26ten said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

databank said:

Digital releases are considered albums as much as physical releases. Format was never a criteria.

I've always believed NPS was a "NPG" album because P and Larry had a trip to release their albums at GCS and NPG instread of LG and , but this is pure speculation from my part. However it cannot possibly have anything to do with WB since we're in 1998. Also, people tend to overestimate the band's contributions on GD and Exodus: while they were maybe playing more on those 2 than on NPS, their involvement in terms of composition and concept was pretty much void, they didn't have a say on those projects any more than on NPS.

Well, to me if digital releases don't get CD release at some point, then there's a problem. Probably liquidity. The format should matter. This is why so many bands struggle to get widespread publicity- 'it's like we've done 7 digital LPs but still nobody knows who we are!' Just speculating, but maybe Prince thought at the last moment, this shit ain't good enough to get the full release! (they were intended for CD at one point). So he released Musicology instead, the others being afterthoughts.

He still had to fulfil the WB contract with one more release, hence Old Friends for Sale in '99. Warners were apparently pissed at Prince in '96 for releasing Emancipation through EMI.

Conventional wisdom has it GN and Exodus had a lot of NPG input. If I were Prince I would have included Kamasutra and NPS in the catalogue but that's just me.

Well I've had this debate contless time here and even IRL (though much less often, a generation thing maybe) and well, factually a release is a release, regardless of the format. People need to stop seeing reality thru their own goggles and acknowledge things as they are. An album is a work of art, an intellectual creation, it is meant to be heard. Weither u hear it from a vinyl, a cassette, a CD, a mp3 or Flac file or anything else is irrelevant. Now that one may prefer physical releases is another debate entirely, but because one prefers pizza over pasta doesn't make pizza food and pasta something else.

.

Prince was wise enough, in late 2003, to realise that a costly 7 CD boxset containing only material that had already been made available thru NPGMC, and that therefore all harcore fans already had and may not wish to purchase again, would be a commercial fiasco, so he decided to focus on a single, more commercial album and organize a mainstream comeback instead. I believe the reason why he wished to release the TCI boxset initially, and why he put its content on the NPGMC digital store immediately after cancelling its release as well as, 12 years later, on Tidal, is precisely because he valued all that material a lot, and he felt it needed more exposition than it had intially received thru NPGMC.

.

The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale had been delivered as such, cover art included, to WB in Spring 1996, on the same day C&D was delivered. Prince had every liberty to release as many records as he wanted under his own name (or the symbol) by 1998.

.

"Conventional wisdom" = gossip and people trying to force their views on others with no regards to facts. Research has revealed time and time again that Prince was the sole creative force behind GN and Exodus (even though according to a 1993 bandmember who wasn't even sure -that says a lot about how everyone was involved -, it is likely that Tony M wrote most of his lyrics on GN). One example I've learned from that same bandmember (it was off the record so I can't say who, though I guess now that P is gone it wouldn't matter so much) is that the NPG recorded a whole track, which had been composed by one bandmember, and when Levi Seacer, Jr. submitted it for Gold Nigga (where it would apparently have fit perfectly), Prince told him it was out of the question, as that song had no input by him and no business being on his album. Nuff said ^^

Certainly, an album doesn't need a physical release. Almost no singles get one these days. They are still singles. TCI and TS are definitely albums in the discography and are listed as such, whether on the old NPGMC or on Tidal.

Using the word "Volume" in the title doesn't negate it from being an album. George Michael's Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 is still definitely an album.

databank said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

Well, to me if digital releases don't get CD release at some point, then there's a problem. Probably liquidity. The format should matter. This is why so many bands struggle to get widespread publicity- 'it's like we've done 7 digital LPs but still nobody knows who we are!' Just speculating, but maybe Prince thought at the last moment, this shit ain't good enough to get the full release! (they were intended for CD at one point). So he released Musicology instead, the others being afterthoughts.

He still had to fulfil the WB contract with one more release, hence Old Friends for Sale in '99. Warners were apparently pissed at Prince in '96 for releasing Emancipation through EMI.

Conventional wisdom has it GN and Exodus had a lot of NPG input. If I were Prince I would have included Kamasutra and NPS in the catalogue but that's just me.

Well I've had this debate contless time here and even IRL (though much less often, a generation thing maybe) and well, factually a release is a release, regardless of the format. People need to stop seeing reality thru their own goggles and acknowledge things as they are. An album is a work of art, an intellectual creation, it is meant to be heard. Weither u hear it from a vinyl, a cassette, a CD, a mp3 or Flac file or anything else is irrelevant. Now that one may prefer physical releases is another debate entirely, but because one prefers pizza over pasta doesn't make pizza food and pasta something else.

.

Prince was wise enough, in late 2003, to realise that a costly 7 CD boxset containing only material that had already been made available thru NPGMC, and that therefore all harcore fans already had and may not wish to purchase again, would be a commercial fiasco, so he decided to focus on a single, more commercial album and organize a mainstream comeback instead. I believe the reason why he wished to release the TCI boxset initially, and why he put its content on the NPGMC digital store immediately after cancelling its release as well as, 12 years later, on Tidal, is precisely because he valued all that material a lot, and he felt it needed more exposition than it had intially received thru NPGMC.

.

The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale had been delivered as such, cover art included, to WB in Spring 1996, on the same day C&D was delivered. Prince had every liberty to release as many records as he wanted under his own name (or the symbol) by 1998.

.

"Conventional wisdom" = gossip and people trying to force their views on others with no regards to facts. Research has revealed time and time again that Prince was the sole creative force behind GN and Exodus (even though according to a 1993 bandmember who wasn't even sure -that says a lot about how everyone was involved -, it is likely that Tony M wrote most of his lyrics on GN). One example I've learned from that same bandmember (it was off the record so I can't say who, though I guess now that P is gone it wouldn't matter so much) is that the NPG recorded a whole track, which had been composed by one bandmember, and when Levi Seacer, Jr. submitted it for Gold Nigga (where it would apparently have fit perfectly), Prince told him it was out of the question, as that song had no input by him and no business being on his album. Nuff said ^^

You kind of missed my point on this. It is important whether albums are released on CD or digital only. An emerging band has next to no chance of making it big and being able to support themselves financially without working on the side, as in regular work, if they don't get full support from their record company. Anyone but anyone can record music and host it or upload somewhere on a website so other people can stream. But on big streaming sites like Spotify or Apple Music there aren't many bucks to be made- artists take very small revenues. Basically there's so little money to be made, and if they're not already big, streaming won't help them. Back in the day, CDs were the biggest way to get noticed, and then people would come to hear them play on tours and suchlike. If everything was released digitally only, nobody would be recognised.

Not all the material from the 7 cd set was previously made available. Prince was being selective with what he decided to include for the MP3 albums, so some material didn't make the cut. If, on the other hand, he had really valued CI or the SH he would have released them as CDs. That would be the logical thing to do. but NEWS and Musicology took preference. Also, regarding New Power Soul, provided there being no Warner contract dispute, which we know was still legally binding, that album gets released under 'Prince and the New Power Generation' like D&P and Love Symbol before it. IMO.

"Research has revealed time and time again that Prince was the sole creative force behind GN and Exodus". If that's true, then point to it. Because I remember reading shortly after release, Morris Hayes and Sonny T. having large input as songwriters on the Exodus album.

I think most if not all of the raps by Tony M on Goldnigga were his own and that did comprise much of the record. Further, I guess also, the biographers like matt thorne count as the gossipers then? In regard to GN and Exodus, you referred to 'no input' by Prince. What I remarked was, reduced input. New Power Soul, the way P alluded to the album in the past, sounded very much his own.

[Edited 9/12/16 3:59am]

fortuneandserendipity said:

NPS I believe at the time Prince intended as a Prince album, musically speaking. It was a way of circumventing the Warners contract

.

Nonsense.

databank said:

I've always believed NPS was a "NPG" album because P and Larry had a trip to release their albums at GCS and NPG instread of LG and , but this is pure speculation from my part.

.

NPS was originally announced as a Prince album; then a couple of days later Prince's official site dismissed that news as rumors despite the source being a press release form his own camp.

fortuneandserendipity said:

He still had to fulfil the WB contract with one more release, hence Old Friends for Sale in '99. Warners were apparently pissed at Prince in '96 for releasing Emancipation through EMI.

.

Nonsense and nonsense.

.

The circumstances WRT C&D and TV:OF4S are well-documented.

databank said:

Prince was wise enough, in late 2003, to realise that a costly 7 CD boxset containing only material that had already been made available thru NPGMC, and that therefore all harcore fans already had and may not wish to purchase again, would be a commercial fiasco

.

Dunno where you got this "7CD box set" nonsense, unless you're referring to the sampler set.

.

Fact is that NPGMC v2 or whatever was supposed to give us exclusive CDs, instead we got ONA and then later on the live album/box set which was available in stores. Would TCI and TS have been hits? Doubtful, but claimign that fans wouldn't have bought these is nonsense, considering people were jumping through hoops to get copies of the CD Singles sold only at some concerts etc. I bet amp and the Org had plenty of bitching about the lack of physical media at the time, especially considering all we had were crappy MP3s and later on DRM-ed WMAs.

BartVanHemelen said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

NPS I believe at the time Prince intended as a Prince album, musically speaking. It was a way of circumventing the Warners contract

.

Nonsense.

Nope, it definitely isn't nonsense. New Power Soul is, musically speaking, a prince album. There are no co-writing credits, let alone cover versions. Prince is all over the cd booklet and always pictured distinct from the NPG. He did get help with programming, from Kirk J but no more than joshua welton on Art Official Age. If he hadn't been in dispute with Warner Bros, this likely would have been a WB album and it would have been heavily promoted, the way Prince albums used to be.

[Edited 9/12/16 6:47am]

BartVanHemelen said:

databank said:

Prince was wise enough, in late 2003, to realise that a costly 7 CD boxset containing only material that had already been made available thru NPGMC, and that therefore all harcore fans already had and may not wish to purchase again, would be a commercial fiasco

.

Dunno where you got this "7CD box set" nonsense, unless you're referring to the sampler set.

.

Fact is that NPGMC v2 or whatever was supposed to give us exclusive CDs, instead we got ONA and then later on the live album/box set which was available in stores. Would TCI and TS have been hits? Doubtful, but claimign that fans wouldn't have bought these is nonsense, considering people were jumping through hoops to get copies of the CD Singles sold only at some concerts etc. I bet amp and the Org had plenty of bitching about the lack of physical media at the time, especially considering all we had were crappy MP3s and later on DRM-ed WMAs.

Just proves you don't know what you're talking about. Every member of the NPGMC at the time, with half a brain, would know what this refers to. 7 CDs of new material was Prince's original plan, or didn't you know?

There's nothing crappy about standard quality MP3s. I really hope you don't believe all the MP3 formats and bitrates are inferior in quality. Because then you'll just get schooled.

leecaldon said:

Certainly, an album doesn't need a physical release. Almost no singles get one these days. They are still singles. TCI and TS are definitely albums in the discography and are listed as such, whether on the old NPGMC or on Tidal.

Using the word "Volume" in the title doesn't negate it from being an album. George Michael's Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 is still definitely an album.

The problem with vol. 1 here is, there wasn't a volume 2. (maybe like prince's the work pt.1!?) So it was rhetorical, probably from george michael.

Singles get plenty of airplay across radio and tv music stations. Streaming alone wouldn't garner the attention necessary. It's reliant on airplay first.

.

[Edited 9/12/16 6:33am]

[Edited 9/12/16 6:44am]

fortuneandserendipity said:

Doozer said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

Just proves you don't know what you're talking about. Every member of the NPGMC at the time, with half a brain, would know what this refers to. 7 CDs of new material was Prince's original plan, or didn't you know?

There's nothing crappy about standard quality MP3s. I really hope you don't believe all the MP3 formats and bitrates are inferior in quality. Because then you'll just get schooled.

. I was a member of every incarnation of the NPGMC and do not recall any promise of 7 CDs of material. Year 2 promised 4 new CDs and ended with a bonus of Xpectation. What year are you referring to? . There was a planned 7 CD sampler set that never materialized.

I remember 7 new CDs promised including 4 with titles specified, one mentioned as Last December.

fortuneandserendipity said:

databank said:

Well I've had this debate contless time here and even IRL (though much less often, a generation thing maybe) and well, factually a release is a release, regardless of the format. People need to stop seeing reality thru their own goggles and acknowledge things as they are. An album is a work of art, an intellectual creation, it is meant to be heard. Weither u hear it from a vinyl, a cassette, a CD, a mp3 or Flac file or anything else is irrelevant. Now that one may prefer physical releases is another debate entirely, but because one prefers pizza over pasta doesn't make pizza food and pasta something else.

.

Prince was wise enough, in late 2003, to realise that a costly 7 CD boxset containing only material that had already been made available thru NPGMC, and that therefore all harcore fans already had and may not wish to purchase again, would be a commercial fiasco, so he decided to focus on a single, more commercial album and organize a mainstream comeback instead. I believe the reason why he wished to release the TCI boxset initially, and why he put its content on the NPGMC digital store immediately after cancelling its release as well as, 12 years later, on Tidal, is precisely because he valued all that material a lot, and he felt it needed more exposition than it had intially received thru NPGMC.

.

The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale had been delivered as such, cover art included, to WB in Spring 1996, on the same day C&D was delivered. Prince had every liberty to release as many records as he wanted under his own name (or the symbol) by 1998.

.

"Conventional wisdom" = gossip and people trying to force their views on others with no regards to facts. Research has revealed time and time again that Prince was the sole creative force behind GN and Exodus (even though according to a 1993 bandmember who wasn't even sure -that says a lot about how everyone was involved -, it is likely that Tony M wrote most of his lyrics on GN). One example I've learned from that same bandmember (it was off the record so I can't say who, though I guess now that P is gone it wouldn't matter so much) is that the NPG recorded a whole track, which had been composed by one bandmember, and when Levi Seacer, Jr. submitted it for Gold Nigga (where it would apparently have fit perfectly), Prince told him it was out of the question, as that song had no input by him and no business being on his album. Nuff said ^^

You kind of missed my point on this. It is important whether albums are released on CD or digital only. An emerging band has next to no chance of making it big and being able to support themselves financially without working on the side, as in regular work, if they don't get full support from their record company. Anyone but anyone can record music and host it or upload somewhere on a website so other people can stream. But on big streaming sites like Spotify or Apple Music there aren't many bucks to be made- artists take very small revenues. Basically there's so little money to be made, and if they're not already big, streaming won't help them. Back in the day, CDs were the biggest way to get noticed, and then people would come to hear them play on tours and suchlike. If everything was released digitally only, nobody would be recognised.

Fair enough and might be true today, but when physical formats will have entirely disappeared save deluxe limited editions (10 years at most?), it won't make much of a difference though. I know u gonna say ain't gonna happen so don't say it. See ya in 10 years and we'll c who was right.

Not all the material from the 7 cd set was previously made available.

TCI - already available save The Dance, though some versions differ slightly

TS - already available, though some versions differ slightly

The War - already available as such

ONA piano - already available as such

C-Note - already available as such

Xpectation - already available as such

Glam Slam Mix - already available as such

Prince was being selective with what he decided to include for the MP3 albums, so some material didn't make the cut. If, on the other hand, he had really valued CI or the SH he would have released them as CDs. That would be the logical thing to do.

No, it would have done what every record company exec says not to do: saturate the market and confuse audiences. Doing so would have been detrimental to Musicology and P wanted Musicology to be a comeback album and a hit, so no.

but NEWS and Musicology took preference.

No, When NEWS was released the boxset was in the works. Only Musicology took preference, for reasons cited above.

Also, regarding New Power Soul, provided there being no Warner contract dispute, which we know was still legally binding, that album gets released under 'Prince and the New Power Generation' like D&P and Love Symbol before it. IMO.

Then how do Emancipation, CB and Rave get released as ? I can't understand your reasoning, in all good faith. Please elaborate and/or support with facts.

"Research has revealed time and time again that Prince was the sole creative force behind GN and Exodus". If that's true, then point to it.

Every interview I've read by members of those bands said that their creative input was very much limited to what Prince asked them to do. That and the bandmember I was quoting above (I mean I can't present more conclusive an evidence and still you seem ignore the piece of information). I've read some extensive text on the genesis of Exodus once, too (could it have been Scififilmnerd's article?) and it made very clear that Prince was conceiving the whole thing pretty much on his own.

Then there's Uptown/Princevault, but now I have some doubt: very revealing is the fact that Prince in fact gave songwriting credits and royalties (as in ASCAP, not booklet credits) to himself AND the whole band for both project (save Get Wild which is copyrighted as P and Sonny and Call The Law which was copyrighted TWICE (, once in 92 as P and Tony, once again in 93 as the whole band), however Princevault credits ONLY Prince for all songs but Get Wild BUT they forget to credit Tony as a co-writer on Call The Law, so I'm wondering. Uptown/Nilsen usually leave the benefit of doubt (i.e. Carmen's writing royalties) unless told otherwise by a reliable source. But when told so (as in Sheila's royalties on Romance 1600), they will credit appropriately. So IDK, we'd have to ask Princevault for why they put the credit they did put, and whether they are certain about excluding at least Tony.

Nevertheless I have serious doubts about Damon Dickson composing anything on GN, and still he got his share of royalties, so I think Call The Law was overlooked.

Because I remember reading shortly after release, Morris Hayes and Sonny T. having large input as songwriters on the Exodus album.

At the time no one knew much except for Uptown, and even them were not as informed as they were by the time Per Nilsen published DMSR in 1999. There's stiill some level of doubt about GN but the Exodus sessions have been very well documented by Nilsen.

I think most if not all of the raps by Tony M on Goldnigga were his own and that did comprise much of the record. Further, I guess also, the biographers like matt thorne count as the gossipers then?

I have to admit I haven't read that book yet and I certainly will accept it as a reliable source. What does it say exactly about those sessions?

In regard to GN and Exodus, you referred to 'no input' by Prince. What I remarked was, reduced input. New Power Soul, the way P alluded to the album in the past, sounded very much his own.

Confusing statement. I don't follow u

[Edited 9/12/16 3:59am]

[Edited 9/12/16 7:49am]

BartVanHemelen said:

databank said:

I've always believed NPS was a "NPG" album because P and Larry had a trip to release their albums at GCS and NPG instread of LG and , but this is pure speculation from my part.

.

NPS was originally announced as a Prince album; then a couple of days later Prince's official site dismissed that news as rumors despite the source being a press release form his own camp.

I know but WHY????

fortuneandserendipity said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Nonsense.

Nope, it definitely isn't nonsense. New Power Soul is, musically speaking, a prince album. There are no co-writing credits, let alone cover versions. Prince is all over the cd booklet and always pictured distinct from the NPG. He did get help with programming, from Kirk J but no more than joshua welton on Art Official Age. If he hadn't been in dispute with Warner Bros, this likely would have been a WB album and it would have been heavily promoted, the way Prince albums used to be.

[Edited 9/12/16 6:47am]

Bart is right on this one, u r being irrational here.

BartVanHemelen said:

databank said:

Prince was wise enough, in late 2003, to realise that a costly 7 CD boxset containing only material that had already been made available thru NPGMC, and that therefore all harcore fans already had and may not wish to purchase again, would be a commercial fiasco

.

Dunno where you got this "7CD box set" nonsense, unless you're referring to the sampler set.

.

Fact is that NPGMC v2 or whatever was supposed to give us exclusive CDs, instead we got ONA and then later on the live album/box set which was available in stores.

Bart what r u talking about? U r perfectly aware of THIS:

https://www.princevault.com/index.php?title=Album:_The_Chocolate_Invasion-2003

fortuneandserendipity said:

Doozer said:

fortuneandserendipity said: . I was a member of every incarnation of the NPGMC and do not recall any promise of 7 CDs of material. Year 2 promised 4 new CDs and ended with a bonus of Xpectation. What year are you referring to? . There was a planned 7 CD sampler set that never materialized.

I remember 7 new CDs promised including 4 with titles specified, one mentioned as Last December.

Wow everyone is totally confused here. From the beginning we were talking about TCI and TS, therefore about THIS 7 CD boxset: https://www.princevault.c...asion-2003

.

This has nothing to do with the 2002 CD's, let alone the sampling series.

databank said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

Nope, it definitely isn't nonsense. New Power Soul is, musically speaking, a prince album. There are no co-writing credits, let alone cover versions. Prince is all over the cd booklet and always pictured distinct from the NPG. He did get help with programming, from Kirk J but no more than joshua welton on Art Official Age. If he hadn't been in dispute with Warner Bros, this likely would have been a WB album and it would have been heavily promoted, the way Prince albums used to be.

[Edited 9/12/16 6:47am]

Bart is right on this one, u r being irrational here.

Nah, musically it's a Prince album, he also does all the lead vocals. If the NPG didn't exist he would have just got other people to perform. He's referred to this album in interview multiple times in the singular first person. Who cares if he didn't assign it back catalogue status!? Maybe contractual obligations prevent that.

databank said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

I remember 7 new CDs promised including 4 with titles specified, one mentioned as Last December.

Wow everyone is totally confused here. From the beginning we were talking about TCI and TS, therefore about THIS 7 CD boxset: https://www.princevault.c...asion-2003

.

This has nothing to do with the 2002 CD's, let alone the sampling series.

.
Thanks - that clears it up for me. I had completely forgotten about that.

databank said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

I remember 7 new CDs promised including 4 with titles specified, one mentioned as Last December.

Wow everyone is totally confused here. From the beginning we were talking about TCI and TS, therefore about THIS 7 CD boxset: https://www.princevault.c...asion-2003

.

This has nothing to do with the 2002 CD's, let alone the sampling series.

madrid 2 chicago, last december and a best of were the 3 albums to be part od te 4 albums that year

databank said:

26ten said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

databank said:

Bart is right on this one, u r being irrational here.

Nah, musically it's a Prince album, he also does all the lead vocals. If the NPG didn't exist he would have just got other people to perform. He's referred to this album in interview multiple times in the singular first person. Who cares if he didn't assign it back catalogue status!? Maybe contractual obligations prevent that.

This is the part where I say u r being irrational. No one ever suggested this, and nothing points to such a reasoning. U just made this up.

The rest is more of a subjective matter, but as far as I'm concerned Prince could also have released GN and Exodus as "Prince" or : releasing albums under ur own name but with a guest lead vocalist is common practice outside of the mainstream, many other musicians did it. Like one orger once said, no one says a Prince album can't be a "Prince " album because another drummer plays the drum, but everyone says it can't if another singer sings. From a musician's POV, this is unjustified prejudice. U have basically 2 common practices: put the name of the lead singer on the cover for commercial reasons, or put the name of the person who's the creative force behind the record which is usually what less mainstream artists choose to do.

databank said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

Nah, musically it's a Prince album, he also does all the lead vocals. If the NPG didn't exist he would have just got other people to perform. He's referred to this album in interview multiple times in the singular first person. Who cares if he didn't assign it back catalogue status!? Maybe contractual obligations prevent that.

This is the part where I say u r being irrational. No one ever suggested this, and nothing points to such a reasoning. U just made this up.

The rest is more of a subjective matter, but as far as I'm concerned Prince could also have released GN and Exodus as "Prince" or : releasing albums under ur own name but with a guest lead vocalist is common practice outside of the mainstream, many other musicians did it. Like one orger once said, no one says a Prince album can't be a "Prince " album because another drummer plays the drum, but everyone says it can't if another singer sings. From a musician's POV, this is unjustified prejudice. U have basically 2 common practices: put the name of the lead singer on the cover for commercial reasons, or put the name of the person who's the creative force behind the record which is usually what less mainstream artists choose to do.

I basically don't get what you're trying to say, just seems like pontification to me. If Prince was able contractually to release as many albums as he wished through Warners, then like D&P and Love Symbol, New Power Soul would have been released under 'Prince and the New Power Generation'. But there was that contract dispute, hence the name change. Look closely at the cover art to NPS, the symbol indicating his name is there.

fortuneandserendipity said:

databank said:

This is the part where I say u r being irrational. No one ever suggested this, and nothing points to such a reasoning. U just made this up.

The rest is more of a subjective matter, but as far as I'm concerned Prince could also have released GN and Exodus as "Prince" or : releasing albums under ur own name but with a guest lead vocalist is common practice outside of the mainstream, many other musicians did it. Like one orger once said, no one says a Prince album can't be a "Prince " album because another drummer plays the drum, but everyone says it can't if another singer sings. From a musician's POV, this is unjustified prejudice. U have basically 2 common practices: put the name of the lead singer on the cover for commercial reasons, or put the name of the person who's the creative force behind the record which is usually what less mainstream artists choose to do.

I basically don't get what you're trying to say, just seems like pontification to me. If Prince was able contractually to release as many albums as he wished through Warners, then like D&P and Love Symbol, New Power Soul would have been released under 'Prince and the New Power Generation'. But there was that contract dispute, hence the name change. Look closely at the cover art to NPS, the symbol indicating his name is there.

I don't think Prince wasn't free to release any material as "Prince" after 1996, though it is unclear to me why he kept the symbol up until 2000 when all ties with WB were broken. Prince released 1999: The New Master as "Prince And The Revolution" though, so this seems to indicate he was free to use the name Prince outside of WB after 1996.

All we know is that NPS was originally announced as the next album, then finally released as a NPG album. He could have made it " and the NPG" for that matter. I still fail to see how WB could have had anything to do with the album being either the symbol or NPG given that P had given-up on the name "Prince" entirely at that time, and I fail to see as well why in the world he would have wished to credit an album to "Prince and the NPG" in 1998, when he was .

But nevermind...

fortuneandserendipity said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Nonsense.

Nope, it definitely isn't nonsense. New Power Soul is, musically speaking, a prince album. There are no co-writing credits, let alone cover versions. Prince is all over the cd booklet and always pictured distinct from the NPG. He did get help with programming, from Kirk J but no more than joshua welton on Art Official Age. If he hadn't been in dispute with Warner Bros, this likely would have been a WB album and it would have been heavily promoted, the way Prince albums used to be.

[Edited 9/12/16 6:47am]

.

I was referring to this:

.

It was a way of circumventing the Warners contract

.

Which is nonsense.

fortuneandserendipity said:

There's nothing crappy about standard quality MP3s. I really hope you don't believe all the MP3 formats and bitrates are inferior in quality. Because then you'll just get schooled.

.

If you think 128k MP3s are not inferior quality...