I saw Van Hunt in Baltimore last night and he did a one man accoustic set. I think Van Hunt is the best new artist of this decade; however, the show was disappointing. I don't think it is his fault, I just think he is having trouble getting his CD released and he needs to generate some income. The show was uninspired and I'm not sure he is at his best unplugged. I hope the music industry doesn't defeat him because he is truly a great talent and it was sad to see him last night.

This is the type of artist that people like Prince should be helping out. If Prince and others are really about real music by real musicians then they should support young artists like Van Hunt and really save the music because it is a sad thing when an artist like Van Hunt can't make it and someone like T-Payne can. The difference is that the modern artists have guys like Jay-Z, P-Diddy and others to help them, but the real musicians don't have anyone that helps them make it and they eventually fall through the cracks or sell out.

An artist like Van Hunt can't do what Prince did several years ago by abandoning record labels and using his immense fan base, independent labels and the internet to distribute his music. Those artists that have made it need to give back to those young artists that are struggling to stay in the game. The industry is much different than it was in 1978 when Prince came out and I'm not sure if Prince had come out in 2008 that he would not suffer the same fate as Van Hunt.

So, please do something about it. Thanks

Donny

What exactly is Prince supposed to do to help out?

RipHer2Shreds said:

Make him the opening act, help get his record distributed, distribute his record on his website, etc. Give as much effort marketing him as he did for people like Tamar and the Funky Bald Heads. If Prince wants an artist to get an deal, they will get one. He is one of the most influential artists in the world and artists like Van Hunt are dying because the icons are not doing their part to save these guys.

donnyenglish said:

yeah and Tamar and the Funky Bald Heads are huge stars now thanks to Prince.

seriously, i don't know the story behind Van Hunt's label woes, so i don't really know if i can sympathize for him. maybe it's his own fault he's out of a deal, maybe his head got too big and he thought he could do it on his own. i don't know. honestly, without knowing the details i'm willing to bet he sabotaged his own deal with the label. obviously, he was generating sales for his label and there are/were enough people interested in him. i can't really see the label dropping him intentionally. he had to start making some outrageous demands for them to do that, IMO.

anyways, if he does get Prince's blessing and support, that doesn't necessarily mean he'll get a deal. if anything, i think it would be a bad move politically for Van Hunt. i'm sure Warner Bros isn't the only label that's frustrated with Prince. And i'm sure there are whispers throughout the industry about his behavior. they'd probably rather not be bothered. And it's not like every record he releases goes platinum in a week either if ever.

Lock. This. Up. Kthnxbai.

sammij said:

I'm not sure I understand why we would lock this up.

Tamar and the Funky Baldheads are examples of energy that could have been better used on other artists.

I think the problem is simply that artists like Van Hunt don't get played on the radio or MTV. They also don't sell many albums, so they probably are not profitable. It is simply a business decision by the record companys. Why pay a singer, songwriter, producer and musician like Van Hunt when you can get some clown with no talent to take a record deal and pay him pennies on the dollar and have the same few songwriters, musicians, producers and record execs make all the money? That is what it is and instead of people like Prince complaining about it, they should do something about it by supporting artists like Van Hunt.

Like I said, it is very easy for Prince to take a stand by abandoning the traditional music industry and I admire him for the direction he has taken since the mid-90's. But, I'm not sure he deserves a medal of honor because it was easy for him to do given his status. If he really wants to make a difference, then he needs to save artists like Van Hunt and others or the future of music will be very bleak.

I'm not saying that anyone should help an artist like Van Hunt achieve commercial success. But, these artists are on the brink of extinction and just need to be supported so they can continue to release their body of work for those who love real music by real musicians. It is great that Prince is in a position to do this, but others are not and it will be sad to see these artists fall through the cracks while the icons can do something about it.

What the fuck?

Well as far as Prince not helping artists like Van, his ego won't allow him to help anyone that won't remove their brain and let him "Prince" them. Prince has never really "helped" any artist that he's worked with. He's basically helped himself by doing all/most of the music and then letting people know that he did it.

As far as Van's label sitch goes, it's like this. It's a different time at major labels right now. For every Lil' Wayne that sells a ton of crap there's Van Hunt's, Esthero's, Terence Trent D'Arby's and the like that can't get any airplay, videoplay or interest generated on a mass scale. Again, if Prince started his career today he'd be in the same boat.

Capitol loved and respected Van's talent, but after mediocre sales of the second album the decision was made to move him over to a smaller label in the EMI family being Blue Note. He did the album and around the time of pre-release both Blue Note and Van came to the agreement that Blue Note probably wasn't the best place for Van. From the label side, realizing that they probably weren't going to recoup their advance money and from Van's side being on a label that wasn't going to spend major label money to promote a new album. So he got his master and his release. (wow see how that can happen when you don't act like an idiot, Prince?)

ButterscotchPimp said:

I think Blue Note still owns the master to Popular.

Meloh9 said:

No they don't. Van has it.

ButterscotchPimp said:

hmmm, if that is the case he can always release the album on itunes etc..

I wonder what is stopping him

Meloh9 said:

Well my understanding is it's two-fold. A) he's still looking for a new label and B) it's already been widely bootlegged.

ButterscotchPimp said:

He doesn't actually. I asked him about it at a show he did in Atlanta a couple months ago and he told me verbatim, "They chose not to sell it to me at a price I could afford." That's why the album still hasn't been released.

guitarslinger44 said:

That had to be a semi-recent development. Because when i talked to him around the time this all went down, the agreement on both sides was he'd get the master.

Music business translation: They want the money the put up to make the album back = recouped.

That's interesting considering if Van really wanted it his manager could easily afford to pay that but then he'd owe Randy.

I'll have to ask him about that.

Prince can't help Van Hunt or anyone else. If Prince himself didn't have such a huge and loyal fanbase left over from the 1980s that buys every single album, he, himself couldn't make it. And as far as Prince's fanbase buying another artist that Prince promotes, not all of them are going to do it. Just the fact alone that Van Hunt did a one man accoustical show alone turns me off and I certainly wouldn't buy an album like that. I love "real music" but I don't buy everything just because it is "real music". If it ain't some real jams, and I do mean the ass shakin' kind, then they can keep it.

The label wanted Van to change the sound of his music. They wanted him to use popular guest rappers on his songs, and make more radio freindly music. He refused. They fought, He left them.

P2daP said:

That's not true AT ALL.

Van is not young...he's thirty something.

Not everyone is fit to be a prince.

Prince is a musical genuis but he's not very good at promoting and helping other artists.There is no way that he could help advance someone else's career.In the early 80s.yes but not these days.Just ask Tamar Van Hunt would be better off releasing his CD independently on his website.

SoulAlive said:

Yep that is so true, but maybe if Prince took Van on as his "featured" and/or "guest" bandmember on tours, etc. like he did with Najee, Angie Stone, Larry Graham, etc. that will maybe boost Van's recognition level . . . . .

The best thing Prince can do for Van is to let him do his own thing.

When Prince first started, they wanted to team him up with Maurice White of EWF. Can you imagine what Prince would sound like, or the path his career would've taken if he was under Maurice's wing???

If Prince helped Van with his career, he would most likely overshadow him and get in his way.

donnyenglish said:

Are you the bald guy who went to the front row like midway through the show??

Prince is the kiss of death to other artists.

thekidsgirl said:

I'm kinda balding, but I didn't go to the front row. I was to the far left of the stage chilling with my friend and two ladies.

ButterscotchPimp said:

You're probably dead on it with that. I'm kinda surprised that with a mover and shaker like Randy as his manager that he hasn't popped up in more places. Maybe I overestimate Randy's ability to get things done for his artists, but I'm kinda surprised Van hasn't done a little better promo wise with Randy working for him.

donnyenglish said:

oh ok! if you were the guy I thought you were, I had some choice words for you
I thought the show was great...but I've seen Van do an acoustic show before

It takes a really good musician to be able to get on stage alone with just instruments and carry a show.

ButterscotchPimp said:

This is one of the greatest quotes I have seen in the history of Prince.org.


And Donnyenglish is correct. Van is a hybrid artist like Prince. Prince & Lenny Kravitz aren't pushing any other artists that are in the same vein that they are. All Prince really has to do is :thu: Van Hunt publicly a couple of times and that alone would send the fanbots to the stores to check out the first two CDs. A gig with Van as an opening act would set it off. Dude's ego is NEVER going to let that happen. He deals with acts that he can control. I don't see why Lenny's corporate rocking ass gets a pass either. He needs to be co-signing artists like Van Hunt.
Sadly, I think Van is gonna have to pull a "Sananda" and bounce up outta the U.S. to get any true love and respect. These kniggaz ain't tryin' to see no parts of musical "unity" for fear they may lose their crowns or one or two of their fans may actually end up liking someone else better than them.
The neo-soul cats all ban together but Van is not really neo-soul. His only real alternative seems to be to conform to the restraints of the genre or do his own thing and say "fcuk" the U.S., get his name on the terrorist watch list and spend the rest of his life doing shows from Rome to Japan while threatening to only touch U.S. soil to piss on it until "them fools get their musicl minds right".

BlaqueKnight said:

Funny thing is, a friend of mine who was guitar-teching for Van on the Jungle Floor tour told me that Prince had invited Van up to his place in LA and that there were possible talks of Van opening for Prince at some point. Don't know whatever happened to that.