since this is a bust......what will the brain trusts do????

luvsexy4all said:

since this is a bust......what will the brain trusts do????

Define "bust".

Look - if you are the estate, you've sold all the Greatest Hits packages you're going to sell. Now, if you want to maximize revenue, you have to convince consumers that they should buy Prince stuff that they've never heard before. And this isn't "new" stuff in the sense that it was recorded last month. No, this is stuff that at best goes back 2+ years and more likely goes back 30+ years. So it isn't "new" music in the sense that it's "current" music.

So how do you go about showing consumers that they should pay attention to "old but unheard" Prince music? I think the Anthology playlist did a great job with that.

It got a glowing article in Rolling Stone, which told readers that there were genius Prince tracks hiding in plain site.

It's probably safe to assume that 90% or more of the sales of the Anthology set were NOT to people like you and I - Prince fans who have it all and want more. No, these sales are probably to people who we WANT and NEED to buy Prince music in order to keep the estate afloat and the new music coming.

My hope is that the Anthology sales were enough to convince the estate that the release of vault material can be worth it. Remember this:

There is NO REQUIREMENT that the estate EVER release Prince's vault tracks.

For grins, try this exercise:

Assume you have a chance to buy Prince's entire vault inventory. You get all the unreleased songs; the unfinished stuff; the rehearsals; the videos; the concert video and audios. All of them. You can do anything with them you want.

How much would you pay? Well, that would be determined by how much you think you could make. At the very least, you'd want to get your investment back. More likely, you'd like to make money, probably a LOT of money.

You look at the Anthology release and think, "What a bomb. Geez, did it flop". Well, if you think that, then you'd have to believe that releasing vault stuff is only going to do worse. There's been no evidence of demand for unreleased stuff. If there has, please point it out. That might change our thinking.

So - how much money do you think you could get out of the hardcore Prince fans out there? $1 million? $10 million? $50,000? Think hard about it. Here's how I look at it:

I assume there are about 100,000 hardcore Prince fans out there. Let's say I could get $50 from each and every one of them. That's total revenue of $5,000,000.

But I have to sell that stuff, and that costs money. For ease of calculation, let's assume my sales costs total 50% of revenue. So my sales costs are $2,500,000. That means my profit is $2,500,000 before taxes.

In America, the best case scenario I think is if I set this up as an LLC and get to pay the corporate rate of 21%. So my tax bill is $525,000 which leaves me a net cash profit of $1,975,000.

How much would you pay to end up with $1,975,000? Would you pay $1,000,000? That gives you an almost 100% return on your money, although I imagine it would take 3-5 years to make it all. That means your annual return is somewhere in the 20% - 33% range, which is good.

How do you think the estate would react if you offered them $1,000,000 for the entire vault contents?

How would YOU price this stuff?

RodeoSchro said:

luvsexy4all said:

since this is a bust......what will the brain trusts do????

Define "bust".

Look - if you are the estate, you've sold all the Greatest Hits packages you're going to sell. Now, if you want to maximize revenue, you have to convince consumers that they should buy Prince stuff that they've never heard before. And this isn't "new" stuff in the sense that it was recorded last month. No, this is stuff that at best goes back 2+ years and more likely goes back 30+ years. So it isn't "new" music in the sense that it's "current" music.

So how do you go about showing consumers that they should pay attention to "old but unheard" Prince music? I think the Anthology playlist did a great job with that.

It got a glowing article in Rolling Stone, which told readers that there were genius Prince tracks hiding in plain site.

It's probably safe to assume that 90% or more of the sales of the Anthology set were NOT to people like you and I - Prince fans who have it all and want more. No, these sales are probably to people who we WANT and NEED to buy Prince music in order to keep the estate afloat and the new music coming.

My hope is that the Anthology sales were enough to convince the estate that the release of vault material can be worth it. Remember this:

There is NO REQUIREMENT that the estate EVER release Prince's vault tracks.

bust ..as in no ones downloading it?

luvsexy4all said:

RodeoSchro said:

Define "bust".

Look - if you are the estate, you've sold all the Greatest Hits packages you're going to sell. Now, if you want to maximize revenue, you have to convince consumers that they should buy Prince stuff that they've never heard before. And this isn't "new" stuff in the sense that it was recorded last month. No, this is stuff that at best goes back 2+ years and more likely goes back 30+ years. So it isn't "new" music in the sense that it's "current" music.

So how do you go about showing consumers that they should pay attention to "old but unheard" Prince music? I think the Anthology playlist did a great job with that.

It got a glowing article in Rolling Stone, which told readers that there were genius Prince tracks hiding in plain site.

It's probably safe to assume that 90% or more of the sales of the Anthology set were NOT to people like you and I - Prince fans who have it all and want more. No, these sales are probably to people who we WANT and NEED to buy Prince music in order to keep the estate afloat and the new music coming.

My hope is that the Anthology sales were enough to convince the estate that the release of vault material can be worth it. Remember this:

There is NO REQUIREMENT that the estate EVER release Prince's vault tracks.

bust ..as in no ones downloading it?

http://www.itunescharts.n...1995-2010/

The day it hit #22 there were 8 Aretha Franklin albums ahead of it. So absent the Queen of Soul's death, Anthology was a Top 15 download.

It hit #15 in France.

RodeoSchro said:

For grins, try this exercise:

Assume you have a chance to buy Prince's entire vault inventory. You get all the unreleased songs; the unfinished stuff; the rehearsals; the videos; the concert video and audios. All of them. You can do anything with them you want.

How much would you pay? Well, that would be determined by how much you think you could make. At the very least, you'd want to get your investment back. More likely, you'd like to make money, probably a LOT of money.

You look at the Anthology release and think, "What a bomb. Geez, did it flop". Well, if you think that, then you'd have to believe that releasing vault stuff is only going to do worse. There's been no evidence of demand for unreleased stuff. If there has, please point it out. That might change our thinking.

So - how much money do you think you could get out of the hardcore Prince fans out there? $1 million? $10 million? $50,000? Think hard about it. Here's how I look at it:

I assume there are about 100,000 hardcore Prince fans out there. Let's say I could get $50 from each and every one of them. That's total revenue of $5,000,000.

But I have to sell that stuff, and that costs money. For ease of calculation, let's assume my sales costs total 50% of revenue. So my sales costs are $2,500,000. That means my profit is $2,500,000 before taxes.

In America, the best case scenario I think is if I set this up as an LLC and get to pay the corporate rate of 21%. So my tax bill is $525,000 which leaves me a net cash profit of $1,975,000.

How much would you pay to end up with $1,975,000? Would you pay $1,000,000? That gives you an almost 100% return on your money, although I imagine it would take 3-5 years to make it all. That means your annual return is somewhere in the 20% - 33% range, which is good.

How do you think the estate would react if you offered them $1,000,000 for the entire vault contents?

How would YOU price this stuff?

the estate or whatever company starts to release a slew of decent albums or collections
will get a lot more money from me. a lot. i'd be happy to pay up to $50 a month for new
music to keep flowing. but there would have to be a lot of music each month, both studio
tracks, completed albums, alternate versions of projects, rehearsals, aftershows, concerts.

what made anyone think the anthology was going to light up the charts and be this big commercial
succes?

non fans are still not interested, or, if they are, they will discover prince at their own pace and not
come flocking to the lacklustre sequence in their millions right now.

it's going to be a slow but gradual process from now on, getting new people in. just like with, say,
the beatles, new generations will discover his music and love it for decades to come.

however, the money and the relative succes of any new release lies strictly with the established
fanbase. and this anthology offers that fanbase exactly ZERO new stuff they don't already have.

it's cool to have all the albums on the streaming services now and it would be interesting to see
how many streams they get, all together, now that they are all on most platforms.

personally, i've already noticed that i'm listening to 80% of his music on spotify, eventhough i've
got all his albums, in physical and digital. it's just easy, especially when you're not listening with
headphones and just doing chores or working and the quality is not too important.

but if a new prince release is going to make a bit of a splash, it needs to be geared toward us, and
be comprised of studio songs we haven't yet heard. or really perfectly curated live concerts and or
aftershows. (but since we have most of those too, in varying qualities, new/old studio tracks that
we don't yet have would be best).

prince: piano and more 31 -not something for just a casual listener, and if they do listen it won't
set their world on fire, now will it? hardcore fans: already had it. will purchase, perhaps, for the
sound upgrade. personally, i'm not too excited to buy it. will stream it for a while first. it will be
the first ever prince release i'm not buying the very first day it will be available to me.

anthology - not something for long time fans, they have all of this music (how hard would it've
been for them to throw 1 new song in?) and not really something for casual listeners either. for
me personally, if let's say springsteen or tori amos or beck or whomever, all of a sudden had a
dozen albums on spotify that i didn't know yet, i would not be tempted to listen to an anthology
first to discover what tracks i like from that and then go to the corresponding albums.

but that's how young people do it now, perhaps? i'm old. i'd see the anthology pop up in the
'new music' section and be 'wait? what? all those albums are now on here?' and just go direct to
the albums and discover those one by one. i'm not interested in someone elses playlist (and a bad
one at that).

so who exactly is supposed to stream these releases in the millions? they are geared toward no
one.

IstenSzek said:

what made anyone think the anthology was going to light up the charts and be this big commercial
succes?

non fans are still not interested, or, if they are, they will discover prince at their own pace and not
come flocking to the lacklustre sequence in their millions right now.

it's going to be a slow but gradual process from now on, getting new people in. just like with, say,
the beatles, new generations will discover his music and love it for decades to come.

however, the money and the relative succes of any new release lies strictly with the established
fanbase. and this anthology offers that fanbase exactly ZERO new stuff they don't already have.

it's cool to have all the albums on the streaming services now and it would be interesting to see
how many streams they get, all together, now that they are all on most platforms.

personally, i've already noticed that i'm listening to 80% of his music on spotify, eventhough i've
got all his albums, in physical and digital. it's just easy, especially when you're not listening with
headphones and just doing chores or working and the quality is not too important.

but if a new prince release is going to make a bit of a splash, it needs to be geared toward us, and
be comprised of studio songs we haven't yet heard. or really perfectly curated live concerts and or
aftershows. (but since we have most of those too, in varying qualities, new/old studio tracks that
we don't yet have would be best).

prince: piano and more 31 -not something for just a casual listener, and if they do listen it won't
set their world on fire, now will it? hardcore fans: already had it. will purchase, perhaps, for the
sound upgrade. personally, i'm not too excited to buy it. will stream it for a while first. it will be
the first ever prince release i'm not buying the very first day it will be available to me.

anthology - not something for long time fans, they have all of this music (how hard would it've
been for them to throw 1 new song in?) and not really something for casual listeners either. for
me personally, if let's say springsteen or tori amos or beck or whomever, all of a sudden had a
dozen albums on spotify that i didn't know yet, i would not be tempted to listen to an anthology
first to discover what tracks i like from that and then go to the corresponding albums.

but that's how young people do it now, perhaps? i'm old. i'd see the anthology pop up in the
'new music' section and be 'wait? what? all those albums are now on here?' and just go direct to
the albums and discover those one by one. i'm not interested in someone elses playlist (and a bad
one at that).

so who exactly is supposed to stream these releases in the millions? they are geared toward no
one.

Agreed!

KAB said:

RODSERLING said:

KAB said:

Agreed!

The point is that this release could have been streamed by millions if it was simply à greatest Hits, with TMBGITW. It would have also been released physically, with the music vidéos from this era. . The focus on the 1995/2010 catalogue would have been then, Way better, attracting more people. . This anthology shows just how much the estate s unability to perpétuité Prince s legacy to the fans and also to à large audience.

Agreed once more. 2010-2016 too!

IstenSzek said:

isnt it financially worthwhile for them to release the anthology on CD???

luvsexy4all said:

isnt it financially worthwhile for them to release the anthology on CD???

Maybe they're waiting on TMBGITW to be made available. And a better tracklist.

luvsexy4all said:

I've had fun listening to Anthology. I'd buy a copy if it was physically released.

RodeoSchro said:

luvsexy4all said:

bust ..as in no ones downloading it?

http://www.itunescharts.n...1995-2010/

Submit

Prince - 'Anthology: 1995-2010'
American iTunes Chart Performance

"Anthology: 1995-2010":Chart Statistics

• Release date: 17 Aug 2018
• Chart debut: #22 (17 Aug 2018)
• Highest Position: #22 (17 Aug 2018)
• Most recent chart position: #55 (23 Aug 2018)
• Days on US Albums Chart: 8

'Anthology: 1995-2010' has charted in the following countries:
United Kingdom, United States, France, Canada and Australia.

Detailed Chart Progress for "Anthology: 1995-2010" (Prince)

US Albums chart performance history for Anthology: 1995-2010

Year	Month	Day	Position	Movement	Number 1
2018	Aug	17 Fri	22	new	Ariana Grande Sweetener
		17 Fri	22	new
		18 Sat	25	down
		19 Sun	35	down
		20 Mon	43	down
		21 Tue	57	down
		22 Wed	51	up
		23 Thu	55	down

The day it hit #22 there were 8 Aretha Franklin albums ahead of it. So absent the Queen of Soul's death, Anthology was a Top 15 download.

It hit #15 in France.

It's pretty remarkable for a compilation of later, mostly obscure releases by a dead artist whose career peak ended 25 years ago. I fail to see why some orgers, against all evidence, keep insisting on saying Prince records don't, or won't sell (or stream, since streaming is sort of the new measure of success).

Kares said:

MIRvmn said:

Yes WB obviously wasn't satisfied with PR Deluxe and only released it cuz it was part of the 2014 deal.

.

Do we know that PR Deluxe was part of the '14 deal? I don't think so. As far as I'm aware only the remaster of the original album was part of the deal, that's what Prince gave them, without any bonus material. All the added stuff was just Warner's decision, with no involvement from the estate (apart from getting their approval) and with no access to Paisley's vault.

Someone recently claimed (I can't remember who, I just read this in an interview some days ago) that certain songs on PR Deluxe (not all) had already been selected by Prince for the rerelease. However we do know it was part of the 2014 deal (at least verbally, IDK whether papers were signed) because it was announced in the same press release that said Prince had gotten his masters back at the time.

.

On the "do we know" note, I'm not aware of us knowing that WB lost money on PR Deluxe as claimed by some above. This is most likely just another fantasy from those who preach the "Prince-doesn't-sell" religion, a personal belief posted as a statement by an orger, then repeated by others until rumor has been repeated enough times to become fact. Beware of those approximations. For some reasons that I really can't understand, certain people here have a political agenda that consists in trying to convince everyone that each Prince release is a flop and that there is no market for any further release. I'm puzzled by that because I'm not sure if they really believe it of if they have something to gain from spreading those lies, and they had already begun doing it when Prince was alive. You can show them a charts sheet saying a Prince album was #1, and they'll still find excuses to claim it was a total flop, and you can show them that Apollonia's long forgotten 1988 album (that probably sold 20 copies back then) just got a deluxe 2 CD rerelease with bonus tracks and they'll still maintain that there's no market for a 1999 reissue

Well,

I listened to the whole Anthology.

It's the worst 'sound' mixed compilation I've ever heard.

(The artwork even sucks, it's basically like a mediocre bootleg...)

-

Just a couple of reasons why it's such a damn-bad-lazy-done mix :

Songs were just picked (brutal copied) from excisting releases, and 'glued' after each other.

There is no 'general' mix, no equal mastering of the compilation and certainly no level balances or peak treatments !

Most songs just aren't sequenced at all.

Listen for yourself to the worst transitions between these songs :

-

'Emancipation' to 'Black Sweat' (this track has the lowest quality),

-

'Call My Name' doesn't even have a fade at the end, just abruptly cut,

same goes for 'Endorphinmachine',

-

'Musicology' (why that album transition is on here, i really don't understand),

also 'Ol Skool COmpany', and the lasting silence at the end of 'West', even 14 minutes long... why not have this song as the very last one ?

-

'Muse 2 The Pharao''s end is brutal too, and the beginning of 'Somewhere Here On Earth' is lilke all others, just stolen from an album release...

-

I think i'm gonna master this compilation for my own use.

Bunch of amateurs.

ChocolateBox3121 said:

skywalker said:

On a similar note "Damn U" on ends with the intro to "Arrogance." Ugh. Who is responsible for this?

U people look to complain about EVERY SINGLE detail about EVERYTHING. My God! just listen to the song. Who cares about an intro or a segue..

Disbelieve ?

Because an intro, and an outtro is really important.

In the sequence of any album it is specificaly meant that way to transit in sound or music to the following. It's how it is mastered and mixed for 'a project'.

On a compilation you can not abrubtly begin or end any picked album version like that and glue them together.

It's unprofessional and amateuristic and above all, shows lack of respect for any song used for a compilation or 'best of'.

That's why.

Oh it is not. Why you gotta lie?

Vannormal said:

Well,

I listened to the whole Anthology.

It's the worst 'sound' mixed compilation I've ever heard.

I wonder if this obsession we're more and more having with Prince sales and new generations discovering his music has something to do with our own fear of death, or at least our own fear of being old and outdated.

.

We're not getting any younger, the vast majority of the hardcore fans here are over 40, we're past our prime, many of us are parents, we're living in a world that's changing so fast that despite the 80's nostalgia that's popular nowadays, the pre-internet world we grew up in now seems like a distant, faded memory, and many of us clearly cannot accept the changes in the music industry: piracy, streams, digital replacing physical, drops in sales... I have friends my age who, at 40, are already beginning to rant about "things not being what they used to" and "kids today...", and many of us might not be able to say who the newest "hot" movie director or musical artist is anymore. Those things are never a good sign.

.

We were lucky enough to love and enjoy Prince's music when his career was at its peak, and between official releases and bootlegs we all own incredible collections of Prince music, we could be happy with that. We should be happy with that. No one can take those years away from us. Yet there's an anxiety, and I think the word isn't too strong. What if Prince doesn't appeal to younger audiences, doesn't sell anymore, is about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, what if the vault is abandonned to rot due to a lack of interest?

.

IDK, I'm just guessing but maybe we're in fact afraid that we don't appeal to younger audiences, that we don't sell anymore, that we're about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, that we will be abandonned to rot due to lack of interest?

.

Maybe the question isn't so much whether Prince's music and Estate releases are relevant to our times, but whether we feel relevant to our times.

.

Do we? Do you?

.

[Edited 10/4/18 1:44am]

Vannormal said:

I think its less about that than holding on to Prince as long as we can and keeping him around. If Prince's legacy doesn't thrive, it feels like we lose him completely. His music is his immortality. The only way to keep it alive is to make sure the next generation embraces it. Now, the degree of which it is embraced by younger generations is relative. He may be some respected almost-underground artist who is deceased or he may be the Beatles. I suspect its the former. But if MIchael Jackson can be totally beloved in this younger generation (and trust me, he is), there is no reason the more prolific prince can't if promoted and exposed a bit more than he is. Prince's music needs roadmaps, accidental exposure, and spotlights. P's music needs to be heard in movies like "Sing" or in well-chosen pop culture spots. They need to branch outside of the PR soundtrack when choosing songs. The anthology was released with little fan fare or narrative and its an overwhelming release. Consider this, the powers that be dump 40 songs online to celebrate his 23 albums and don't promote it much or zero on a few hits to sell it to newbies. What casual young listener will take the time to peruse through an artists' massive catalogue if they didn't know if it was worth your time? Its like being given a unlimited fuel in a new car and complete access to hundreds of locations but no map or recommendations of where you should go. Prince's musical genius is hidden in plain sight (like the Rolling Stone review stated) partly because not many people can believe that an artist could be prolific to such a degree and still pretty damn good, that even with the mistakes, there are gems worth mining. ) Narrative is often a way to get people paying attention as well.. I am convinced that if they packaged up that music and claimed it was from the vault, people would have listened more.

databank said:

I wonder if this obsession we're more and more having with Prince sales and new generations discovering his music has something to do with our own fear of death, or at least our own fear of being old and outdated.

.

We're not getting any younger, the vast majority of the hardcore fans here are over 40, we're past our prime, many of us are parents, we're living in a world that's changing so fast that despite the 80's nostalgia that's popular nowadays, the pre-internet world we grew up in now seems like a distant, faded memory, and many of us clearly cannot accept the changes in the music industry: piracy, streams, digital replacing physical, drops in sales... I have friends my age who, at 40, are already beginning to rant about "things not being what they used to" and "kids today...", and many of us might not be able to say who the newest "hot" movie director or musical artist is anymore. Those things are never a good sign.

.

We were lucky enough to love and enjoy Prince's music when his career was at its peak, and between official releases and bootlegs we all own incredible collections of Prince music, we could be happy with that. We should be happy with that. No one can take those years away from us. Yet there's an anxiety, and I think the word isn't too strong. What if Prince doesn't appeal to younger audiences, doesn't sell anymore, is about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, what if the vault is abandonned to rot due to a lack of interest?

.

IDK, I'm just guessing but maybe we're in fact afraid that we don't appeal to younger audiences, that we don't sell anymore, that we're about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, that we will be abandonned to rot due to lack of interest?

.

Maybe the question isn't so much whether Prince's music and Estate releases are relevant to our times, but whether we feel relevant to our times.

.

Do we? Do you?

.

[Edited 10/4/18 1:44am]

[Edited 10/4/18 3:52am]

SkipperLove said:

I think its less about that than holding on to Prince as long as we can and keeping him around. If Prince's legacy doesn't thrive, it feels like we lose him completely. His music is his immortality. The only way to keep it alive is to make sure the next generation embraces it. Now, the degree of which it is embraced by younger generations is relative. He may be some respected almost-underground artist who is deceased or he may be the Beatles. I suspect its the former. But if MIchael Jackson can be totally beloved in this younger generation (and trust me, he is), there is no reason the more prolific prince can't if promoted and exposed a bit more than he is. Prince's music needs roadmaps, accidental exposure, and spotlights. P's music needs to be heard in movies like "Sing" or in well-chosen pop culture spots. They need to branch outside of the PR soundtrack when choosing songs. The anthology was released with little fan fare or narrative and its an overwhelming release. Consider this, the powers that be dump 40 songs online to celebrate his 23 albums and don't promote it much or zero on a few hits to sell it to newbies. What casual young listener will take the time to peruse through an artists' massive catalogue if they didn't know if it was worth your time? Its like being given a unlimited fuel in a new car and complete access to hundreds of locations but no map or recommendations of where you should go. Prince's musical genius is hidden in plain sight (like the Rolling Stone review stated) partly because not many people can believe that an artist could be prolific to such a degree and still pretty damn good, that even with the mistakes, there are gems worth mining. ) Narrative is often a way to get people paying attention as well.. I am convinced that if they packaged up that music and claimed it was from the vault, people would have listened more.

databank said:

I wonder if this obsession we're more and more having with Prince sales and new generations discovering his music has something to do with our own fear of death, or at least our own fear of being old and outdated.

.

We're not getting any younger, the vast majority of the hardcore fans here are over 40, we're past our prime, many of us are parents, we're living in a world that's changing so fast that despite the 80's nostalgia that's popular nowadays, the pre-internet world we grew up in now seems like a distant, faded memory, and many of us clearly cannot accept the changes in the music industry: piracy, streams, digital replacing physical, drops in sales... I have friends my age who, at 40, are already beginning to rant about "things not being what they used to" and "kids today...", and many of us might not be able to say who the newest "hot" movie director or musical artist is anymore. Those things are never a good sign.

.

We were lucky enough to love and enjoy Prince's music when his career was at its peak, and between official releases and bootlegs we all own incredible collections of Prince music, we could be happy with that. We should be happy with that. No one can take those years away from us. Yet there's an anxiety, and I think the word isn't too strong. What if Prince doesn't appeal to younger audiences, doesn't sell anymore, is about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, what if the vault is abandonned to rot due to a lack of interest?

.

IDK, I'm just guessing but maybe we're in fact afraid that we don't appeal to younger audiences, that we don't sell anymore, that we're about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, that we will be abandonned to rot due to lack of interest?

.

Maybe the question isn't so much whether Prince's music and Estate releases are relevant to our times, but whether we feel relevant to our times.

.

Do we? Do you?

.

[Edited 10/4/18 1:44am]

[Edited 10/4/18 3:52am]

That would make sense, it could be that, too. However this obsession had already started before he died so IDK if it was already "holding on for as long as we can", since he was still there. Not sure if it would explain the incredible anger many fans felt towards him for not fulfilling their expectation, IDK if/how those 2 things are connected.

.

I have to admit that for me Prince was never "around" since 1994 or so, by that I mean he was around for me, for the people here on the Org who followed him, but most of the time the rest of the world didn't seem to have any idea of what he was up to, at least in France. I was fine with it, I liked the idea of his music being a well kept secret, my own little private joy. It probably made me feel more special or privileged than when he was a Top 10 artist up until 1994. Lots of the music I listen to is stuff no one's ever heard of anyway... So IDK...

databank said:

I wonder if this obsession we're more and more having with Prince sales and new generations discovering his music has something to do with our own fear of death, or at least our own fear of being old and outdated.

.

We're not getting any younger, the vast majority of the hardcore fans here are over 40, we're past our prime, many of us are parents, we're living in a world that's changing so fast that despite the 80's nostalgia that's popular nowadays, the pre-internet world we grew up in now seems like a distant, faded memory, and many of us clearly cannot accept the changes in the music industry: piracy, streams, digital replacing physical, drops in sales... I have friends my age who, at 40, are already beginning to rant about "things not being what they used to" and "kids today...", and many of us might not be able to say who the newest "hot" movie director or musical artist is anymore. Those things are never a good sign.

.

We were lucky enough to love and enjoy Prince's music when his career was at its peak, and between official releases and bootlegs we all own incredible collections of Prince music, we could be happy with that. We should be happy with that. No one can take those years away from us. Yet there's an anxiety, and I think the word isn't too strong. What if Prince doesn't appeal to younger audiences, doesn't sell anymore, is about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, what if the vault is abandonned to rot due to a lack of interest?

.

IDK, I'm just guessing but maybe we're in fact afraid that we don't appeal to younger audiences, that we don't sell anymore, that we're about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, that we will be abandonned to rot due to lack of interest?

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Maybe the question isn't so much whether Prince's music and Estate releases are relevant to our times, but whether we feel relevant to our times.

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Do we? Do you?

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[Edited 10/4/18 1:44am]

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I'm only one year younger than you, so I see what you mean. And it could be a midlife crisis thing. But I'm not sure.

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I've been very enthusiastic (an understatement, to be sure) about Prince since 1989, so I've always wanted to share some of my enthusiasm with others. In the 90s, I made tapes for friends. Then it was CD-Rs or streaming playlists. I don't think I've ever "converted" anybody to Prince, unfortunately.

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I'd say it's not about me getting older or wanting to stay relevant - I feel like I've never really been relevant anyway - but it's about sharing my enthusiasm with the world.

olb99 said:

databank said:

I wonder if this obsession we're more and more having with Prince sales and new generations discovering his music has something to do with our own fear of death, or at least our own fear of being old and outdated.

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We're not getting any younger, the vast majority of the hardcore fans here are over 40, we're past our prime, many of us are parents, we're living in a world that's changing so fast that despite the 80's nostalgia that's popular nowadays, the pre-internet world we grew up in now seems like a distant, faded memory, and many of us clearly cannot accept the changes in the music industry: piracy, streams, digital replacing physical, drops in sales... I have friends my age who, at 40, are already beginning to rant about "things not being what they used to" and "kids today...", and many of us might not be able to say who the newest "hot" movie director or musical artist is anymore. Those things are never a good sign.

.

We were lucky enough to love and enjoy Prince's music when his career was at its peak, and between official releases and bootlegs we all own incredible collections of Prince music, we could be happy with that. We should be happy with that. No one can take those years away from us. Yet there's an anxiety, and I think the word isn't too strong. What if Prince doesn't appeal to younger audiences, doesn't sell anymore, is about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, what if the vault is abandonned to rot due to a lack of interest?

.

IDK, I'm just guessing but maybe we're in fact afraid that we don't appeal to younger audiences, that we don't sell anymore, that we're about to be forgotten and sink into oblivion, that we will be abandonned to rot due to lack of interest?

.

Maybe the question isn't so much whether Prince's music and Estate releases are relevant to our times, but whether we feel relevant to our times.

.

Do we? Do you?

.

[Edited 10/4/18 1:44am]

.

I'm only one year younger than you, so I see what you mean. And it could be a midlife crisis thing. But I'm not sure.

.

I've been very enthusiastic (an understatement, to be sure) about Prince since 1989, so I've always wanted to share some of my enthusiasm with others. In the 90s, I made tapes for friends. Then it was CD-Rs or streaming playlists. I don't think I've ever "converted" anybody to Prince, unfortunately.

.

I'd say it's not about me getting older or wanting to stay relevant - I feel like I've never really been relevant anyway - but it's about sharing my enthusiasm with the world.

Fair enough, but that's something we all can do until the day we die. Ironically I found it easier to get people to appreciate Prince's music (and I mean post-94 Prince music) after 1994. It seems that with Prince having lost his status as a controversial and sometimes irritating superstar and not being on the radio and TV 24/7, people were less divided about him, and more open to take him seriously as a musician and discovering the deeper aspects of his music (by "deeper" I mean beyond the hits). So if it's about sharing our enthusiasm, we can all keep making tapes (or more appropriately sharing files or playlists) with our friends (or their children), playing Prince when they come home, etc. We don't need Warner Bros, MTV and Spotify for that.

RodeoSchro said:

For grins, try this exercise:

Assume you have a chance to buy Prince's entire vault inventory. You get all the unreleased songs; the unfinished stuff; the rehearsals; the videos; the concert video and audios. All of them. You can do anything with them you want.

How much would you pay? Well, that would be determined by how much you think you could make. At the very least, you'd want to get your investment back. More likely, you'd like to make money, probably a LOT of money.

You look at the Anthology release and think, "What a bomb. Geez, did it flop". Well, if you think that, then you'd have to believe that releasing vault stuff is only going to do worse. There's been no evidence of demand for unreleased stuff. If there has, please point it out. That might change our thinking.

So - how much money do you think you could get out of the hardcore Prince fans out there? $1 million? $10 million? $50,000? Think hard about it. Here's how I look at it:

I assume there are about 100,000 hardcore Prince fans out there. Let's say I could get $50 from each and every one of them. That's total revenue of $5,000,000.

But I have to sell that stuff, and that costs money. For ease of calculation, let's assume my sales costs total 50% of revenue. So my sales costs are $2,500,000. That means my profit is $2,500,000 before taxes.

In America, the best case scenario I think is if I set this up as an LLC and get to pay the corporate rate of 21%. So my tax bill is $525,000 which leaves me a net cash profit of $1,975,000.

How much would you pay to end up with $1,975,000? Would you pay $1,000,000? That gives you an almost 100% return on your money, although I imagine it would take 3-5 years to make it all. That means your annual return is somewhere in the 20% - 33% range, which is good.

How do you think the estate would react if you offered them $1,000,000 for the entire vault contents?

How would YOU price this stuff?

Is that $50/year? Because I think the hardcore would shell out considerably more than that annually for the right releases. But I wonder how many of us there actually are.

ChocolateBox3121 said:

U people look to complain about EVERY SINGLE detail about EVERYTHING. My God! just listen to the song. Who cares about an intro or a segue..

skywalker said: