I think Princes twitter conversations are distinctly HUMAN and he's clearly trying to find new ideas and engaging fans in a really great way.

I don't think its embarrassing for him at all, it's very HUMAN of him, and its a relief to see him honestly engaging - but fan distribution is a shitty idea lolololol. It just is. I asked him if he was suggesting a maryLay/Avon/BeachBody model because thats what it sounds like....and thats just like...a bad idea.

I added some ideas regarding one-page order form site and low maintenance and also clarified it - CDs are never going to recoup productions costs. NEVER EVER AGAIN. people say they want cds but they don't buy them. He can set up one-page order sites for all his albums and use an on-demand service called kunacki - it would cost pennies and a couple of hours to do. the on demand service is very bare bones and there would be no double albums or anything like that....

The best idea was limited edition CDS that are collectible. I can see that making money.

that said....

Prince's music is expensive to produce. Especially rt now. It doesnt matter if Paisely Park is paid for, its still a huge complex - he's looking for a physical distribution model, but there really isnt one that will provide the profit he's looking for.

I think though for the kind of money he's looking for - he needs to stfu get with a major label, play the game and cash out. If he would just stop vomiting up songs like he changes shoes, he could create a demand....but I do believe his productivity ultimately hurts him, and and the music - and the profit margin. He drives down his own profit.

Smaller artists can work the indy system pretty well because their costs are much lower. They know how to use all the software that doesnt need a huge production studio complex.

Prince mentioned touring the album and hello, thats a great idea, and include the album in the ticket price like he did in 2004. Thats the olny way I can see cds making sense, or any of it making sense.

One thing screams out though: PRINCE NEEDS TO DOWNSIZE. He spends too much time on the business, and not enough time on the music.

His twitter can be really fun, but damn if he doesnt need to keep the industry talk to himself sometimes.

Fans can't solve a problem that stems form record labels making crap deals for the artists with tech giants who ALWAYS get paid. I am tired of all that being laid at fans feet by not just Prince, but all the artists complaining about it. They should complain - but they should be complaining to their labels, protesting and coming together as industry heavyweights to get labels to represent them properly.

Fans want to go to the venue, be amazed by your fking awesome mastery and incredible voice. They want to download your stuff immediately. Us collectors will buy cds, vinyls whatever u sell. But IT HAS TO BE SIMPLE.

DFUNK said:

I love Princes music, there is no doubt he is one of the worlds most innovative and defining artists of the last.....lets say 100 years. He is up there with some very big names in regards to having a long lasting and prominent impact on the music scene.

That said, I do also think that in many ways, Prince is his own worst enemy in regards to trying to help his career thrive. When any 2 entities enter into a business arrangement, there has to be a mutual benefit for it to work. In the case of a major label entering into a distribution deal with NPG Records, they need to be making a buck out of it. And to be quite frank, I don't see how they could be based on the sales totals of the last few albums Prince has released.

Sadly, Prince has at times made a habit of "flooding" the market with new material. Even as a committed Prince fan, I still have trouble keeping up with what he is doing. One minute he is releasing an album through a newpaper in the UK, the next hes resigned with WB Records, then the next is "exclusive" on Tidal (only to find a week later its being released on iTunes and physically through record stores). Then in the case of the single release of "Stare" it was initially released as an exclusive on Spotify. My point is, if a committed fan like me can't keep up, what hope does he have of reaching out to the wider music buying audience.

One of the biggest problems that Prince has is his lack of exposure online. He needs a Vevo account, he needs to upload all his old music videos and maybe some selected live performance videos up to Vevo and have them watchable on YouTube. Sure, he might not make any money out of it, but its all about marketing and exposure. The kids and teenagers coming up today who have a keen interest in music will discover Prince and his legacy and may possibly be inspired by it. As it stands, alot of people under 30 these days don't even know who Prince is. This is really sad. The same demographic know who Bowie is, they know who Elton John is, they know who The Beatles are, but the legacy of Prince has faded away and to many people he is merely that dude who had a couple of hits in the 80s.

Following on from this, when Prince does release a new album, its generally met with little in the way of promotion. Occasionally he will pop up on a talk show (e.g. Arsenio Hall) but there is no online campaign, no music videos on Vevo, just nothing...and before you have time to absorb one album, next thing you know, another has just dropped.

As much as it pains me to say this, but if Prince is having trouble getting a suitable deal to distribute Phase 2, he quite likely only has himself to blame. The guy is so fixated on "how much he's getting paid" that the other party in the deal almost ivevitably is going to end up stung in the deal. There are only so many times you can screw people over before your reputation gets around. There is a very likely a widespread belief in the music industry now that Prince is one of the greatest artists we have ever seen, but he is a poison chalice when it comes to entering into a business deal with. And an ever growing number of record labels will be keen to keep their distance any time Prince comes knocking on their door with a new album in hand.

This is so true!! I've said this over and over, and most of the fams here always respond with an excuse about how he won't get more sales with youtube, or twitter, blah blah... No. I'll say it again, in a respective manner. Most of his fans here are simply "up in age" are older, and don't understand how important it is to remain visibile and relevant.

All my friends who are younger than me, in their 20's and younger, listen to Zepplin, Bowie, Nirvanna, Rolling Stones, etc... They are all music buffs, love music, are musicians themselves. None of them knew who Prince was. The first base response, "we don't see anything on him on youtube or spotify"...

The general knowledge for the current generation doesn't know who PRINCE is, and that's sad that the visibility is such a disguise. His legacy is hurting when there isn't a place to go to watch his music videos, or amazing concerts. Ok the older fans have their DORTMUND LOVESEXY VHS, their VINYLS, their boots... That's great. But all of his legacy is fading because there is no organization. The fact that it's 2016 and you can't youtube a Prince concert is insanse. Imagine if you couldn't youtube a Hendrix, Bob Marley, Led Zepplin classic concert?

It's just real sad. Prince is one of the best, always will be, but he just makes shit decisions all the time, over and over and over again.

DFUNK said:

I love Princes music, there is no doubt he is one of the worlds most innovative and defining artists of the last.....lets say 100 years. He is up there with some very big names in regards to having a long lasting and prominent impact on the music scene.

That said, I do also think that in many ways, Prince is his own worst enemy in regards to trying to help his career thrive. When any 2 entities enter into a business arrangement, there has to be a mutual benefit for it to work. In the case of a major label entering into a distribution deal with NPG Records, they need to be making a buck out of it. And to be quite frank, I don't see how they could be based on the sales totals of the last few albums Prince has released.

Sadly, Prince has at times made a habit of "flooding" the market with new material. Even as a committed Prince fan, I still have trouble keeping up with what he is doing. One minute he is releasing an album through a newpaper in the UK, the next hes resigned with WB Records, then the next is "exclusive" on Tidal (only to find a week later its being released on iTunes and physically through record stores). Then in the case of the single release of "Stare" it was initially released as an exclusive on Spotify. My point is, if a committed fan like me can't keep up, what hope does he have of reaching out to the wider music buying audience.

One of the biggest problems that Prince has is his lack of exposure online. He needs a Vevo account, he needs to upload all his old music videos and maybe some selected live performance videos up to Vevo and have them watchable on YouTube. Sure, he might not make any money out of it, but its all about marketing and exposure. The kids and teenagers coming up today who have a keen interest in music will discover Prince and his legacy and may possibly be inspired by it. As it stands, alot of people under 30 these days don't even know who Prince is. This is really sad. The same demographic know who Bowie is, they know who Elton John is, they know who The Beatles are, but the legacy of Prince has faded away and to many people he is merely that dude who had a couple of hits in the 80s.

Following on from this, when Prince does release a new album, its generally met with little in the way of promotion. Occasionally he will pop up on a talk show (e.g. Arsenio Hall) but there is no online campaign, no music videos on Vevo, just nothing...and before you have time to absorb one album, next thing you know, another has just dropped.

As much as it pains me to say this, but if Prince is having trouble getting a suitable deal to distribute Phase 2, he quite likely only has himself to blame. The guy is so fixated on "how much he's getting paid" that the other party in the deal almost ivevitably is going to end up stung in the deal. There are only so many times you can screw people over before your reputation gets around. There is a very likely a widespread belief in the music industry now that Prince is one of the greatest artists we have ever seen, but he is a poison chalice when it comes to entering into a business deal with. And an ever growing number of record labels will be keen to keep their distance any time Prince comes knocking on their door with a new album in hand.

This is so true!! I've said this over and over, and most of the fams here always respond with an excuse about how he won't get more sales with youtube, or twitter, blah blah... No. I'll say it again, in a respective manner. Most of his fans here are simply "up in age" are older, and don't understand how important it is to remain visibile and relevant.

All my friends who are younger than me, in their 20's and younger, listen to Zepplin, Bowie, Nirvanna, Rolling Stones, etc... They are all music buffs, love music, are musicians themselves. None of them knew who Prince was. The first base response, "we don't see anything on him on youtube or spotify"...

The general knowledge for the current generation doesn't know who PRINCE is, and that's sad that the visibility is such a disguise. His legacy is hurting when there isn't a place to go to watch his music videos, or amazing concerts. Ok the older fans have their DORTMUND LOVESEXY VHS, their VINYLS, their boots... That's great. But all of his legacy is fading because there is no organization. The fact that it's 2016 and you can't youtube a Prince concert is insanse. Imagine if you couldn't youtube a Hendrix, Bob Marley, Led Zepplin classic concert?

It's just real sad. Prince is one of the best, always will be, but he just makes shit decisions all the time, over and over and over again.

People people it ain't ever gonna be the same. Unless Prince experiences yet another big comeback he's going to just be a cult artist. That would be fine for some artists but Prince loves $$$$$. He makes money doing shows. Albums are just an excuse to tour

So this is the tweet that sent Prince and his fans on Twitter into a frenzy about selling CDs hand to hand through the fans

https://twitter.com/Adonnis/status/684505592216473600

interesting because apparently this guy makes music to, I wonder if he's affiliated with Prince

AnonymousFan said:

Another tweet throwing WB under the bus.

"More than WB claim it sold..."

Oh Prince is back at it with WB... No wonder we didn't get a PR remaster

feeluupp said:

Another tweet throwing WB under the bus.

"More than WB claim it sold..."

Oh Prince is back at it with WB... No wonder we didn't get a PR remaster

Funny thing is . . not only is WB not responsible for the sales reports . . but if they had been they'd say he sold more

feeluupp said:

Another tweet throwing WB under the bus.

"More than WB claim it sold..."

Oh Prince is back at it with WB... No wonder we didn't get a PR remaster

Prince is such an angry,paranoid old man When is he ever gonna move on and let this go? Feuding with record companies is soooooooo 1995,lol

This whole thing is really kicking me in my heart right now. What is he thinking!?!?! Is he purposely picking the worst way to go about this!?!?!

He wants to keep the theives out of his temple, but he keeps inviting them in!!!

Why must he hurt me in this way!?! I only want to help his career!!!

[Edited 1/6/16 20:36pm]

AnonymousFan said:

This whole thing is really kicking me in my heart right now. What is he thinking!?!?! Is he purposely picking the worst way to go about this!?!?!

He wants to keep the theives out of his temple, but he keeps inviting them in!!!

Why must he hurt me in this way!?! I only want to help his career!!!

AnonymousFan said:

XxAxX said:

.

well, i admit i'm conjecturing. but ....

[Edited 1/6/16 15:32pm]

That would be really cool, actually!

PRINCE!!! DO THIS!!!

Where is KCool's voice of reason when you need it?

terrig said:

I think Princes twitter conversations are distinctly HUMAN and he's clearly trying to find new ideas and engaging fans in a really great way.

Regardless of how one apprectaites the qualities of the interventions, I find it pretty cool that at long last Prince engages his fans thru social network. IDK if he replies to some comments to his posts or not, but even if it's only from him to us, it's a pretty cool thing.

I hope the trolls here don't go and talk to him there the way they talk of him here, coz if they do we probably won't see Prince tweet for very long...

One has to admit that when you read certain things here, it's certainly of a nature to discourage Prince's past and present collaborators, let alone Prince himself, to post on the Org. It'd be nice to encourage interactions between us and Prince, or his staff or former staff, by showing a little more decency on this board and (if it's like here over there) on social networks.

I don't think that too many other music stars see their bandmembers and friends, let alone themselves, being called things like monkeys, assholes or bastards on their respective fanboards. I may be wrong, but I truly doubt it (or that the mods of those boards let it happen when it does).

SoulAlive said:

feeluupp said:

Another tweet throwing WB under the bus.

"More than WB claim it sold..."

Oh Prince is back at it with WB... No wonder we didn't get a PR remaster

Prince is such an angry,paranoid old man When is he ever gonna move on and let this go? Feuding with record companies is soooooooo 1995,lol

He seems immature in some ways, which is strange to say about a 57 year old man. Grow up the Prince man. He also seems like the kind of person who'd cause an argument in an empty house, maybe he's got nothing better to do.

databank said:

terrig said:

I think Princes twitter conversations are distinctly HUMAN and he's clearly trying to find new ideas and engaging fans in a really great way.

Regardless of how one apprectaites the qualities of the interventions, I find it pretty cool that at long last Prince engages his fans thru social network. IDK if he replies to some comments to his posts or not, but even if it's only from him to us, it's a pretty cool thing.

I hope the trolls here don't go and talk to him there the way they talk of him here, coz if they do we probably won't see Prince tweet for very long...

One has to admit that when you read certain things here, it's certainly of a nature to discourage Prince's past and present collaborators, let alone Prince himself, to post on the Org. It'd be nice to encourage interactions between us and Prince, or his staff or former staff, by showing a little more decency on this board and (if it's like here over there) on social networks.

I don't think that too many other music stars see their bandmembers and friends, let alone themselves, being called things like monkeys, assholes or bastards on their respective fanboards. I may be wrong, but I truly doubt it (or that the mods of those boards let it happen when it does).

IDK, if everything we see is Prince on Twitter, but the things that seem like him are anything but engaging fans. It's manipulation. I thought he was doing a fine job with social media at first, particularly his Instagram 'Mirror, mirror truth be told/Who's the greatest dipped in gold', lol. The Hnr:Phase concept, though looks like a thinly vailed attempt to string WB along as much as possible over the PR remaster, that has backfired horribly on him. Now he's acting like a spolied child throwing a tantrum on his social media.

He brought the fans into this mess again, (remember the love4oneanother days?), so if people are roasting him, it's his own fault. Prince isn't as thin-skinned as you might think. He knows damn well he's inflaming the fans' passions toward his own ends. He can take the heat. His account even retweeted and responded to some negative criticism. They ain't backing down, lol.

Pentacle said:

AnonymousFan said:

That would be really cool, actually!

PRINCE!!! DO THIS!!!

Where is KCool's voice of reason when you need it?

Probably trying to find an echo of a 'masterpiece-move' in this whole mess.

He must be struggling, like Prince.

Thizz said:

feeluupp said:

Another tweet throwing WB under the bus.

"More than WB claim it sold..."

Oh Prince is back at it with WB... No wonder we didn't get a PR remaster

Funny thing is . . not only is WB not responsible for the sales reports . . but if they had been they'd say he sold more

He even said he wanted to audit PURPLE RAIN back in 2009 on the Tavis Smiley show, because he believes it sold more.

tongueinthecrease said:

AnonymousFan said:

Recipes?

What? Like a cookbook?

Little Bread Baguette Anotherloverholenyoham Darling Turkki

.

breakfast pan of dates

sole sanctuary

get your smoothie on

.

i think even if prince decided to put together a recipe book he could sell it. in fact he could probably finger paint fold-out posters for the book and fans will still line up around the block to get their hands on a copy.

.

the CD purchase price and distribution would be included in the book purchase price and distribution.

.

it's just calling the project a book instead of an album so as to interest an entirely new bunch of potential publishers/distributors.

AnonymousFan said:

XxAxX said:

.

well, i admit i'm conjecturing. but i would guess he dabbles in a lot of different things. perfume, for example. remember gett wild? i liked it. i still have the box, bottle and a teensy bit of the scent..

.

i'd love to see him take a year off to write a 3D concept book. he could make it ANYthing he wanted, poems, pictures, scratch 'n sniffs he could have weird textile pages (silk? flower petal?) and pop-ups pages (prince strumming his guitar?) and pages that play music when you turn them...his newest CD could even be included.

.

crystal and gold pages with pop out jewelry (earrings? necklace?) for the fan who turns the page, inside the book could be a digital version of his book, a plug n play game? or just a flash of a video? an interactive offering that fans could experience on their computers at home. the sky ain't the limit for prince, the stars are.

.

actually, because of prince's cult status i think his fans and detractors would buy any type of book he puts out and a book in 3D (multi faceted concepts bound together in a 'book style' box set thingy) would be really difficult to pirate.

.

perhaps when he finishes his tour, instead of trying to follow the old format with music publishing houses, he could bust into a new venture with book publishers. i think every single publishing house on the planet would be really, really interested in publishing a book by prince. i'm pretty sure he could find a publisher.

.

or he could write a screenplay, i bet by now he has a few new ideas, and is much much more seasoned than he was for cherry moon and purple rain. imo, he's got a ton of options, if he comes at the distribution issue sideways, instead of head-on. but then again, i don't really know him so... this is all speculation and imagination so, take it for what it's worth

[Edited 1/6/16 15:32pm]

That would be really cool, actually!

PRINCE!!! DO THIS!!!

.

i would definitely buy it $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

When we talk about how Prince engages with his fans using Twitter.....are we sure? We don't even know if it is Prince who actually puts the tweets out.

It could be "Debra" from reception for all we know.

XxAxX said:

tongueinthecrease said:

AnonymousFan said: Little Bread Baguette Anotherloverholenyoham Darling Turkki

in fact he could probably finger paint fold-out posters for the book and fans will still line up around the block to get their hands on a copy.

you're confusing 2016 with 1984.

DFUNK said:

When we talk about how Prince engages with his fans using Twitter.....are we sure? We don't even know if it is Prince who actually puts the tweets out.

It could be "Debra" from reception for all we know.

Yes and it was probably this Debra who renegotiated and signed the new contract with WB. That would make a lot of sense, seeing what has happened since.

DFUNK said:

When we talk about how Prince engages with his fans using Twitter.....are we sure? We don't even know if it is Prince who actually puts the tweets out.

It could be "Debra" from reception for all we know.

Becuz "DEBRA" isn't as desperate as PRINCE to get PHASE 2 distributed.

homesquid said:

People people it ain't ever gonna be the same. Unless Prince experiences yet another big comeback he's going to just be a cult artist. That would be fine for some artists but Prince loves $$$$$. He makes money doing shows. Albums are just an excuse to tour

That's why I was pointing out with the lack of album sales it will be harder for him to get a major label to distribute his next releases, and alas, look what's happening on PHASE 2. WB and TIDAL both passed up on the offer, and when a fan asked why Prince responded, "due to numbers"... Could it be numbers of sales or numbers of his upfront payment he wants upfront, probably both. The label knows his last albums sold really poorly (PLECTRUM,HitnRun: Phase 1)...

His last big comeback was 2004. In terms of album sales, MUSICOLOGY sold 3x Million worldwide, with 2x Million being in the U.S. alone... That was his "last big comeback" and I am sure he will never achieve record sales of that magnitude again.

thedoorkeeper said:

I'm digging this "Will Phase 2 Ever Be Released on CD?" I have no idea if or when I will get to hear this music. Its mystery music. I've heard some songs & I've heard snippets of songs. My anticipation grows with every Twitter post. Its crazy time.

u can download it on TIDAL if u want it that bad... or there are other options as well...

funksterr said:

databank said:

Regardless of how one apprectaites the qualities of the interventions, I find it pretty cool that at long last Prince engages his fans thru social network. IDK if he replies to some comments to his posts or not, but even if it's only from him to us, it's a pretty cool thing.

I hope the trolls here don't go and talk to him there the way they talk of him here, coz if they do we probably won't see Prince tweet for very long...

One has to admit that when you read certain things here, it's certainly of a nature to discourage Prince's past and present collaborators, let alone Prince himself, to post on the Org. It'd be nice to encourage interactions between us and Prince, or his staff or former staff, by showing a little more decency on this board and (if it's like here over there) on social networks.

I don't think that too many other music stars see their bandmembers and friends, let alone themselves, being called things like monkeys, assholes or bastards on their respective fanboards. I may be wrong, but I truly doubt it (or that the mods of those boards let it happen when it does).

IDK, if everything we see is Prince on Twitter, but the things that seem like him are anything but engaging fans. It's manipulation. I thought he was doing a fine job with social media at first, particularly his Instagram 'Mirror, mirror truth be told/Who's the greatest dipped in gold', lol. The Hnr:Phase concept, though looks like a thinly vailed attempt to string WB along as much as possible over the PR remaster, that has backfired horribly on him. Now he's acting like a spolied child throwing a tantrum on his social media.

He brought the fans into this mess again, (remember the love4oneanother days?), so if people are roasting him, it's his own fault. Prince isn't as thin-skinned as you might think. He knows damn well he's inflaming the fans' passions toward his own ends. He can take the heat. His account even retweeted and responded to some negative criticism. They ain't backing down, lol.

I see where u're coming from. Evidently someone with nearly 40 years of career in the public eye has heard so much about themself that they're hard-skinned and they've also learned to toy with controversy. I remember when I was sort of a small local celebrity in my early 20's, I was too young and I got really devastated by the lies and gossip some people were saying about me, but I also publicized those polemics and accusations a lot because I understood that you can use them in your own favor by playing the "good victim" and giving the image of being a controversial artist.

However I'm not so sure everyone in P's camp is so thick-skinned because they may lack the experience, have "enjoyed" much less exposure or be more sensitive. TC Ellis clearly said in his last interview that he'd been hurt by some of the comments he'd read about himself on fan boards before he learned to find pride in his post musical career accomplishment and stop caring about it.

Regardless of people's resistance anyway, I just believe in good manners and constructive criticism. Prince has always expressed himself in a very cryptic manner and lots of the things he says can indeed be irritating because you're like "WTF?", but I believe there's a certain way of expressing one's disagreement that doesn't involve all the name calling and violent reprobation that I've often read here.

And when it comes to former or current associates I'm pretty certain that some decided that they would never post here because the next thing they know people would jump at them. Or they just don't feel the atmosphere friendly enough to feel they'd want to interact with this community. It's a pity because every time an associate was willing to do a Q&A, we learned a lot of interesting things.

funksterr said:

databank said:

Regardless of how one apprectaites the qualities of the interventions, I find it pretty cool that at long last Prince engages his fans thru social network. IDK if he replies to some comments to his posts or not, but even if it's only from him to us, it's a pretty cool thing.

I hope the trolls here don't go and talk to him there the way they talk of him here, coz if they do we probably won't see Prince tweet for very long...

One has to admit that when you read certain things here, it's certainly of a nature to discourage Prince's past and present collaborators, let alone Prince himself, to post on the Org. It'd be nice to encourage interactions between us and Prince, or his staff or former staff, by showing a little more decency on this board and (if it's like here over there) on social networks.

I don't think that too many other music stars see their bandmembers and friends, let alone themselves, being called things like monkeys, assholes or bastards on their respective fanboards. I may be wrong, but I truly doubt it (or that the mods of those boards let it happen when it does).

IDK, if everything we see is Prince on Twitter, but the things that seem like him are anything but engaging fans. It's manipulation. I thought he was doing a fine job with social media at first, particularly his Instagram 'Mirror, mirror truth be told/Who's the greatest dipped in gold', lol. The Hnr:Phase concept, though looks like a thinly vailed attempt to string WB along as much as possible over the PR remaster, that has backfired horribly on him. Now he's acting like a spolied child throwing a tantrum on his social media.

He brought the fans into this mess again, (remember the love4oneanother days?), so if people are roasting him, it's his own fault. Prince isn't as thin-skinned as you might think. He knows damn well he's inflaming the fans' passions toward his own ends. He can take the heat. His account even retweeted and responded to some negative criticism. They ain't backing down, lol.

I dont know how you get manipulation out of any of it. He's having real conversations about the things he's interested in which is making music playing music and the business of music.

He's funny and he's encouraging people to contribute their thoughts - there's not much to be negative about regarding that .....

[Edited 1/7/16 16:49pm]

DFUNK said:

When we talk about how Prince engages with his fans using Twitter.....are we sure? We don't even know if it is Prince who actually puts the tweets out.

It could be "Debra" from reception for all we know.

It's pretty hard to fake Princes sense of humor, if you've been a fan long enough it's pretty easy to tell it's him.

Plus, I think we know he's not paying someone to tweet at 4 am lololol

terrig said: