is prince on some sort of blacklist with major tv, radio and newspapers around the world as the lack of any coverage of what he is doing since the mid nineties is very noticeable by myself and other people i have spoken to.
...i know that the major record companies are none to fond of him because of the warner brothers carry-on but almost everyone who was a major star in the eighties gets more media coverage than prince enjoys.

it is apparant when you watch all those 80's shows and
stuff and no one ever mentions Prince anymore.

At the very best there's a 5 second snip of Purple Rain
and that's it.

It seems to all revolve around MJ and Madonna now, since
the new generation of music listeners is made to believe
that Madonna and MJ were the only two giants in the field
that mattered in the 80's.

Prince is thrown in as some weird cult star that had a
brief sparkle with Purple Rain.

Every no-talent star get's their own "the story of" and
more of that kind of silly tosh. It's not my thing anyway
but it is striking that Prince is NEVER subject to any
of those programs.

I don't really have an oppinion as to how and why, I just
wanted to say that yeah, I did notice that too.

I don't think its like that in the UK.

I mean, the BBC had that Purple Reign documentary thing a couple of months ago on national Radio 2. I think they're planning a new TV profile on him too.

I still hear the classics on the radio every now and again.

no, he's blacklisted with a public that he's alienated and a mainstream audience that hasn't cared about him for 10 years.

IstenSzek said:

could this perhaps be due more to the unwillingness of Prince to participate in these types of things?

i will say that Warner Bros. probably isn't interested in allowing use of the stuff they own to promote Prince in these types of specials after all of the bitterness of the last decade between the two parties.

but Prince doesn't participate in them either, even going so far as to criticize these types of programs when they're made about him...

so, i'd say the 3 factors in Prince being absent in this stuff is
1) Prince not wanting to be in it
2) WB not wanting Prince to be in it
3) the public doesn't give a rat's ass about Prince, so there's not much point in putting him in there, because he's not going to draw an audience to the program -- and drawing an audience is the whole point of all programming.

Prince has done enough on his own to alienate himself from the mainstream media. The way he refused to sing We Are The World, but stood there front and center sucking on a Loli Pop pretty much sums up his attitude.

He's become so much of a hypocrite over the past 10 years that people have pretty much grown tired of his antics.

- Changed his name to a symbol to supposedly escape Prince and his label. Then people begin to refer to him as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, which is a completely retarded name. The novelty of the little squiggle wears off and he goes back to Prince.

- Made a big spectacle about his marriage to Mayte, claiming they're soul mates, met in another lifetime, blah blah. Does an Oprah special, plasters Mayte all over everything. Then retracts and calls the marriage a "CONtract".

- Touts being free from record labels, only to resign with two of them a few years later.

- Announces the Crystal Ball. A set of long sought after bootlegs and other rarities. Starts taking peoples money. Then it takes him 8 months to actually release it, in the process he looses many people's orders. Then to add insult to it all, releases it retail at a cheaper price with an additional disc.

there's plenty more, this is just to highlight a few...

In all fairness, theres plenty of musicians who arent the hot topic on MTV/mainstream media. I don't think its a specific vendetta against Prince. He and many other musicians haven't either recorded an amazing album of music that would grab the attention of the public at large, or done something so scandalous that people would start gossiping.

Tom said:

Correct! And then he has the nerve to sue fansites/fanzines for using the copyrighted symbol that he insists they use in referring to him

AaronSuperior said:

---
The reasons are as follows.
Prince does not want to be in involved as it would be like living in the past. Which in my opinion is corny and I am glad he is not on these programs.

On the other hand you do not see Maddonna and Michael Jackson involved with these programs but they still get a mention. Think about that for a minute.

WB while fading in the music industry is still a powerful media company and I think they have blacklisted him. He is a blackman who told the company to go fuck themselves this just does not work in corporate america.

Once again if the public really did not give a rat's ass about him where do all the people who go to his concerts come from. The freaking moon? If Prince hired a publicist and signed with some record label there would be more interest in what his doing.

Please do not be naive enough to believe that people would snap off a program because Prince is on it.

If people are still buying R Kelly cd's and watching his preverted ass I think people would tune into Prince.

laurarichardson said:

sure you do. you see MJ giving a bizarre-freakshow interview every other month, and Madonna participates in specials, like Behind The Music, and the VH1 special where she and Rupert Everett took a tour of her old New York digs from before she was famous.



"blackman" ... George Michael told Sony to stick it and you don't hear hardly a word in America about him. so the whole black issue is a non-starter.



you'll notice how often he cancels dates on the larger-scale tours and how often there are empty seats in the bigger venues. he's finally wised up and started playing theaters where he can fill up a room.



I'm not. But don't be naive enough to think that anyone besides the people that visit this site are going to rush to there TV's or set the VCR if Prince *IS* on one of these shows.



the difference is, R. Kelly's trials and tribulations come during the years of his successful run. that generates interest in his problems and the problems generate interest in his careeer. as far as the public interest goes, Prince gets no attention, because nobody's been interested in him in a good 10 years. his career generates no interest in his "scandals" anymore and his scandals generate no interest in his career. he's way down the road from that point on his arc of fame.

Prince
unwisely
put
himself
on
many
ppls
"shitlist"
in
the
industry

i think so. vh1 occasionally throws in a short snip of info about prince, but never really anything worth watching. this winter, Trio aired 'The Prince of Paisley Park' just a short documentry about prince's late 80's/early 90's tours. anyone else see it?

AaronSuperior said:

---
"sure you do. you see MJ giving a bizarre-freakshow interview every other month, and Madonna participates in specials, like Behind The Music, and the VH1 special where she and Rupert Everett took a tour of her old New York digs from before she was famous."

I am not talking about Mike's interview. I am talking about programs about like the Return to 80's specials that they run on Vh1 or the Where are they now shows. Mike Jackson and Maddonna are not on these programs yet they still get a mention.

The interview with Mike is just what I am talking about as far as living in the past. The interview was a public relations diaster for Mike and I really would not want to see Prince do something like that. Maddonna Behind the Music was done a few years ago and she did the thing with Rupert to promote her upcoming CD. I got a question for you about Maddona why do you think she still gets to make movies when so many films she has been in are bombs. Do you really think this has nothing to do with her being a white woman?

"George Michael told Sony to stick it and you don't hear hardly a word in America about him. so the whole black issue is a non-starter."

George Michael still gets to put out records overseas he still gets a mention in the European press. George was blackballed because he came out of the closet as well as telling Sony off. Do not be navie enough to write off racism it is alive and well.

"you'll notice how often he cancels dates on the larger-scale tours and how often there are empty seats in the bigger venues. he's finally wised up and started playing theaters where he can fill up a room."

I saw Prince at the Patriot Center in Fairfax Virgina in 2000. This arena holds 15,000.00 people. The areana was almost sold out. If I am not mistaken he sold out some large arenas in Europe. He has not cancelled date in large arenas I think he just started picking small areanas because of the TRC cd.

In the end if Prince signed with a major record label, hired a publist he would be able to get back in the mainstream. My god Cher had a hit record last year. Anything is possible.

I think so, no P on the radio here (France) at the exception of the usual tiring Kiss and Purple Rain - he's almost like Morrissey now

laurarichardson said:

hmmm, you mean that "Where Are They Now?" where they profiled all of Prince's female proteges doesn't count? or the continuous mentions he gets on their ubiquitous countdown shows? hmmm...



she didn't do the Rupert thing to promote her upcoming CD. it was done in late 98, early 99, when she had no new CD to promote, FYI.

white woman? no. it has nothing to do with that. what it has to do with is clout. she's positioned herself to have optioned the rights to several movies, and put her production companies behind them in various capacities. directors and studios cast her in movies for the same reason they cast half of Hollywood in movies: they need bodies to fill up the screen, and Madonna will bring some attention to the project. Cuba Gooding Jr. continues to make movies despite being in several shitty bombs. again, the issue is a non-starter.



why don't you quit telling me to be naive? i'm not naive at all. i didn't say that racism wasn't alive and well. however, Prince's problems are bigger than race. Prince's problems come form him being a petulant asshole and burning every bridge he ever crossed in the industry and in his personal life. it's no coincidence that all of his records post-WB have come off the presses of a different label. nobody in their right mind wants to work with him a second time after they're rid of him.



Europe? that's because he doesn't tour Europe as extensively as he used to. as for cancelling dates, he cancelled MANY dates on the Hit + Run tour, did he not? i know he cancelled the show i was planning to go to, in fact, he cancelled that whole leg of the tour due to lack of interest.




of course he would! and it would be good for him. that's not the problem. the problem is that he wants to have his cake and eat it too. he wants business deals to benefit only one party: HIM. and when a record label wants to make money on the services they provide for him, he starts throwing out analogies to slavery and pimping, and any number of ludicrous things. if Prince ever wants any success again (and he does, don't believe the hype coming out of his mouth) then he's going to have to grow up and learn to deal with people like a human being and deal with business like a businessman. these are the roots of Prince's problem in the industry: not that he's black, not that he's being ripped off; but because he cannot pull his head out of his ass and live in the real world where there's give and take, going both waysl, not just his.

how do you kown that what is coming out of his mouth is not the truth? Noone really knows what is going on in his mind so I like that we should let topics like this go.

AaronSuperior said:

'hmmm, you mean that "Where Are They Now?" where they profiled all of Prince's female proteges doesn't count? or the continuous mentions he gets on their ubiquitous countdown shows? hmmm...

Yes, they did a special on his proteges. What does that have to do with Prince's music. He does not get a a lot mentions on these shows. The worst thing was the program produced by Quincy Jones about The History of Black Music. Prince was not mentioned anywhere in the program. You don't think that is strange.

"she didn't do the Rupert thing to promote her upcoming CD. it was done in late 98, early 99, when she had no new CD to promote, FYI."

I do not keep up with Maddona. I am not a fan. However, she did put out a video for some song that she then decided to pull. I read that this was from a upcoming cd. She does have something coming out soon. Do you really think movie studios make movies to fill up the screen? Her movies are shit and trust me Cuba Gooding Jr will be moving to T.V. soon or doing nothing. His carreer is going to resemble Westly Snipes. Nobody black gets to make a whole bunch of bombs films like Maddonna

"Prince's problems are bigger than race. Prince's problems come form him being a petulant asshole and burning every bridge he ever crossed in the industry and in his personal life. it's no coincidence that all of his records post-WB have come off the presses of a different label. nobody in their right mind wants to work with him a second time after they're rid of him."

You are right all of his problems are not related to race.
I agree that he has been an asshole and he has burned bridges. However, you seem to be defending a corrupt music industry that routinely rips off artist. Right now the music industry cannot give records away. Some of the things he has said about the industry were true and needed to be said. Now the industry is paying for all the bullshit that has gone on. In my mind this does not Prince the devil.
In addtion, Clive Davis did invite Prince to his big party and people in the industry gave him a standing ovation. I know he must feel very vidicated. He should sign a record deal with a major company if he can get the right deal. Now one should sit back and be a sucker and be taken advantage of.

"Europe? that's because he doesn't tour Europe as extensively as he used to. as for cancelling dates, he cancelled MANY dates on the Hit + Run tour, did he not? i know he cancelled the show i was planning to go to, in fact, he cancelled that whole leg of the tour due to lack of interest."

He just toured Europe last year. I am sure if you go to the concerts section on the org you can read the reviews. I think he cancelled dates on the second leg of the Hit + Run tour because he messed up his ankle. Then in 2000 he canceled because of his parents illness. Give the dude a break.In 25 years he cancells a few concerts and you are dogging him.

I notice you did not comment on the Fairfax Va show that I mentioned. I like the truth I do not like distortions or lies. When Prince starts performing in night clubs we can say his carreer is over. Right now there are established groups with major record companies who cannot give their records away or sell out any venue. This is the reason why a lot of Rap acts do not tour. Any of these artist would kill to still be able to sell out a venue 25 years from now.

laurarichardson said:

use the quote tags correctly and i might read this. after that, i may even respond.

A blacklist only applies until you can be made money off, big time Arista happily took a chance on him for RU2TJF as had EMI on Emancipation.

Essence said:

and did either of those companies make money off of him?


doubt it. both of the guys that signed him to those 2 labels got shown the door shortly thereafter.

AaronSuperior said:

I just said they happily took a chance, hence proving he isn't that much of an outcast. This thread isn't about the subsequent success or lack thereof...

Essence said:

gotcha!

Essence said:

but actually, i think that's what it all boils down to. it's the lack of success that has caused Prince's blacklist. let's face it, even before the shit hit the fan at WB he wasn't cranking out the hit songs or albums like he used to. Batman and D&P were nice spikes on an otherwise downward trend.

as for him being "blacklisted" in the present... well, hey, who wants to talk about or do business with a guy that 1) doesn't draw much of an audience to his own work let alone tv & radio shows, articles, etc. about him (which is what the thread IS about) and 2) will badmouth you even when you do try to include him in that sort of thing?

AaronSuperior said:

WB obviously didn't feel a downward spiral in effect when they handed over a $100m contract circa 1993.

Again we say "blacklisted" but you know it wouldn't be a surprise if after a little negotiation he released a new album on Sony or any other major...

Essence said:

certainly. which is why i put the word in quotes, because i don't think that's what Prince is dealing with at all. he's not blacklisted. and if he is, it's his own doing, burning every bridge he ever crossed.

as for the WB contract in '92, that's exactly my point. they knew that he could put out a hit song and sell a lot of albums any time he wanted. so they signed him to a $100m contract assuming that he'd continue on the same success path... you know, put out a huge album every 2-3 years while in between putting out the stuff that was less mainstream, like he'd been doing up to that point. then he blew the advances on crap like videos that would never be seen, because the songs weren't even going to be released, and nonsense like that. only THEN did he start complaining about his treatment at WB. only THEN did he start the slave analogies. only THEN did he want to re-negotiate his contract to get out of it sooner... they gave him an enormous amount of money on the promise that he would deliver, but when he blew the wad, he turned it around into a persecution thing. so like i said, burning bridges... IF there IS a "blacklisting" of Prince, then it's for things like this... not because he's a black man bucking the system, as laura says, and not because he can't get signed to a major label (he can, obviously). but because he's alienated everyone in the business (and half of the media, when he DOES agree to grant them interviews, performances, etc.). if Prince has been "blacklisted" I can't say I'm surprised or that it isn't deserved. he's certainly done himself no favors in trying to get people on the business side to respect him. he's always stabbing whoever it is that's taken a chance on him in the back...

Prince is not on a major record label any more. He has noone to blame but himself for his lack of success or notoriety these days. The folks over at WB probabbly have much more important things to worry about than one musician who used to be signed to them.

Prince and his fams need to quit pointing the finger and making up excuses, and recognize who's to blame nowdays.

blackboab said:

That's because those 80s stars are supported by major labels. There is no comparison between the marketing of a major label performer and the marketing of an independent performer. None. This also means that the potential airplay will be little to none on mainstream radio stations, therefore, with the zeitgeist it's an OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND situation. Most casual mainstream fans who know of only "LRC" PR and "Kiss" don't even know that Prince still records and releases music.

Having said all that, Prince has made some missteps along the way that are too complicated to go into, and haven't helped his cause - as have many in his position.


¥
[This message was edited Sun Apr 13 14:33:42 PDT 2003 by Supernova]

Tom said:

---

Yes, Tom WB should be worried about the lagging sales at their company. The truth of the matter is that WB has had lagging sales since the Time/Warner merger. Prince would have been dropped as soon as his contract expired. They had already sent to the RnB department. It is a lot better to walk away with your head up then to be fired.

AaronSuperior said:

---
I don't have to do anything but stay black and live. Are you arrogant enough to think that I care if you respond back?
You are not going to respond back because your post is full of holes.

I been to 3 Prince concerts since 1997 all of the shows were sold out. Two in large over 15,000.00 seats venue one in a 3000 seat venue with a total of 3 shows. None of these concerts were advertised well. If Prince is so over how does he manage to tour at all. Since he does not have a record company backing him. Where on gods green earth do you think the money comes from.

I not going to waste my time going into corrupt music industry practices such as payola. Which is the real reason you hear certain artist on the radio.

You come back and discusss this with me after you do some reserch, learn how to debate and accept that fact that you really don't shit about the music industry.

By the way Maddonna does have a CD coming out.

blackboab said:

errr. yes there is a huge conspiracy against him. he can't say anything as Mo Ostin said he's have him killed if he squealed. you have to play the 3rd track backwards at 33rpm, and you get princes plea to help his fight against the bad men.

don't be pathetic. Prince's mainstream admiration and interest lies in his past. he's decided to be a hermit, treat the media like shit and generally be an arrogant asshole. you could put any old 'Best Of P' compilation out with NO advertising or marketing spend and it would still sell more than his latest releases.

Who Cares? Purple Rain still sounds the same whether he's the on the TV or not. If you like his music, great, enjoy, but get a life and don't worry about his column inches or TV viewing figures.
[This message was edited Mon Apr 14 15:45:35 PDT 2003 by NME]

Prince has no one to blame but himself, for all the unfortunate things, that has happen to him.the cruel ways that he treated his band members and not to mention the ladies in his life.If he would step down from his high horse and stop being an egotistical arrogant asshole he would regain the majority of his fans back.