I'm happy to have the great engineer Dave Hampton on my podcast this week.
Dave has worked with both Prince and Herbie Hancock (among others) building cutting edge audio systems for their studios and live. He's also the man behind the new Auratone-like Reftone monitors, fulfilling a big need in the market since Auratone went out of business.
On the episode's intro I'll also discuss Google's new search ranking system that penalizes sites that aren't mobile-ready, and the 9 factors that determine the sound of a guitar pickup.
While respecting his music and musicianship, I've always thought Prince to be both pompous and arrogant, so I almost didn't watch when the great Tavis Smiley interviewed the Purple One on his PBS talk show last night.
I don't know what made me give this a chance, but I'm glad I did. Prince turned out to be a lot more normal and down-to-earth than I ever thought he could be and I actually enjoyed the interview a great deal (I must admit that I enjoy most interviews that Tavis conducts though).
Perhaps my attitude comes from my only live encounter with Prince at Hollywood's famous Sunset Sound studios (where so many huge hits were cut in the last 40 years) in the mid-80's. I was recording in Studio A while Prince was camped out in Studio C. Sunset Sound has a nice enclosed basketball court, and during a break I noticed Prince out there shooting baskets by himself. I decided I go challenge him to a game, or at least shoot some hoops with him, when out of nowhere, a huge bodyguard jumped in the way just as I hit the court's entrance. "Prince don't want no company," he stated with a conviction that let me know there was no way I was getting in there, so I backed away and went back to work.
Anyway, I have a way different view of the guy now, thanks to Mr. Smiley. Here's a short 2 minute portion of the show to judge for yourself.
Prince's $2100 Opus One purple iPod and book collection has sold about 1/3rd of the 950 over the weekend. I guess that's OK, considering the price, but it's not like there was a run on these things.
But according to the British company that's actually doing the sales and marketing, Kraken Opus, they couldn't be happier.
I’m ecstatic about that,” founder and CEO Karl Fowler said. “Without being overly confident or too arrogant about it, we always knew that we would get to a sellout position within a few months.” To sell at this rate, however, was unexpected, he said.
It's pretty audacious to price any musical item at such a high price during these economic times, but the Purple One seems to be oblivious to the market at the moment. Even though it's obviously the brainchild of Fowler, all this paints Prince in a pretty bad light. Instead of being a brilliant example of Music 3.0 marketing like Trent Reznor, Josh Freese or Radiohead, it just feels like someone so full of himself that he feels that everything he puts out is worth the extra cost.
I'm sure Prince and Fowler will sell these packages out, but he sure isn't helping Prince endear himself to his fan base with this one.
After the news that the Grateful Dead is making a tour book available from blurb.com and even picking up the custom cover charge for their fans for a limited time, we find that the kind-hearted Prince will make available his "21 NightsOpus Packagefor a mere $2100."
The tour book is leather bound in a velvet case and the 280 pages are made of 200gsm silk engraved with metallic gold. The box set also contains a custom purple iPod loaded with 40 minutes of "exclusive" footage along with a live soundtrack from Indigo Nights and preloaded with a variety of Prince songs. Only 950 will be available.
If $2100 is not rich enough for you, you can also participate in a private auction for Number One in the series, which comes with a special alligator binding and an iPod encrusted with 5 "rare purple diamonds" and 21 "round brilliant cut diamonds."
Sounds opulent and ostentatious, but that's just me. I actually have no objections to these kinds of offerings aimed at superfans, as long as the rest of your fans are also taken care of, which I'm not so sure Prince did in this case.
I'm sure Prince will sell this package out in no time and good for him, but it just feels a bit smarmy as compared to similar offerings from Trent Reznor and Josh Freese. It seems that some artists are all about their fans while others are all about themselves.
Prince is back trying to push the boundaries a bit more with his new 3 disc release, due out on March 29th and exclusively sold at Target.
On March 24th, Prince will launch a new subscription site called lotusflow3r for sales direct to his fan base. For $77 fans will get downloads of the 3 disc set plus exclusive videos, behind the scenes peeks, news, concert info, and chances for tickets to upcoming shows.
Prince has hosted a subscription site before with great success, but he abruptly shut it down about 3 years ago. Although there was never an official explanation, the feeling was that he felt it had run it's course at the time.
Prince has always been on the cutting edge of marketing as well as music and it should prove interesting to see how this new arrangement will work out. Of course, it all depends on how good the music is, a point frequently overlooked by everyone but the fans.
The upcoming Prince album is to be a triple disc set and will be exclusively available at Target department stores. The set will include Prince's two original studio albums called LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUN" and a third disc titled Elixer by his latest protege, the singer Bria Valente.
Prince has made 3 mistakes with this release:
1) 2 original discs is creative overindulgence and way too much music to be consumed at one time. Albums are dead, and long 2 disc sets promise that this release will be forgotten in no time. Prince would've been a lot better served by releasing just a few of the very best songs rather than diluting whatever good material he has with the filler that we know will be there.
2) the third disc by his unknown protege might get her some short-term exposure, but it's no guarantee of anything beyond the lifetime of a very short candle. It's already competing with Prince's two other discs, which is competing with all the other new releases, which are competing with Prince's catalog, which is competing with the internet, games, social networking, television, and all the other things that take one's attention these days.
3) choosing Target as the exclusive distributor probably wasn't the smartest business decision that Prince could make. Wal-Mart and Best Buy have longer reach and more traffic. Unless, of course, it was the only deal on the table.
It'll be interesting to see just how well the release will do, but the prediction here is it'll tank.
Prince's $2100 Opus One purple iPod and book collection has sold about 1/3rd of the 950 over the weekend. I guess that's OK, considering the price, but it's not like there was a run on these things.
After the news that the Grateful Dead is making a tour book available from blurb.com and even picking up the custom cover charge for their fans for a limited time, we find that the kind-hearted Prince will make available his "21 Nights Opus Package for a mere $2100."
Prince is back trying to push the boundaries a bit more with his new 3 disc release, due out on March 29th and exclusively sold at Target. 
The upcoming Prince album is to be a triple disc set and will be exclusively available at Target department stores. The set will include Prince's two original studio albums called LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUN" and a third disc titled Elixer by his latest protege, the singer Bria Valente.
