“Last week, Prince announced that he was going to release his latest album 20Ten as an add-on to European newspapers and an upcoming issue of German Rolling Stone,” Daniel Kreps reports for Rolling Stone.
“In an interview promoting the release with England’s Daily Mirror, the iconic songwriter reveals his improbable motive for the choice: he hates the Internet,” Kreps reports. “‘The Internet’s completely over,’ says Prince, who will not sell his new album via iTunes or Amazon. ‘I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.'”
Kreps reports, “Prince goes on to compare digital outlets to once-influential juggernauts like MTV. ‘At one time, MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated,’ he says. ‘Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: That dude can afford to be as eccentric as he wants to be. If he wants to release his album via helium balloons, so be it. And, if he wants to try to drum up some pub this way, so be it, too.
BTW, iTunes Store pays artists who can sell tracks, not those looking for big upfront advances – *cough* Wal-Mart *cough*.
Prince is executing a public relations move.
A classic pivot and more power to him, because it is working.
Look at all the free press he is getting to promote his new album. Would he have gotten as much press without this move?
This just in…Prince to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show
Well, gotta give the former prince credit for trying to swim against the digital current…. good luck with that
So he gonna just do his ting on the street corner.?
Oh yeah all his hits that people want to buy are on iTunes. You know the stuff he’s been living off of for 25 years.
@ schmluss: Yes, he’s “The artist formerly known as Prince and once moe known as Prince”. I wonder how he signs his tax forms.
As I don’t care for his music, the only thing about him that attracted interest is his weirdness.
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@daugav369pils
“Wembley holds 100,000. So the average price of a ticket was
$500 and Prince kept every penny?”
Obviousy there was more than one show.
i don’t think you should use that shrink anymore
he is giving you the wrong shit
you dig?
the internet in not over it is going to get bigger buddy
1999 is not way in the future anymore ….. you have been replaced
her name is lady gaga ………..
He must be D e l i r i o u s.
@WTF
You write: “So … the internet is ‘completely over’ and so I’m gonna bundle my CD with newspapers? Cutting edge!!”
WRONG!
Prince has it right! IF you consider that his time is running backwards. Impossible? Just a mathematical construct. Ask Einstein.
Americans wanting to be “royal”:
“Prince”
“Queen” Latifa
Fresh “Prince” of Bel-Air
EP the “King” (of ‘rock and roll’).
MJ the “King” of pop.
Royal Dano – actor (apparently).
For all the Prince-haters here, a little info:
1. The last time Prince “released” an album via the Daily Mail, he earned a reported 1 million British Pounds (about 1.3 million USD) in one weekend. That particular issue was the best selling issue of the Daily Mail in decades.
2. As a result of the publicity surrounding the release, his 3121 concert series in London was sold out. He played 21 dates in London.
3. His last “commercial” release (i.e. sold through a major label) MUSICOLOGY went to number 1 on the Billboard charts in 2006, although the album was only available in stores (not online). The majority of the CD’s were sold at his concerts. He was the highest grossing artist of the year, earning 57 million dollars. his latest world tour is sold out.
The point is, he figured out a long time ago how to make money in the business without following the typical business model. He makes more money selling 100,000 units than most of today’s mainstream artists make selling a million units.
Having said all that, I tuned Prince out many years ago, and I was probably the biggest Prince fan on the planet. I even played a gig with him once.
Motto: don’t hate; celebrate.
@ daugav369pils
Let’s see…
The US dollar is weaker than the pound, the event was multiple days and that included merchandise. So the tickets were not $500.
Way to use those critical thinking skills!
I believe most of the money came from merchandise.
@ daugav369pils
Here is a link to a story about selling out 140000 tickets:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-454090/Prince-31-ticket-shows-sell-minutes.html
This covers how he wanted to keep ticket prices down, does not deal with total profit from the sales. This also followed a CD giveaway in the London press.
At least he stands to his own mind. There are enough sheeps around to destroy life on earth anyway.
Monolitic thinking is no good for none.
LMAO! No advance payment, Cry Baby? How about you sell something and get paid for that? Only h00kers get paid in advance.
Short people,
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds…
Randy Newman
My policy: Never trust a man under 5 foot 6.
I am not so much angry that I can’t hear Prince’s new songs as I am grateful.
2006, Bob Dylan: “New records … have sound all over them. . .CDs are small. There’s no stature to it.”
2007, Elton John: “Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. . . there’s too much technology available.”
2010, Prince: “The Internet’s completely over.”
@ MDN
Even WalMart does not pay artist in advance for Physical or digital sales. Not only that Walmart only sells music by artist that are signed by the big music labels. The Big Music Labels do give artists cash upfront but then charge the artist all types of fees and interest against the sale royalties which in the end means the artists makes much less money from their work then if they didn’t have a recording deal at all.
Prince is just pissed because internet sales through iTunes means he has compete on an equal footing with every other artist even the completely independent ones and he does not like that. He wants to be paid to him for the privilege of selling his work and he wants to be paid for the sales as well. In my opinion it’s not the Internet that is over, it’s Prince that is over. I give him 2 weeks after the release and Prince will be inking distribution deals with iTunes and Amazon to sell his new Album on the “Dead Internet”.
Hey, Prince, I got a tip for you, Young People don’t buy news papers or magazines any more they get their information and news from, wait for it, THE INTERNET! So, wipe the Blow off your nose fire your old fart business manager and hire a young hip tech savvy business manager to give you good advise and you might regain some of your kewl, hipness and appeal to your fans young, old and might even attract a whole new younger base of fans, the bubble gum crap the young kids are sucking up these days is rotting their brains. At least your music in the old days made everyone think, fan or not. So, put down the crack pipe and look at the Prince Machine and fix what has gotten old and broken on the inside, because the Internet and iTunes isn’t the problem. It’s your internal money grubbers looking to score upfront, because they don’t think you’ll have another big hit album.
Don’t mean to pee on your parade but the truth is what the truth is.
digital downloads are too low tech? Ur… what… ok… buddy.. The internet is losing popularity now… haha, that’s rich
No the internet is not the 80s sorry. The 80s are over, the internet is not a fad. LOL.
This is obviously all just a big PR stunt and MDN fell for it big time. Great work giving Prince free advertising.
Prince: Ugly NeanderTechTard.
Just laugh
;-D
“I can’t believe people waste their time hating so.”
And I can’t believe that someone as intellectually superior as you can waste his time condemning people like us!
Standing a little taller now, HughB, having proclaimed your supremacy to MDNers, one and all? Good for you. Whatever gets you through your day.
@Anim8me2
Appreciate the trouble you went to provide the link.
Cleared it all up. Wembley Stadium’s home site
said Prince appeared there only once. Naturally
I assumed ‘once’ is once. Didn’t know in the
entertainment industry once can refer to multiple
shows over a few days time.