What is Digg?188 Comments
- sabach, on 10/11/2007, -2/+140Finally, a major artist who gets it. I'm not wild about his music but I do acknowledge his role as the front-runner in modern methods of music distribution. I hope many more follow (a nudge to Todd Rundgren and David Bowie, you made nice tries but it's time to take it to the next level).
- johnkyoungoh, on 10/11/2007, -1/+128Record stores shouldn't feel betrayed. They should realize their own stupidity in charging ridiculous prices for compact discs.
- TheWriteJerry, on 10/11/2007, -1/+98The way I see it, Prince made the music so he can distribute it anyway he wants to, within the contractual bounds of the company that is paying for the manufacturer, promotion and distribution of said music.
And the retailers are free to carry or not carry any artist or album as they see fit. - synthox, on 10/11/2007, -3/+97Might as well get it out of the way
***** the RIAA - profOblivion, on 10/11/2007, -0/+81See also: Nine Inch Nails, Barenaked Ladies, Disturbed. More and more artists are realizing that the industry lobby does not have the artist's best interest in mind.
- Rejuevie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+60Prince will be just fine. He makes tons through his royalties from the 20+ albums he's released in the past.
- gmoney1, on 10/11/2007, -5/+61***** Yeah, go prince!
- realdeal83, on 10/11/2007, -0/+43It seems more and more that the record industry can't make a single public statement that doesn't make them look like all they car about is money.
They've alienated the consumers, looks like they want to do the same to the artists now. - sabach, on 10/11/2007, -0/+39I'd like to reference Frank Zappa in this discussion. Early on he considered the bootlegs of his shows (and there are many) to be an insult to him as an artist. Once he heard the the quality & TLC with which his unauthorized material was being treated he changed his tune and became an advocate. He even went so far as to authorize some of them on his personal Barking Pumpkin label. These are performances that would only be heard by a few hundred individuals but are now a part of the historical legacy of modern music, because THE ARTIST SUDDENLY GOT IT! I'd like to think he led the way.
- Shaman760, on 10/11/2007, -3/+40Poor RIAA. More artists jumping ship. Too bad we can't do the same thing with our politicians.
- icepick314, on 10/11/2007, -2/+37again...i would like to know how much of the money collected by RIAA has gone to the artists they're so hell-bent on protecting...
if they can't put up, they should shut up.... - TheTaoOfBill, on 10/11/2007, -0/+33Believe it or not but Prince is still a major influence in many modern genres and is still an inspiration to many musicians. He may be passed his prime but he certainly is not anything less than a musical legend. I may not be much of a fan of his but I cannot possibly deny his influence on modern music or his talent as a veteran musician.
- andy3109, on 10/11/2007, -3/+32Of course they are attacking what Prince did. If all artists did that, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost around the world.
However, I think what Prince did is epic. If an artist wants to give away his music for free, he should not be penalized. - oracleofmist, on 10/11/2007, -1/+26He's giving them away with tickets. I'm not a huge prince fan but he seems to know how to make his money. Being he doesn't make it from record sales
- EztliNahua, on 10/11/2007, -12/+37Support the artists! Not by buying their music, or listening to it. Give the record labels money!
- mrcandyman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+25He's had some good songs, some bad songs, been up and down in the charts. I respect Prince though, and this is icing on the cake. He's proving he's got balls, which very few artists are willing to prove, especially in such a way to piss off labels and companies.
- Iconwolf, on 10/11/2007, -0/+24Actually given that he still owns the rights to a large portion of his music, it's rather likely he makes a lot more money off album sales than do most major label artist even if he sell substantially less albums, since it he, and not the labels, that get the bulk of the profits. And he's not really giving them away with tickets. They price of the albums (while likely far less than you'd pay at the store) are calculated into the cost of tickets.
As for the claim: {"Major artist"? Maybe in 1980-something...}....
From Wikipedia:
"Grossing an estimated $87.4 million, Prince’s Musicology Tour was the most profitable tour in the industry during 2004"
"On May 8, 2007, it was announced that Prince is to play 21 concerts in London over the summer. The "Earth Tour" will include seven nights at the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena. Tickets for the O2 arena were priced at £31.21 (including a free copy of Prince’s latest album), in order to make the concerts "affordable for everybody".[24]. The residency at the O2 arena was increased to 15 nights after all 140,000 tickets for the original 7 sold out in just 20 minutes[25] and then further extended to 21 nights.[26]"
So let me see, the man grossed $87 million just three years ago, and sold 140,000 tickets in under 20 minutes just a few months ago? Yeah, the man sounds totally washed up to me. - KMye, on 10/11/2007, -1/+25a colon?
- Bisquick, on 10/11/2007, -1/+24Is a phallic silhouette included?
- tech42er, on 10/11/2007, -0/+23Poor UK RIAA equivalent.
- bigdsinferno, on 10/11/2007, -2/+25..there's something i never thought i'd hear.
- VeganG, on 10/11/2007, -0/+21Oh noes, the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores!!!!
Who needs record stores anymore? - Rileyper, on 10/11/2007, -0/+21He was major enough to star the superbowl halftime show
- Pingspike, on 10/11/2007, -1/+22Yeah! ,how dare he give away his own music! the cheek of the man...[sarcasm]
- brianbennett, on 10/11/2007, -2/+21Way to go Prince! Make some waves.
- Akronos, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18"One music store executive described the plan as 'madness'."
Oh boy... I can see where this is going. - neokyle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18He's not "The Artist Formerly Known As" anymore. So tired of hearing that. It's just Prince. And, for the record, he was one of the first to stand up to the industry... 14 or so years ago. He changed his name to release music outside of his contract and to own the masters of all his future works. Remember when he wrote "slave" on his face? It was to make a statement that he didn't own his "masters" and he was like a slave to the industry.
- leo78, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18You have two kinds of musicians.
Ones that are artists and ones that are business people.
Artists want their art seen, heard, and enjoyed by as many people possible.
A business person wants money, and anything or anyone that doesn't make them money is useless.
Luckily the real artists are usually the ones that make the best music. - wildcattdw, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17Prince isn't 'employed' by anyone; he pretty much is his own boss, with his own studio... and he probably can afford to 'buy' everyone one of his fans three copies of his cd. =-)
- nosecohn, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16I congratulate Prince, but this is really a no-brainer for an artist who has been around as long as he has. As a percentage of the sale, artists make very little off the CD anyway. They make their money on touring and royalties. But artists promote the CD sale for two reasons: 1. so radio plays the songs and people come to the shows 2. the artists owes the record company for financing the production.
In Prince's case, he knows people are going to come see his shows anyway. He's been selling out every night in Las Vegas, and now London. And I'm pretty sure he finances his own production in his own studio now, so he doesn't owe the record company any money for an advance. He's not beholden to anyone, so why not do what makes sense.
The CD itself, or more accurately, the recording (because CDs will eventually fall by the wayside) is becoming just a means to promote the live shows, radio play, and cross-licensing deals with TV & movies. Prince is just jumping the gun a little on the rest of the industry because he can afford to.
But this illustrates a larger issue. The music industry is controlled by bean-counters who think about "revenue streams" and protecting their "content". The artists they employ are creative thinkers who don't look at issues based on what they learned in business school. When the market changes, the artists are more apt to change with it, leaving the corporate types holding the (empty) bag. - Arkonnan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17If only there were more people like you around during the American Revolution.
"Jesus Christ...... It's just a shipment of tea" - morbo47, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15I love how the music industry doesn't even TRY to pretend like it's about making music anymore, and giving back to the fans who've supported him is somehow 'insulting'.
- diggik, on 10/11/2007, -0/+14He probably does not get a salary and most likely does not get a wage. So, exactly how is he employed again?
- TheTaoOfBill, on 10/11/2007, -1/+15To be fair, so was NSYNC
- BlackAle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13This is nothing to do with the RIAA, it's a UK paper.
- BlackCow, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13The Pirate formerly known as Prince.
- Renton, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13Yes, its the mom and pop music stores geting hurt, not the RIAA or anything. *tries to suppress laughter*
- SinzenStudios, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13First NIN does some funky crazy ***** and now Prince. Honestly. When will the recording industry realize that distribution is an online reality now, not tomorrow. In some markets it would benefit the artist more to distribute their content strictly over the web. This would increase profits to the artist and not the companies themselves, as it has been in years before. I would be one to go straight to the artist's website and purchase via their online store.
The smartest thing on Prince's venture here is that he is going with a free copy. Free as in air. Let's hope it's not just promotional and the actual album is good. - Idura, on 10/11/2007, -3/+14I work for the RIAA and all of you who are siding with prince are gonna get your IP logged and monitored for P2P traffic.
- Risasi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11I suddenly became a Prince fan. Heck does he have a Paypal set up? I'd like to chip a couple bucks his way, since he's no longer commercially viable....
- bIuebonics, on 10/11/2007, -3/+13a pox on you and your family for suggesting someone dumb themselves down and use a /sarcasm tag. i loathe those things. if people are too stupid to get the joke, so be it.
- blacklilyninja, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9always respected him
now i respect him more.
id love to see him distribute on free music websites like iCompositions and MacJams etc. it would be good for new artists trying to gain popularity for a major artist to do stuff like that. Helping them out and releasing their own stuff. Almost like back in the day when MP3.com was respectable. In fact Nine Inch Nails does something similar by releasing multi tracked versions (for free) for fans to mess with and remix. - Trax91, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Weird Al did it with Don't Download This Song too.
- alexforcefive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9BPI
- SarahC, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Hold on - the record stores made $$$$$ off his previous works... as far as I can see, Prince owes them nothing!
It wasn't like they did him a favour! They got paid for it! Idiots. - Neem, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9wow I might go buy a few Prince songs off itunes now, any suggestions ? I really never listened to prince before.
- ncapone, on 10/11/2007, -5/+13It's only a matter of time until all forms of music are free to everyone!
- Liv2bWild, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10Despite the publicity no-name change (to create music while still under a record company's contract, to fight that the RC was making tons more money on the music he created, but they owned) Prince was the first to really do very well distributing and selling his music on-line. Prince's worldwide fan-base easily supports him with concert sales, merchandising etc. Now free of any record contract, he can do what he wants! If you saw a phallic symbol, what does that say to how YOU think? Any guitar player strikes that pose, and only the great ones can do it with style...so in your mind every guitar player is a *****! Says something about you doesn't it...hm-mm
You want good music?!?. What an insult to one of the few artists that can play almost any instrument..self taught, and any guitar lick you can ever think of with his eyes closed! Go to a bootleg store and see who has one of the largest collections ever. Stop listening to what the radio picks as a hit, and listen to his jams of every music genre mixed with those hits in live versions nobody can match. Research and educate yourself before making stupid statements. - ggnictee, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8well not really. It will never be free. People have to eat. But is is only a matter of time before a new system of distribution puts the big record labels out of business.
- Parker307, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8I just bought 'little red corvette(dance mix),7,sign 'o' the times and I would die 4 u' off itunes.
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