Eh, makes sense. Prince is from Minnesota and Target is based in Minnesota.

slave

The exciting thing about this announcement is the verification that his new site will have videos of his performances along with previously unreleased tracks. Rumors are that there will be full length concerts available too. The Lovesexy tour of '88 is one of the best shows ever, hopefully he'll put that up.

Maybe the vault door is finally being cracked open!

If there's any justice in the world, Celine Dion would exclusively sell her music at Betty's No-Good Clothes Store and Pancake House.

Terrible, terrible clothes and pancakes.

In other news, Vanilla Ice chooses Dollar General to release his boxed 14 CD anthology.

and I choose not to buy it.

CraicBaby: Eh, makes sense. Prince is from Minnesota and Target is based in Minnesota.

The Truth.

/It's still a dick move though.

I think the real news is that Prince is releasing a new 3 disk album. That's news I can get behind.

/god I hope there is a tour, few shows are better than a Prince show.

SPna15:
/It's still a dick move though.

How is it a dick move? You can buy three albums for $11.98. Prince gets paid, Target gets customers in their store, and you can walk away with a decent package of music. Granted, most people will probably just head over to the Pirate Bay and download it, but at least Prince is making actually buying the music as easy and affordable as it gets. There's little reason not to go buy it if you are a Prince fan.

I don't mind corporate sponsorship when it's obvious the consumer wins, and in this case the consumer definitely wins. Of course, Prince wins as well, as he probably got paid nicely for the exclusivity deal.

kashari: The exciting thing about this announcement is the verification that his new site will have videos of his performances along with previously unreleased tracks. Rumors are that there will be full length concerts available too. The Lovesexy tour of '88 is one of the best shows ever, hopefully he'll put that up.

Maybe the vault door is finally being cracked open!

See? Excited and happy fan. Mission accomplished.

I was in Best Buy this weekend. In the Guns N Roses "section" there are hundreds of copies of Chinese Democracy on the shelf, and boxes and boxes of hundreds more copies down under the shelves. They'll be trying to sell that album forever.

runfaster21: I was in Best Buy this weekend. In the Guns N Roses "section" there are hundreds of copies of Chinese Democracy on the shelf, and boxes and boxes of hundreds more copies down under the shelves. They'll be trying to sell that album forever.

You should have seen their N Sync bobblehead promotion. They were left with millions of those damn things.

Why wouldn't an act big enough to not need a big record company push not do this? Even selling a 3-CD set for $11.98 at Target, my bet is that Prince gets more per unit than he ever got in his contract with Warners. And I'm sure AC/DC did far better with Black Ice than just about any record they've put out (probably not Back In Black, but certainly anything after that one.)

The days of the music biz are over. Prince, Bowie, Rundgren, TMBG, Hiatt, and a lot more folks are finding other ways to distribute their music.

I'm gathering that this is really two CDs of Prince, and one of the new protégé, though (although he likely plays a big part in it, like with The Time).

And, $11.98 is a completely reasonable price for 3 CDs. It's time that musicians, hoping to make sales, recognize that part of their strategy is to think about down-pricing so as to lure away folks from torrenting.

I gave up downloading stuff a while back, when I realized that my favorite artists, like Hiatt, would have to give up their craft to make ends meet if they weren't supported by patrons like me.

Yeah, it's fun to get things for free if you expect others to keep giving. But that's the fallacy of Generation Entitlement: they think that they deserve and that others will just give and give. Instead, you have to pay. The artists deserve and need your support. Otherwise, they quit writing and go get a paying job.

/Dance on

Not to mention the fact that each disc of the three-disc set counts as one unit. At this price it will sell well and shoot up the chart, garnering more attention.

It's like a 3-for-1 in terms of sales.

I choose peer-to-peer networks to get music for free.

dmax: And, $11.98 is a completely reasonable price for 3 CDs. It's time that musicians, hoping to make sales, recognize that part of their strategy is to think about down-pricing so as to lure away folks from torrenting.

It's not so much "down-pricing" as it the fact that now the artist can decide what to price their material. The music industry called the shots before, and they gouged the prices and inflated them to whatever they wanted. Hell, they were found guilty of price fixing in court.

The real problem is getting the consumers back. Thanks to the RIAA's heavy handed (and, frankly, evil) tactics people see buying music as supporting a corrupt and horrible industry that even most artists don't want a part of. Corporate sponsorship like this is seen as "selling out" by more than a few, even though it's simply a means to get the music out there and get paid for it. There was some good in the music industry. Look at Rhino Records for example. They brought attention to a lot of stuff that collectors treasure. Most of that was funded by, you guessed it, mainstream artists bringing in tons of revenue.

So Prince has made an awesome deal. At the same time he's bringing up an artist who he thinks is worth hearing. Any one who speaks ill of this is a dick.

/Rant off.

And Mike Judge chose Costco to release all of his gay farked up shiat.

/welcome to costco
//we love you

Prince is a dick.

Try to find a Vanity 6 recording. You can't.

Look up Vanity 6 on You Tube.

Mallcore Martcore

vernonFL: Prince is a dick.

Try to find a Vanity 6 recording. You can't.

Look up Vanity 6 on You Tube.

Why the hell would anyone want to do that?

carmody: I choose peer-to-peer networks to get music for free.

When you're repairing cars or stocking shelves, I hope you expect to work for free as well.

carmody: I choose peer-to-peer networks to get music for free. Since I am nothing more than a worthless leecher who does nothing for the music sharing community other than siphon off the Pirate Bay, I don't get into sites like Waffles or What that have thriving and supporting members who also believe in buying music and giving back to the community through fund raisers and charity work.

FTFY.

All available on tPB, for less!

If "Chocolate Box" ends up on Lotusflow3r, I'll buy it.

Somehow, the clientele for each of these bands' albums seem to match the stores they were offered in...

Guns 'n' Roses fans shop at Best Buy
AC/DC fans shop at Wal-Mart
Prince fans shop at Target (and bottomless pants stores)

Cool? How is this COOL? More like SELLOUT. Can we get a SELLOUT tag? Its not enough Bruce Springsteen sold out to Wal-Mart, but now Prince? HA! Next youre tell me Metallica is going to start suing their fans for downloading their music! Lies, I say! Lies!

This isn't the first time he's done a deal with a big box retailer either. He initially released Crystal Ball with an exclusive deal through Best Buy. After a set period of time, it was then released through other retailers.

This set will definitely be worth $12! One is more rock guitar oriented and the other is funkier (according to those who have heard the CDs at preview events). As for the protege CD, this is the best way to get it out there as no one would purchase it separately otherwise, except for us collectors.

HowAboutNo: AC/DC fans shop at Wal-Mart


Not me....I'm more of a Costco shopper. I don't hate Wal Mart like a lot of people do, but I just don't like shopping there.

I've been looking for a chance to post this:

I can't wait to download this!

kashari: This isn't the first time he's done a deal with a big box retailer either. He initially released Crystal Ball with an exclusive deal through Best Buy.

Incidentally, also a Minnesota-based company.

He's looking out for his own, I have to respect that.

jerkobson: I think the real news is that Prince is releasing a new 3 disk album. That's news I can get behind.

It's actually only 2 Prince disks, LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND. The third disk is some new chick he's banging.

I'm okay with the first song on his site, and dig the instrumental. The girl's song I could take or leave.

/the girl's okay, but she ain't no Rosie Gaines.

RevMercutio: I'm okay with the first song on his site, and dig the instrumental. The girl's song I could take or leave.

/the girl's okay, but she ain't no Rosie Gaines.

Good old Rosie, she has some pipes!

Prince's cover of Crimson & Clover is great too.

RevMercutio: I'm okay with the first song on his site, and dig the instrumental. The girl's song I could take or leave.

/the girl's okay, but she ain't no Rosie Gaines.

btw...if you liked Rosie, wait until you hear his other singer, Shelby J.. This woman has so much energy and soul, it's amazing. She's also very kind & friendly, I talked to her a few times during their residency in Vegas. She sings background and he gives her solos frequently, they're also working on an album for her. Hopefully it will see the light of day.

GratuityIncluded: slave