First thing FORGET streaming this stuff or doing downloads, if we should realize anyting now its older consumers still want PHYSICAL product. I mean Bruce Springsteen had a number one album and almost all of the sales were PHYSICAL cds and vinyl. QUEEN just had a spike in sales for the greatest hits package it wasnt a digital streaming surge it was a vinyl one. SO i am tired of hearing PRINCE's estate should release things through tidal or whatever just to get more out there. You never will satisy all, and even those you do want more thats just facts. BUT there has been a lot issued this year. I will say that they could have taken advantage of the vinyl surge this year and four seperate RSD's and done more than they did, but also I think because of the giant box of SOTT and also other releases this year of ONA and that box set, Emancipation on vinyl and all those legacy issues that was a lot to get in a year when most artists pushed stuff back and with all of the confusion to get anything out this year was a plus. Can they do more? I am sure but you cant just throw it all out there and say pick from this what you want. Everything is being spaced and marketing because its not cheap doing vinyl issues and all this packaging and books also, I mean we seem to think its all there ready to come out, well its not. I recently listened to Eddie Van Halens son discuss the vast amount of tapes that his dad has of unreleased stuff, and he said if we went in there TODAY and started it easily would take a year just to listen to it, and that is not even to mention figuring out what it was, working on these tapes, whats there do we have full songs..etc...Now put that in perspective of PRINCE and we know he just labeled things and tossed them in a vault so you dont know what you have, songs, whos on them are people getting their due, what was this from, etc... It will take time

BartVanHemelen said:

Vannormal said:

My guess is that most (hard core) Prince fans are in it for the collecting rather than consuming the goods.

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I wouldn't say that, but I would argue that 2020 is waaaaay too late anyway. I've said this before: by now we should be on the third or fourth cycle of reissues, with the first one being "remastered + expanded" reissues towards the end of the 1990s, then deluxe editions by the mid-2000s (more bonus tracks, a live album,...), "lost albums" or archival box sets by the mid-2010s, perhaps accompanied by a website offering live recordings.

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Maintain a fan base, and subtly "milk it" with reasonably priced re-editions that feature more and more each time. (Note that a remaster from the end of the 1990s could also sound somewhat outdated by now -- as has happened with other artists -- and that a later re-release could also involve yet another modern remaster of already available material.)

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It's criminal that in 2020 there are still tracks or versions that remain vinyl-only, that there is tons of material available on bootleg only, and that the only way to obtain new music is through expensive box sets which offer far too little details WRT their sources. Especially when compared to the work of boutique movie labels like Arrow who offer exhaustive details on the sources of their releases and how those sources were worked on to achieve the release. I really wish they would nerd out on this stuff and offer us detailed info on each track; I wouldn't even mind a cassette source if that was the only available one. But don't do what happened with "Rebirth Of the Flesh" (which is obviously not entirely from the same source).

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To me the SOTT SDE feels a bit like a letdown: overpriced for what it offered, especially because it is severely lacking in some areas. And I expect to feel the same with the next handful of SDEs who will likely follow the same relatively conservative approach as the SOTT one when we perhaps would love a more absurd approach (like the "complete sessions" box sets of The Stooges). I don't get the people who complain the set featured two concert recordings, I'd have loved more (e.g. the First Avenue "rehearsal" gig) and I'd have loved at least a disc with highlights from the rehearsals (jams, songs not performed during the concerts, covers,...) with the full rehearsal recordings available online.

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And they should seriously offer better product for RSD. This year they had picture discs of SOTT, last year the truncated UK edition of 1999 -- who gives a shit? Offer us the original Camille!

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Looking at what is happening now, quite frankly I don't see us ever getting a "Paisley Park Records" box set that has all the PPR side projects (in remastered and expanded editions) including those albums by The Time and Sheila E from before PPR. I don't see us getting all those soundboard cocnert recordings, all those unreleased videos, etc. Unless some billionaire decides to throw a bunch of money at the estate and tells them to hurry up and get it out now.

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The worst thing is: there was a market for this in the 1990s and beyond, but Prince didn't cater for it and gave bootlegegrs a golden opportunity. And now it is all in a vast vault in California and there is a good chance that a great number of it will never be heard by anyone outside a small goup of people; hell, there is a good chance a significant part of it will never be heard by anyone.

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I absolutely agree. The lack of detailed info is such a misser.

They still could put up a website with all the detailed info for us fans, and the non-Prince fans

It's actually something they can still do. But if they wait too long, the momentum will be gone.

I wrote an email to The Estate asking for this right after the release of the SDE of SOTT box set.

Just like they did with the pictures of the reels and certainly more detailed info, they could've done a hell lot more like you say.

And my guess is it's something that's not so expensive to make.

Or, for instance, give us a visual, more informative glimpse inside the working process of the assembling of a SDE box sets or what ever release is up next, with that needed informative input.

I kinda liked the video snippet we got with the pressings of the 45 rpm vinyl box set, things like that is good fun, although it is not informative inknow, but at least they could do more.

Radiohead for instance always keeps their fans up to date in whatever they do (even in the studio while recording).

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Exactly.

That Stooges box set is the bomb for me.

I love it. But that's completely in line with the Iggy Pop style.

I'm not sure (yet) if it's doable with a Prince release.

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Instead of putting up the complete concert from the SDE set on youtube, they easily coul've put up another concert from the same era - I agree on that.

(Rehearsals is what I look for the most.)

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That RSD was a serious let down indeed. Camile woul've been such a great idea.

Even the ''The Dream Factory'' would've been fine for me too.

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I never liked the idea of ''The Originals'' release.

Sure I'm glad I have it, but it was far too little, and actually not needed.

It's thé reason they fucked up the idea of a serious box set of PPR box set release imo.

ALthough, video's of that era is something I don't care for so much. They can just put 'm up on youtube, or on Prine Official site. Instead I'fd like tto se them focus on the unreleased video material, of which i'm sure there is still some we've never seen.

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Paisley Park as a musuem... personally I think it won't last that long either.

It's too expensive to maintain. But that's a whole other matter.

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lastdecember said:

First thing FORGET streaming this stuff or doing downloads, if we should realize anyting now its older consumers still want PHYSICAL product. I mean Bruce Springsteen had a number one album and almost all of the sales were PHYSICAL cds and vinyl. QUEEN just had a spike in sales for the greatest hits package it wasnt a digital streaming surge it was a vinyl one. SO i am tired of hearing PRINCE's estate should release things through tidal or whatever just to get more out there. You never will satisy all, and even those you do want more thats just facts.

BUT there has been a lot issued this year. I will say that they could have taken advantage of the vinyl surge this year and four seperate RSD's and done more than they did, but also I think because of the giant box of SOTT and also other releases this year of ONA and that box set, Emancipation on vinyl and all those legacy issues that was a lot to get in a year when most artists pushed stuff back and with all of the confusion to get anything out this year was a plus. Can they do more? I am sure but you cant just throw it all out there and say pick from this what you want. Everything is being spaced and marketing because its not cheap doing vinyl issues and all this packaging and books also, I mean we seem to think its all there ready to come out, well its not. I recently listened to Eddie Van Halens son discuss the vast amount of tapes that his dad has of unreleased stuff, and he said if we went in there TODAY and started it easily would take a year just to listen to it, and that is not even to mention figuring out what it was, working on these tapes, whats there do we have full songs..etc...Now put that in perspective of PRINCE and we know he just labeled things and tossed them in a vault so you dont know what you have, songs, whos on them are people getting their due, what was this from, etc... It will take time

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I do not agree completely, but I see your point.

Everyone over 40, even over 50 like me knows their way to the streaming services, the youtubes, downloads, etc.

Hell some aged Prince fans I know personally have terrabites of hard drives full of material they collect.

One even told me it would be impossible to spend all his money on just one tenth of what he has of unreleased live and rehearsals on his super charged hard drives, (and he earnes good money).

My thought is needs to work both ways, to get the market going, and the (older) fans satisfied, and willing to spend the $$.

But what Bart Vanhemelen said is on point; it is quite expensive (for most) and far from complete for being SDE box sets.

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Those extra release of this year, are just (remastered?) re-releases with nothing extra, not even a little extra. They easily coul've done that (too).

We pay for vinyl releases the same as on the released CD's, which most of us have. (The fact they were not in sotkc anymore, or out of production aside - I'm talking about 'us' fans, and what we all have).

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And you're right on the last part.

Although he had engineers partly arranging his stuff in the vault, organising it, at least that's what we know from Susan Rogers and Hans Martin Buff.

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first and foremost .. a book detialing exactly what is in the vault including a rating system of the quality of the recording (damaged pristine cassette mp3 master live rehearsal studio etc.. )

then ask the fans what they want .. ask what fans would pay .. publish the results of the poll and follow up with a physical limited release

TrevorAyer said:

first and foremost .. a book detialing exactly what is in the vault including a rating system of the quality of the recording (damaged pristine cassette mp3 master live rehearsal studio etc.. )

then ask the fans what they want .. ask what fans would pay .. publish the results of the poll and follow up with a physical limited release

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Kind of what they are doing right now, only, not available for us.

And about the asking-the-fans... dream on.

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Vannormal said:

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Everyone over 40, even over 50 like me knows their way to the streaming services, the youtubes, downloads, etc.

I believe Prince fans do, in large part, want physical releases, not streaming. That's not because they're older and uncomfortable with the technology. It's because they are passionate about Prince.

Personally, I'm a minialist who hates to have my home cluttered with stuff. And I consider much of popular music to be disposable. Because of those two things, I am more than happy to stream 99% of music.

But when I'm a diehard fan of an artist, I feel different. I want to own their music (not lease it, which is basically what streaming allows).

First of all, if I own a physical copy then I know I have it forever and can access it anytime I want. You're not at the mercy of a streaming service.

Second of all, in additition to those practical considerations, I have an admittedly sentimental reason: if I'm passionate about music I want some tangible representation of it. Something to hold in my hands and display on a shelf.

I could say the same thing about movies and TV shows. 99% of the time I'm totally satisfied streaming them. But if there's a TV show or movie series I'm hardcore fan of, I will want a physical copy.

Vannormal said:

Kind of what they are doing right now, only, not available for us.

And about the asking-the-fans... dream on.

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Yes, welcome to NDA-world.

(as if an NDA serves an actual purpose.. Same as hiding the FED's fraud in the FED's case with no recent audit)