Listening to the latest interview of Prince on another link he said that "musicology will be released on March 29th through NPGCMusic Club.com" - this is of course different to the press release where he said that he was going to release it through all the majors at once - or least ask them to do so.

This will be a real shame if it is the case - I had hoped he would link up again with majors that had the marketing clout that he truly deserves - having heard "Call My Name" I believe that the album will probably have mass market appeal on the RnB scene.

I am not personally bothered whether he is popular/not - for me it is for the music - but it does seem that he is going out there to market himself of late and I feel sorry for him and how it will make him feel if it all turns to naught. I know he constantly says that appeal is not important to him but I do wonder about that. Of course only he knows but it would be hard in his position to not be affected by it - indeed it does not sit with his comments about all his hard work being spoiled by 2 weeks of bad marketing....

All the above also begs the question as to whether the new cd will actually ever make it to cd and the shops.....

I too am afraid that he is going to fuck this up. Personally, I'm not altogether impressed with the song Musicology, but then again that doesn't surprise me because he just doesn't seem to get it when it comes to choosing lead-off singles.

With all the buzz in the air right now, it would be great if a major label distributed this album. But hey, maybe he's got something else up his sleeve. Hope so, because it would be quite a shame to squander this opportunity.

LoveRobot said:

It's not different. As well as announcing that he was seeking a joint distribution deal, it was also announced that Prince would

1. Make 'Musicology' available for download through the website - $0.99 for non-Club members, and $0.77 for Club members - per track, starting sometime during March. (announced by Prince at the Press Conference)

2. Give copies of the CD to each concert attendee, as from March 29. (First announced when details of the Penn State concert appeared - Feb 17 'BUY A TICKET AND GET PRINCE'S NEW CD FOR FREE!'


It better make it to CD given that people attending the concert are expecting to receive a copy!

Whether it will make it to shops ...? If he's going to be pressing up 1000's of copies on to CD, it's difficult to understand why he doesn't at least make it also available for purchase in CD format as he did with N.E.W.S. in stores and through the website.
[This message was edited Tue Mar 16 5:19:24 2004 by langebleu]

langebleu said:

All noted Langebleu, but he did not say anything on the most recent interview re any majors release - which you would have expected him to do if it had not stalled.

Re the cd giveaway the only source that I have seen was on the Leno show and that could be passed off as a throwaway comment - as I am UK based I know not whther the marketing for the shows has expressly mentioned this.

I hope all this turns out wrong but I am worried that the majors release idea has (unsurprisingly) fallen through and instead NPGMC are going to handle the release themselves.

Fingers crossed huh?!

Lord have mercy. Is Londell also his manager? This is gonna get fucked up royally.

Just because he's making it available on the NPG site doesn't mean it won't eventually come out as a CD on some label.

He allowed members to download 'The Rainbow Children' long before it was officially released as a CD.

But it does make it less likely that a label will want to be involved, since if most of the fans have already got it before they put it out in stores, well that's half your market gone already and you're gonna make even less profit.

MetalOrange you have echoed my thoughts - I wont be negative about it - I cant wait for the release but it does look like a majors release is not on the cards now

Ho Hum

Majors would be stupid not to take the opportunity to go along with Prince's 'comeback'.

metalorange said:

The downloads were available in the first days of October 2001, the CD was in stores on the 15th of October. 15 days are not that long...

How to overanalyze a comment made by a sleepy Prince on a morning radio show.

If they haven't worked out a deal yet with a major label that doesn't mean they won't, and Prince would be crazy to discuss any more details of a major label release until it happens. Meanwhile, he's sticking to the release date for the NPGMC availability.

And yes they are still actively marketing the idea of "go to the concert, get a cd".


.
[This message was edited Tue Mar 16 5:59:49 2004 by Universaluv]

LoveRobot said

Well, I can't be sure about the concerts, but he is giving the CD away for free at all the screenings for the LA show. It was in the e-mail we received from NPGMC, as well as on the poster that is at the movie theaters. I can't imagine he would give them to the folks at the theater, and not to those going to the concert.

Universaluv said:

Sorry you feel it overanalyses the point. I felt it was worthy of comment - particularly given the unusual nature of the announcement at the press conference. Some may say it was crazy to call a press conference for what appeared to be about a cd release and tour and then make a vague comment re the cd release rather than confirm a deal.....many thought there was more to the conference than actually transpired - but crazy or not that is what he did.

JediMaster said:

Your comments are reassuring in that at least the cd is planned as a cd - at least as a giveaway - hopefully not just as a promo though - fingers crossed

doriel1979 said:

Sorry, didn't realise it was that short a gap. Then again, 15 days is a long time if you are fly. Sorry, if you are A fly.

metalorange said:

LoveRobot said:

I don't think you overanalyzed anything!

It's curious that people on this site would rather live with their own hypotheticals that what they are precicely told, and not told.

Prince's publicist last week specifically stated in an AP article that "Musicology" was going to be through a major label, but instead will be downloaded, given away free, and in stores "at a later date".

MISQUOTED! MISQUOTED! the "fams" cry!

Combine that with the fact that there hasn't been any deal announced for "Musicology". What record company(much less ALL record companies) is going to invest in a cd that is downloadable for less than $1.00 a song, given away FREE at shows? Where's the business sense in that?

I think he's quite prepared to distribute "Musicology" just like NEWS, ONAL, 1999:TNM, etc.

You've come to fair conclusions

warning2all said:

Fam? Not even. Anyway, I'm just saying it's a bit premature to conclude anything about a major label release, other than it hasn't happened yet. It may not happen, and that would suck. It may happen, that may or may not suck.

Either way, it's still unclear, imho. It's been reported today that he plans to release it on a major label on 6/30. It's also been reported today that it is unclear whether the release will be with a major label.

Oh, and quite a few record companies invest in albums that sell for less than $1.00 per song last time I checked Itunes.

warning2all said:

Thanx for the comments - I had not heard re the publicists' comments last week - gutted if true - reminds me of the purple rain scene - "man what a fu$£%! waste"!

There is soooo much goodwill and publicity that it would be a real shame to waste it. Here's one that is hoping our conclusions are wrong. I am sure I am like many fans in that I am based in the UK so will not get toa show until it hits Europe (many US fans will not get 2 see him either) , I do not want to download the album in sub par quality (which lets face it the previous downloads were ) and really will miss that cellophane feeling.

I suspect that someone will be tempted to post that I have a choice in that I dont have to download and I suppose they are right to a point but I have followed Prince for his whole musical career and frankly if there is new music out there I will not have the discipline to say 'no' until it, maybe , comes out.

He does manage to miss a lot of potential fans - I missed the whole ahdio shows from year one because I didnt even know about the club and at the time surfed the web rarely - and I am a committed fan (with my feet in reality mind)

I thought the 'point' behind the new album was to 'teach' people about music and songwriting and musicianship - but if the album does not receive a large scale release there will not be a new audience to learn - Prince has laready said that his audience are already very knowledgeable - no point in teaching them then. I really do wonder if the person who needs to really learn is Prince himself - he should learn to put the 'marketing' before the -ology!

I am cool with him not marketing and doing his own thing - its his life and talent after all, but I do find it frustrating when it seems obvious to see that he on this occasion is after mass market appeal but it is wasted.

Sorry all for the long post - I really really hope my gut feeling is wrong here but this is increasingly looking dodgy.

Anyone else got any inside info / quotes etc to calm my frayed nerves?!!!

doriel1979 said:

This is not accurate. TRC was released on NOV 20, 2001. Club members had the album 4-6 weeks before the retail release.
Even if some retailers broke the street date, I can't imagine they were even shipped copies more than two weeks in advance.

Eugnj420

Universaluv said:

Indeed. They make good money off those downloads.

warning2all said:

Oh and Musiciology may seem to be given away for "free", but it is not really free when you have to buy a ticket to get it for "free". In other words: it is not given away for free.
The deal may still come. Majors are interested in making money off Prince's comeback. Prince and any major interested may have agreed to say nothing more in public untill the deal is finalised.

Why do y'all care if the CD is distributed through a major label or not? It has nothing to do with the content or packaging of the CD or ANYthing like that, which has already been finalized...all it means is that it might get a little more promotion (although it's not like major labels are known for being GREAT at promoting odd artists), and maybe it'll be in a more prominent position on Best Buy's shelves.

Who cares? One way or the other, we'll all get the CD.

Oh well, either way, Im copin' it

My only "reliable" source in the biz told me a couple of weeks ago this.....

Prince was very close to signing a deal with J-Records until WB offered some type of a deal where Prince would regain control of his master recordings.Prince has these two offers on the table.
I think that some type of deal will be made SOON so keep listening.


The guy who told me this had official copies of D&P ,COME,GOLD months before they were released .

I wait to see if he's right again.

theblueangel said:

Have to say I thought I covered this at the top of the thread - personally I am in for the music but it seemed to me that prince cares otherwise why all the interviews etc... I just dont want the guy to feel bad is all - it would be nice to see him more often on various shows etc anyway

muleFunk said:

Not heard of J records - but I do hope the WB thing comes off - tho it seemed unlikely not that long ago prince does seem to be moving closer to them with quotes like "my so-called enemies" and his recent comments thanking wb for giving him his freedom - may of course be part of his spirituality in forgiveness but might be just softening the blow for all the 'fams' who up2now have seen wb and their associates promoted as the

it sure is all interesting stuff - all speculation of course but hey! speculation is fun - even if it turns out to be wrong most of the time