According to Sky News in the UK today, our little friend has had talks with a number of major labels and is set to confirm a deal with one of the them shortly...

(You can see the report on the interactive service if you get SkyDigital)...

Leave you to discuss...

...and this is very similar to the other thread...*hangs head in shame*...

Alot of you guys are gonna disagree with me,but I think it's a GREAT idea for Prince to sign with a major.Let's face it,he hasn't really done that well as an "independent" artist and many of his recent CDs went unnoticed by the general public.I know some of you are gonna say "sales don't matter" and "who cares about charts?",but I think Prince would like to have the public embrace him again.He wants to have a little more success,and there's nothing wrong with that.Plus,a new record deal would be better for us,as fans.We will get...

***new videos
***new remixes and maxi-singles
***more TV appearances
***more interviews and promotion
***a higher profile for Prince (aren't you tired of people asking you "Is Prince still making music?" lol)

Hopefully,it will be more than just a one-album deal.

DavidEye said:

I agree with you. Perhaps this rumoured deal will allow him to release his more non-commercial/experimental stuff on the NPGMC? I dunno, i've never been a member, but from what i can gather there's been scant new music to enjoy on there anyway this year anyway.

Maybe this spells the end of the NPGMC?

DavidEye said:

I will co-sign ALL of that. Besides, we know now that being "independent" isn't a guarantee that P will make higher quality music. Maybe the pressure of a "major release" will get his butt in gear to make something truly great.

endorphin74 said:

Yes yes and
Prince needs to have that 'restriction' of a major label to rebel against otherwise he'll just lose discipline and release shit thats 2 experimental and 2 risky all the time instead of some of the time which I think is what we all prefer...

letsgocrazy said:

THE one and only Best Major Deal 4 Prince could be with WB!!

My best wish it's 2 C him RE-Sign with his old Major!!

Marrk said:

If it spells the end of NPGMC,then so be it.I never joined the club because I prefer buying music from a record store,where it's accessible to anybody who wants it.I'd like to go back to the days of getting one kickass album every year.But,as you pointed out,he could still use the music club (or the 1-800 New Funk line,if it still exists) to release the non-commercial stuff.

This is what i heard & read 2 weeks ago!!>Maybe True Maybe False??



Warner Music Group, the music division of Time Warner Inc., is being acquired for $2.6 billion by a group of private equity investors led by Seagram heir Edgar Bronfman, Jr. The deal should be finalized at the end of the month

(apparently since November from a French cinema magazine >Studio n°196)

Insiders have said the top priority for Bronfman is working out a new deal with Madonna's record label, "Maverick"and re-signing legendary music artist Prince.

BTW Prince is in Los Angeles to perform at the annual Clive Davis, Pre-Grammy Party.

love2thenines2003 said:

Good luck! From what I heard,Madonna is extremely pissed with Warners and she is NOT pleased with Bronfman's plans to take over.She is considering moving on.If they wanna keep her and Maverick,they're gonna have to do some $erious negotiating.

...
[This message was edited Tue Feb 10 6:58:00 PST 2004 by DavidEye]

DavidEye said:

I smell "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" part II...

Neversin.

I think a deal with a major label could work well with a similar site to the current NPGMC. The site could be open to the public at large, for news and such, and have a premium section selling advance tickets and holding forums. The Internet is a lot more prevalent than when Prince left WBros, so a substantial on-line presence is a must.

sabaisabai said:

As long as Prince and his underlings aren't the ones responsible for the site. If the record label manages that site like it manages other artists' sites, then I'd be down.

Prince has needed the filters a record label provides, for years. Drek like "Hot Wit U" might never have seen the light of day and have been relegated instead to "feverishly sought-after outtatke" status.

clearly Prince's go it alone experiment has been a commercial failure. His post warners catalog has suffered and his warners catalog has suffered as well. The best move Prince could do now is sign with the new Warner Bros management and get the promotion his music deserves. And at the same time remaster and rerelease his older material.

alandail said:

Damn I would love to see a press release announcing Prince has signed with a major label for a new album with a tour - at the same time announcing remasters of his back catalogue complete with new booklets, with or without bonus tracks.

That's what I was hoping for yesterday. I was even imagining the first few words of the press release: "Hot on the heels of Prince's incredible opening performance at the 46th annual Grammy Awards..."

Neversin said:

Artistically or commercially?

booyah said:

IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE & ALL OUR DREAMS WILL COME TRUE IF PRINGE RE-SIGNS WITH WB!!

calldapplwondery83 said:

Commercially...
I hope not artistically but if he's signing with a major then that means "art" will have to make way for "hit" potential music i.e. whatever is hip now and is easy to sell to the average teenager who is conditioned by crap that's played on MTV and the likes... But they won't buy it just like they didn't buy it with "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic"

Neversin.
[This message was edited Tue Feb 10 9:12:21 PST 2004 by Neversin]

Neversin said:

Not all popular music is shit.Believe it or not, there are a lot of teens don't like Andre, and he's all over the place. Radio, MTV etc. As that's the case, I'm sure there's room in the charts for Prince (even if he is older).

Prince has made loads of songs this last 10 years that would have charted if he'd had a major backing him properly. Arista didn't with 'Rave', but i don't think anything on there could be counted among Prince's best work of the last decade anyway.

Marrk said:

I don't like Andre either, I think he's overrated and I can't believe people are actually falling for that crap...
Popular music has taken a nosedive down to nothingness the last 10 years (all the Britney's, all the (C)rap and R&B ho's, pathetic loser boybands, pathetic kiddie rockbands, that whole crap neo-soul shit etc. etc. etc.) and if Prince wants a piece of that manufactured shit he will have to do that too...
Look what Santana did... Sell out of the Millenium...
The last album I bought and liked that had some impact on the charts was NIN's "The Fragile" and that was in 1999 and IMO there hasn't been anything worthwile or even likable in the charts ever since...
Even though I didn't like N.E.W.S. it was still more enjoyable than anything "popular" and on the charts...
But it seems Prince likes that manufactured trite since he performed with the biggest product of the industry, Beyonce, a fucking idiot product who mistakes wailing, screaming and yelling for singing and people who call her a professional musician should be shot, the chick can't even properly hold a fucking tamborine let alone play it (watch the Grammy performance)...
But anyway I just hope, IF he goes back to some major, he'll pull an "Around The World In A Day" instead of a "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic"...

Neversin.

You have got to be kidding. The last Prince release to come close to anything Outkast has done was TGE. Believe me, I hope he proves me wrong this year. I've enjoyed much of the recent stuff, but not as much as those Outkast CDs (and I think Big Boi's the real musical genius there)

Prince hooking up with a major label is not a panacea. Promotion-wise, it'd certainly help.

Artistically, well alot of people don't seem to remember that he was both willing and able to put out crap music that didn't sell when he was with WB the first go round (Where is Tony M. anyway?).

.
[This message was edited Tue Feb 10 10:24:09 PST 2004 by Universaluv]

MendesCity said:

Don't get wrong, I like Outkast alot, but IMO that "Love Below" stuff is just crap...

Neversin.

>I've enjoyed much of the recent stuff, but not as much as those Outkast CDs (and I think Big Boi's the real musical genius there)<

>>Don't get wrong, I like Outkast alot, but IMO that "Love Below" stuff is just crap...<<

You guys are both crazy. Big Boi would never have gotten anywhere without Andre. Big Boi is merely a rapper. Andre is a musician, the total package. Speakerboxxx alone would never win album of the year. The Love Below is nearly a masterpiece.

Universaluv said:

When he was with WB, he had at least one top 10 single for something like 16 straight years. Since he left WB, he has had zero. He didn't stop having top 10 singles until he started sabotaging WB's promotion. He got terrible advice from Clive in reworking Rave - the original track list would have made a stronger album than what ultimately got released. I say get him back to WB, remaster his old albums, and use the potential sales of the whole catalog as incentive to do the promotion it'll take to get him back on the charts. The response to his Grammy performance clearly shows he can be commercially viable again. Kurt Loder, of all people, said it best:

I heard Prince may be signing with Clive Davis?

sheez louise it's about time.

alandail said:

Look, I don't deny the storied history of Prince and WB. I'm just saying there seems to be an assumption that if Prince gets a major record deal then everything will be right with the world again. There's every possibility that Prince could get a deal, be enthusiastic about it, and then decide he doesn't like how it's going. You know how his attention span is.

Moreover, there's every possibility that despite the Grammy performance, the Top 40 audience of today may not be as interested in getting remastered copies of old Prince albums as people who post on prince.org. They may not be that interested in his upcoming stuff either, no matter how good it may be. I'm not saying that it will fail, just that a record deal is no guarantee of success.


If he signs a deal, then that is good news as far as I'm concerned. But it's only step 1.

.
[This message was edited Tue Feb 10 13:31:16 PST 2004 by Universaluv]

jtgillia said:

And just to go competely off-topic
I'm all ABOUT Speakerboxx. I mean, Hey Ya is without a doubt the best single from the whole set (and I think will be considered one of the defining songs of the era), but when it gets right down to it, Boi's disc is just much more consistent. Bowtie, Church, the Rooster, Unhappy, Knowing and Reset are all just jaw-dropping to me. Dre's is good, but it certainly has its low points--jokey jazz, too-long drum'n' bass, not-that-funny sketches.