. And guess what: the fans keep coming.

[Edited 11/16/15 5:04am]

Oh "fans such as yourself" -- myself. Who do you think you are?

I've been obsessed music all my life and received a great musical education encompassing nearly everything since the Middle Age. Before I even knew who Prince was, I knew who were Monteverdi and Scarlati, and countless others right up to modern composers like Philip Glass.

I'm hardly the "common denominator". Now if you would only get off your high horse and realize you're not the only one with a bit of culture and taste, you'd realize your dogmatic views are hardly the mark of sophistication. They may well mean you're not sophisticated enough to accomodate other perspectives.

I get yours but it's old and it looks down on a lot of people. You're welcome to stay a snob if it makes you feel good, but to me your ideas are primitive and conventional. Open yourself a bit, you (or I) can not be the only reference, that's BORING.

How did you manage to do that?

214 said:

Aerogram said:

Oh "fans such as yourself" -- myself. Who do you think you are?

I've been obsessed music all my life and received a great musical education encompassing nearly everything since the Middle Age. Before I even knew who Prince was, I knew who were Monteverdi and Scarlati, and countless others right up to modern composers like Philip Glass.

I'm hardly the "common denominator". Now if you would only get off your high horse and realize you're not the only one with a bit of culture and taste, you'd realize your dogmatic views are hardly the mark of sophistication. They may well mean you're not sophisticated enough to accomodate other perspectives.

I get yours but it's old and it looks down on a lot of people. You're welcome to stay a snob if it makes you feel good, but to me your ideas are primitive and conventional. Open yourself a bit, you (or I) can not be the only reference, that's BORING.

How did you manage to do that?

nursev said:

Al di Meola was in (the far superior, imo) Return To Forever, not Weather Report. Jus' sayin'...

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

214 said:

How did you manage to do that?

Why do you laugh about my comment?

Rdio just filed for bankruptcy.

Tidal will too in a few months.

Apple music is not doing well but has all the money on the world to keep it afloat as long as Apple wants it.

Spotify has never made money.

Pandora barely survives and it pays artists the bare minimum and keeps wanting to pay less.

Amazon and Google have deep pockets.

The lables without the luck of deep legacy catalogs or the luck of a hit artist are barely staying alive.

Prince was right, but he should know the state of the music bussines. It's his business and he has been at it all of his adult life, so he has a lot of skin in the game.

Who knows? Maybe vocally voicing his disdain evey chance he gets will serve a purpouse.

214 said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Why do you laugh about my comment?

Your comment tickled me because I had the same question.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

214 said:

Why do you laugh about my comment?

Your comment tickled me because I had the same question.

Oh so i'm not the only one.

BartVanHemelen said:

laurarichardson said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Rdio just filed for bankruptcy.

Tidal will too in a few months.

Apple music is not doing well but has all the money on the world to keep it afloat as long as Apple wants it.

Spotify has never made money.

Pandora barely survives and it pays artists the bare minimum and keeps wanting to pay less.

Amazon and Google have deep pockets.

The lables without the luck of deep legacy catalogs or the luck of a hit artist are barely staying alive.

Prince was right, but he should know the state of the music bussines. It's his business and he has been at it all of his adult life, so he has a lot of skin in the game.

Who knows? Maybe vocally voicing his disdain evey chance he gets will serve a purpouse.

Yeah, as a musician I find his statement about the internet pretty non-controversial. I'd point out that even middle class or working class incomes are difficult to come by via the internet. The entire independent music scene is fucked.

JudasLChrist said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Rdio just filed for bankruptcy.

Tidal will too in a few months.

Apple music is not doing well but has all the money on the world to keep it afloat as long as Apple wants it.

Spotify has never made money.

Pandora barely survives and it pays artists the bare minimum and keeps wanting to pay less.

Amazon and Google have deep pockets.

The lables without the luck of deep legacy catalogs or the luck of a hit artist are barely staying alive.

Prince was right, but he should know the state of the music bussines. It's his business and he has been at it all of his adult life, so he has a lot of skin in the game.

Who knows? Maybe vocally voicing his disdain evey chance he gets will serve a purpouse.

Yeah, as a musician I find his statement about the internet pretty non-controversial. I'd point out that even middle class or working class incomes are difficult to come by via the internet. The entire independent music scene is fucked.

And Prince is one of the lucky ones. He has a very deep back catalog, name recognition, and a reputation as one of the greatest live musician around today. And today, that's where the money is at, selling out shows and a great back catalog.

[Edited 11/18/15 7:12am]

Oye! Prince is a boorish douche. The internet is definitely an enemy of Prince. Thanks in part to the internet his fanbase has shrunk dramatically thanks to him showing what an insufferable asshole he is. Once Prince's base got to know Prince better it liked him less and less.

...he does have many good points about the Internet though. Online piracy has ruined the music business. The Internet is a marvelous thing but I miss the old days when it comes to music.

Yo' Prince! Patti LaBelle just made over 2 million dollars this past weekend because one of her fans made a funny Youtube video about her pies.

So there's a musician (if I'm not mistaken Patti can play the piano and we all know her voice is an instrument) that got rich off the internet!

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

I guess I am a musician and am rich in the knowledge that everything you do is so collective you sound like one voice performing the same instructions repeatedly to no end other than to exist.

To that end.

QueenofPurplePalace said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Yo' Prince! Patti LaBelle just made over 2 million dollars this past weekend because one of her fans made a funny Youtube video about her pies.

So there's a musician (if I'm not mistaken Patti can play the piano and we all know her voice is an instrument) that got rich off the internet!

Don't bring them pies in this lol

Y'know, Trevor Noah is actually doing this now.

mrsquirrel said:

QueenofPurplePalace said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said: Don't bring them pies in this lol

Y'know, Trevor Noah is actually doing this now.

Yes, I know and I think he's doing an awesome job. But my comment needed a Jon Stewart "BOOM!"

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

mrsquirrel said:

Y'know, Trevor Noah is actually doing this now.

Yes, I know and I think he's doing an awesome job. But my comment needed a Jon Stewart "BOOM!"

all good, I've just found a drink supplier in Ramsgate so quality inebriation all round!

If we are to be surveyed to the bone, let's use all the spying tech to monitor every second of something played and charge music consumers, end users and commercial networks (Youtube, Spotify, Deezer and such) alike, in different proportions. Let's level the field a bit for every actor.

There's a strong inequity in the market, compared to when every record measured 30x30 cm, and still had a chance on a wrecka stow shelf. Within the digital ocean, it's like a message in a bottle. Chances to be discovered get pretty ridiculous.

Back in the days the sales could be enough to sustain a small label, to build your indie record company. Independent labels gave us The Smiths and The Cocteau Twins and The Pixies, just to mention the obvious, before they got absorbed by the Media Godzillas, because of an ever shrinking market, an economic, logical consequence of the rampant monoculture these Dinosaurs spread.

[Edited 11/19/15 2:43am]

214 said:

NME01 said:

laurarichardson said:

-- Drake got his cd deal from being on the Internet. Do you really think he is getting rich from the pennies he gets from steaming services? In a few years Cd will no longer be manufactured. Streaming will be the only means to obtain new music. Do you think the music industry is going to give artist more money from sales out of kindness with music sales are shrinking? Are some of you so bent on attacking everything Prince has to say that you are doubting that is royalty checks have strunk since the Internet came along.

This is where Prince doesn't get it. 'The Internet' is not just streaming. It is a tool to be used in many ways to aide your career. Which, in turn, can make your rich - if that's what Prince cares about (we know it is, he has form).

Actually this is where Prince fans don't get it. Contrary to popular belief, simply uploading things to youtube doesn't generate any cash. Equally, simply having songs on youtube does not boot sales of older albums.

If it were that simple David Bowie, Stevie Wonder etc would all still be having huge smash hit albums & singles. They're not.

In addition to the artists cited in this thread, think about the other ways in which 'The Internet' has benefited careers. It's like ignoring what the medium of TV did for Michael Jackson. MJ didn't get 'paid' per TV appearance, but his whole image, the thrill, the icon was possible as he utilised TV to spread his message and connect in a way few, if any, had done before.

Those kind of showstopping performances were killed by the likes of YouTube.

Ever seen that definitive Bieber performance? Me either. It's probably on YouTube... but I've never looked.

Also comparing Youtube to TV is like comparing Digital TV to Radio in the 1940s.

6 Pages in... has anyone actually managed to come up with an example which shows Prince's statement was wrong?

Prince is right , the internet is full of dip shits.

Noodled24 said:

6 Pages in... has anyone actually managed to come up with an example which shows Prince's statement was wrong?

People come up with a few examples where people made money "off the Internet", neglecting to mention that yeah, you can make some since it's now the main way music is sold and promoted. They don't address if artists were better off before or after the internet.

Aerogram said:

TheFreakerFantastic said:

I'm sure Prince is a deep and spiritual person, that part about playing the piano alone for 3 hours was touching. However in interviews he always comes across as rather negative and money obsessed which kind of shatters his spiritual image. I see his point about streaming but it would be nice for him to do an interview without going on as if making money is his only raison d'etre (which due to the dedication to his craft and massive amount of unreleased material I doubt it really is).

Yes he might not like the industry and journalists but he has to remember it's everyday people that read this stuff and it gets a bit repetitive and comes across as bitter when he keeps on about it when he could be saying things that are much more positive and profound. Rather than criticise he could try to lead and innovate by creating his own kind of service (hell he's got plenty of material to start his own site and could make 100% of the revenue as long as he got someone to run and manage it properly!).

[Edited 11/12/15 14:55pm]

It really is, more than a bit. I'm skipping the article if this is just more what's wrong with the music industry. Trust all industries are changing believe it or not.