back to article 'The internet's completely over', declares petulant Prince

Purple rock geezer Prince has declared that the internetosphere has had its day, as he prepares to release his latest album exclusively on CD through UK newspaper the Daily Mirror. In a punctuation-light interview ahead of the unleashing of 20TEN in physical form, the Jehovah's Witness declared: "The internets completely over …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Who?

    Nope, don't know him...Is he a footballer or something?

    What?

    He was a pop star in the 80's..Oh that explains it.

    Has-been looking for free publicity.

    1. Michael 28
      Happy

      wasn't he also better known....

      ....as the artist formerly known as "non-ascii squiggle" ??????

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Joke

        I think it was Viz

        ... that said "The artists formerly known as Prince, will now be known only by his symbol..."

        Then helpfully included a picture of a W next to an anchor.

      2. Lunatik
        Headmaster

        Keep up at the back there!

        Prince's former name has been assigned Unicode reference U+AC0C

        1. Unprofessional Type

          RIS/DERIS

          http://www.decodeunicode.org/en/u+ac0c

          Oh, you meant it as a phonetic joke, and not literally. Right, I shut up then.

  2. Code Monkey

    Oh there's a meerkat

    Your best years are well behind you, Prince. I can't see many people giving a rat's jacksy about your latest wankramble.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Unhappy

      Other 80s musicians should retire too

      U2's 'No Line on the Horizon' album should've been given away with fish-n-chip wrappers too, it was terrible album and similarly only a trailer for their '360° Tour'.

      I saw U2's Rose Bowl gig on Sky1 the other day and thought ... these songs are so rubbish and unmemorable that Bono has to sing other songs/lyrics over the top of them to stop the crowd dying of boredom! Surely Bono knows in his heart that it's rubbish, perhaps that's why he threw his back out? I doubt Eno/Lilywhite told him 'No Line on the Horizon' is crap, wouldn't want to kill their cash-cow, but perhaps that's why they fired Rick Rubin from the album?

      Someone should tell Bono, Prince and others about "quitting at the top of your game" / "leaving on a high"; 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb' should've been U2's swansong.

      1. Code Monkey

        U2

        Yup. Bono's a complete bellend. Sting's another. One of the things I miss about the post-Facebook world is the pictures of Sting looking like a twat group - seriously FB users, search for it and be amazed!

  3. jake Silver badge

    It was looking for free press.

    You gave it free press.

    If you feed the trolls, you get to keep them. EOM

  4. LinkOfHyrule
    FAIL

    That twat formally known as...

    HAHA!

    Yeah these interwebz, they is so 1960's. Man, these inetwebtubez are like so old and stuff!

    What a silly man. He should change is name to a symbol or something. I can think of a few appropriate ones. How about 8==

    1. lpopman
      Happy

      titular stuff

      Shouldn't that be 8===D ?

      btw, It looks much better in Comic Book Sans. :)

      Just gotta love nobgags :)

      1. TimeMaster T

        Maybe ...

        More like 8=

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        I'll get me...

        To quote Craig Charles ( Last Man on Earth tour ), "Ha ha! I love nobgags.....but my girlfriend won't wear one!"

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Ironic he's now using newspapers

    I think this is the second album that he's given away free with newspapers.

    What is he going to do when the newspapers close down and go electronic?

    How is anyone going to know about his next album if he has no website and there's no traditional publishing left to let more than 7 people know about it?

    MTV was superseded by YouTube for technological reasons - it allowed people to watch what they want, when they wanted. Once a song dropped off MTV's playlist, you'd be lucky to see it once in a blue moon. And even when it was on the playlist, you'd have to sit through loads of crap before the songs you wanted came on. There wasn't really a proper market for buying videos, only the music.

    By the same token, downloads have superseded CDs because of convenience. You don't have to go shopping and then manage all those discs every time you want to play another track. And both walkmans and discmans were a rubbish experience. The batteries didn't last long, and when you ran for the bus the music either cut out or wobbled like an old pub singer.

    So this isn't a fad that people are going to get bored with. They're used to convenience and not having to put up with filler at a radio of 7:3, and will not go back.

    Can anyone think of a next step after downloads? I can't. I can think of ways to streamline the process, improve the file formats and develop the software/device interfaces, but the basic principle of downloading music instead of buying physical media is surely a final step... until they invent a way to transmit the music directly into your brain!

    1. EvilGav 1

      @ AC

      "downloads have superseded CDs" (sic)

      Really ? The last time I checked, which admittedly was a few months ago, sales of physical media vastly out-weighed downloads.

      Or do you mean illegal downloads, which is a completely unquantified and unquantifiable amount. It also, whether you agree with the full spiel from the associated music production companies or not, will limit the amount of new music eventually, especially if they have no real way to make money from what they are doing.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        pedant check...

        That's not what the word means. Superseded means it has rendered the old method or form obselete or antiquated.

        e.g. Vauxhall have just launched the new Astra (think it's Astra G now) which supersedes the previous model. Obviously nobody would claim that there are more new Astras on the road than all the previous models though.

      2. Tharglet
        FAIL

        Downloads vs CDs

        I'd certainly buy more legitimate downloads if they were consistently cheaper than the CD. Quite often the download is the same price/more than the CD, so I might as well express about 2 days of patience and have the thing delivered. Then file the "backup" somewhere safe.

        I don't care if I'm not supposed to rip my own discs (lawlol) - if I'm not sharing the files (which I don't) then nobody should really care what I do with them.

    2. Daniel B.
      Boffin

      Kind of...

      MTV got substituted by YouTube because MTV no longer shows videos at all. It had started the slippery slope into crap programming ever since they started putting boy band videos; then they went heavier on the whole "reality show" thing, so much that they are no longer a "video channel" at all. They've lost the 'M' in 'MTV'.

      While discmans were shitty, the latest batch of walkmans had anti-shock systems that actually worked. Running and jumping wouldn't wobble the tape; they were very damn resilient for what they were worth. Hell, mine is still in perfect working order after 12 years! I agree on the Discmans though. The mp3-enabled ones were better, but an mp3 player fares much better in this field.

      Downloads? Hm... only if you count allofmp3, coz the eyeTunes store is way too overpriced for me. I do agree that I'm more likely to rip my legally purchased CDs and slap them on my Blackberry, but that isn't quite 'downloading'. And I'd rather own a physical BluRay disc than depending on a streaming service when my internet link might go down.

      1. Oliver 7

        Actually...

        ...even the cheapest of the discmans as far back as 2003/4 had a cache to store a limited amount of music in case of jolts. Obviously you couldn't go jogging with them but they were quite effective. I had one that even had a circuit in it so you could power up rechargeable batteries between uses using the mains cable - great idea!

        Oh and Prince is a knob!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "The internets like MTV."

    huh? MTV is a one way platform designed to pipe corporate audio-visual feces directly into the homes of those who probably spell 'culture' with a k, and the internet... is not.

  7. NB
    FAIL

    oh wow

    What a fucking idiot, thank goodness I can't stand his music either.

  8. Nigel Brown
    WTF?

    Who??

    Prince? Faded pop star and psycologically unstable pint-sized prat decides to release an album through a paper with possibly the fastest falling circulation outside of Team England Supporters Daily. No doubt it will be available on p2p before the paperboy gets to school.

    Yup, first class marketing.

  9. Annihilator
    Unhappy

    Ooh how exciting

    What a wonderful gimmick that would be even more wonderful if he hadn't done it all before, I suppose he's switched from the Mail on Sunday which is a step in the right direction.

    A real shame, he used to be a brilliant artist who just seems to be gradually turning into a parody of himself...

  10. nickrw
    Unhappy

    Ow.

    Ow. Ow. Ow.

    I initially thought that it was prince that had eschewed the apostrophe as well as the internet. How wrong I was.

    Pass the eye bleach, please.

  11. Mark Thomas 3
    Alert

    Jumped up...

    ...stumpy little cock.

    That is all.

  12. Jonte Monkey
    Pirate

    title

    Oh, I'm pretty sure it'll be on the internet pretty sharpish...

  13. Winkypop Silver badge
    FAIL

    Oh boy

    A namby-pamby, has-been pop star with God tendencies.

    And who listens to this twat?

  14. Piers
    WTF?

    They wont pay me an advance for it ....

    ...sos I'll give it away in... ...the DAILY MAIL!!!

    1. It'sa Mea... Mario
      Alert

      Re: They wont pay me an advance for it

      The customers will get it free but the paper will be paying Prince hansomely.

    2. Asgard
      Boffin

      @"sos I'll give it away in... ...the DAILY" Mirror (not Mail)

      He is saying these stupid, overly dramatic and controversial things (like a lot of celebrities (people often with a Histrionic Personality Disorder) who are in need of attention) so he and many like him can keep getting more attention and through endless self promotion they then go on to have big well publicised concerts which earn them an additional fortune. (There is something very two faced about this attention seeking behaviour where they say one thing but are really seeking attention through their actions).

      Another example like him (i.e. a HPD attention seeking celebrity) is Lady Gaga who in attention seeking terms is like a female version of him with a lobster on her head or whatever). Its all about attention. Plus people who seek attention hold these very effective attention seekers up as their role models. (Which explains Lady Gaga's 10M facebook record).

      Its an endless need for attention attention attention with them. (Take away people's attention on them and they go to pieces … which is when they turn to drink and drugs to suppress their troubling thoughts, because they can't cope with no attention).

      So giving the CD away in the Daily mirror is also another way to get attention.

      Also this giving the music away (how much is the mirror paying for this exclusive) does also show a business model that will work online where musicians give their music away as promotional material to then earn their living from performances in concerts (exactly as musicians have done for centuries). But then the music publishers won't like that as they are no longer needed and they could very well be part of his game plan with this CD release, as he has had battles with music publishers in the past (Sony) trying to get a bigger slice of the money, so by taking this action he is publicly bypassing the music publishers.

      So on the surface it appears stupid, but its actually far more devious, two faced and manipulative once you see why they do the things they do.

      1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

        Shorter version

        "Prince just needs attention, like Lady Gaga"

        I know it takes more time to write a short letter (according to Mark Twain), but you're taking the p*ss here.

        My own opinion of Prince? Unprintable, but to adopt your longhand style, remove one "r" from "Repetitive Strain Injury" and you'll have some idea..

  15. Sir Runcible Spoon

    Sir

    Blimey, he's really kept up with the times hasn't he?

    1. Red Bren
      Coat

      Perhaps he had

      a sign o' them?

  16. Rob
    Unhappy

    Shame...

    ... he made some classic tunes in his early days and now he's just another religious celebrity nutjob.

  17. Jolyon Ralph

    For those who don't know

    Prince was a pop singer who was famous at around the same time as Roland Rat.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: For those who don't know

      Come on, he's a great and important musician. Hasn't done anything decent for years and is somewhat demented, yes, but credit where it's due.

      1. Piers
        Happy

        Come on, he's a great and important musician.

        "Come on, he *WAS* a great and important musician." - there fixed that for you.

        Oh - wait, no I haven't heard his new album. Perhaps you're right after all....

        Although since I won't be getting the DM, maybe I'll never know...

      2. Ian Davies

        Correction

        "he's a great and important musician"

        I think you meant to type

        "he *was* a great and important musician"

        His modern day greatness and importance can be accurately gauged from the company he keeps i.e. The Daily Mirror... 'nuff said.

      3. Simon C

        dotdashdot

        whereas Prince just wanted the fame and to do something with Gladys the gerbil, if rumours are to be believed.

        Anyone remember the Prince two ribs schoolyard rumour?

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        A title? Surely not

        Indeed, it's all been downhill since Rat Rapping

      5. Jolyon Ralph

        Just checking....

        were you talking about Prince or Roland Rat?

        I admit Prince had a few catchy songs, and he has gone a bit loopy (About 8 of 10 on the Adam Ant scale).

        1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

          Re: Just checking....

          Adam Ant is bipolar. I don't think Prince is.

      6. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        Re: Credit where it's due

        "Come on, he's a great and important musician. Hasn't done anything decent for years and is somewhat demented, yes, but credit where it's due."

        Ms Bee is right - 'Rat Rapping' was fucking ace!

        1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

          Re: Re: Credit where it's due

          Ha.

      7. NogginTheNog

        Agreed Ms. Bee!

        I saw him at the O2, and he *was* phemonenal.

        But yes his recorded output of recent years has been throwaway bilge - we got a free CD of his last album at the gig, listened to it maybe 3 times, and that was ENOUGH!

        His God comment at the end may just explain some of that downfall of course...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      For those who don't know

      Roland Rat was a "TV MegaStar" around the same time as Timmy Mallet's Wacaday show.

      Yeahhhh

  18. Jad
    FAIL

    'petulant Prince is completely over', declares The internet

    hmm?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      b3ta did that ages ago

      so the twat sued them.

  19. NB
    Paris Hilton

    MY EYES!!

    Oh dear goodness, why did I click the link to the interview? I was tempted to register an account just so that I could berate the so called journalist on their appalling use of language. For fucks sake, haven't these semi-literate baboon children ever heard of a fucking apostrophe?! Or the correct use of quotation marks perhaps? Or even how to use a semi-colon without looking like a dick?

    Paris, because she's much easier on the eyes than that third rate pre-GCSE quality excuse for a piece of journalism.

    1. Maty
      Pint

      wow

      If this wasn't so damn literate, I'd recommend it for FOTW. Someone get this man to a drink before he explodes.

      (It's a 'so-called journalist' BTW. Just saying.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        Let me...

        tidy this up a little.

        Old:

        For fucks sake, haven't these semi-literate baboon children ever heard of a fucking apostrophe?! Or the correct use of quotation marks perhaps? Or even how to use a semi-colon without looking like a dick?

        New

        For fuck's sake! Haven't these semi-literate baboon children ever heard of a fucking apostrophe, the correct use of quotation marks or even how to use a semi-colon without looking like a dick?

        There, that's better.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No, My Eyes!

      "For fuck's sake," surely.

    3. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
      Pirate

      My prediction for the day:

      I suspect that punctuation will become increasingly optional in written language, and the apostrophe will be the first up against the wall. Which is criminal, in my not so humble opinion, but you can't stand in the way of progress, can you?

      Pirate, because I'd rather do jail time for downloading the album illegally than be seen in public with the Daily Mirror. Not that I will be downloading it, 'cos it'll be shite.

      GJC

  20. Rogerborg

    Yup, trying to get free publicity to drive demand

    Now if only he'd thought of some way to SUPPLY that nascent demand that's more convenient than having the bits painstakingly graven on a tablet, and then smashed into sub-bits by Royal Fail a week later.

    Shhh... nobody tell him that CDs are all computerised up in the hizzizzy as well. He's probably still trying to find where to fit the stylus in his CD player.

  21. Efros
    Thumb Down

    TAFKATAFKAP

    Will become TACKAT. The Artist Currently Known As Twonk. As in "What a twonk!."

  22. Tom Kelsall
    FAIL

    Well....

    "Everything's been invented - science may as well give up"

    "Who the hell is EVER going to need more than 640k of RAM?!"

    I rest my case...

  23. CmdrX3
    FAIL

    The twat formerly known as .......twat

    Seriously...... is he having a laugh? Hopefully when purchasing the Daily Mirror we will be able to refuse the freebie, or perhaps I could take it and teach my dog how to Frisbee.

    What has more chance of being over? Would it be the internet, or his career. It's a toughie

  24. Mark R W
    Thumb Up

    Internet Declares Prince's Career "completely over"

    "Prince is completely over. I don't see why anyone should to his new music on iTunes or anyone else."

  25. Tom_
    Happy

    Wise words...

    ...from the artist formerly known as relevant.

  26. TkH11

    Advance

    So he wants advance payment for his music does he? That then places the risk on the internet distributor.

    The guy is loaded anyway, so what's the big deal with wanting an advance, can he not afford to wait for the royalties to come in?

    Or is he really hoping that the distibutor will take the risk and lose and he profits by having a large upfront advance and the album fails to make enough money for the distributor?

  27. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    exclusively on CD through UK newspaper the Daily Mirror

    Something is defiantly over - oh, yes - his career

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Is the has-been

    In need of some attention?

    Then again I don't think he ever stopped being an annoying little tosser so maybe has-been is pushing it.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    prince

    i thought i'd heard it all after watching an evening with kevin smith, but this dude just gets weirder

  30. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Like it's...

    Perhaps he's gonna communicate like it's 1999? Poor bloke, stuck in a time warp.

    Is he still the artist previously known as Prince or did he become the artist known at Prince who was formerly known as something unpronouncable after formally being known as Prince?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: Like it's...

      "Is he still the artist previously known as Prince or did he become the artist known at Prince who was formerly known as something unpronouncable after formally being known as Prince?"

      Given that the whole symbol thing was mocked in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, once upon a time, I think it's clear how dated the whole Prince business is.

  31. HFoster

    Sour Grapes

    Can't get what he wants, so declares electronic music distribution "over".

    Smart move.

    Oh, and how exactly does technology fill your head with numbers? And how can numbers affect your health?

    I hate when the ignorant try to hide it by declaring things to be harmful/no good/stupid. Admit you don't know what you're talking about, you fuckers!

    Also, why can't Prince be happy that he wrote some amazing pop songs in the 80s and 90s, and give thanks to his god for having had a day in the sun?

    Fucking idiot.

  32. Caerdydd_Mike
    WTF?

    Is it just me , or ....

    Quote : - "Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good."

    So why release a CD ?

  33. steogede

    a title

    He should get down to the library and do one of those computer course they run for elderly - he might realise that iTunes != The Internet.

    BTW AC@13:56, I love your description of MTV and the fact that it also fits iTunes perfectly "one way platform designed to pipe corporate audio-visual feces" - even better, if you take out the audio-visual bit, it fits the Daily Mail perfectly too.

    BTW2, I wonder if he could convince the Daily Mail to remove there Internet presence too, as an act of solidarity.

  34. Mark 140
    Stop

    Spotify

    ...and yet he has oodles and oodles of albums available on Spotify. Looks like he's not shunned all forms of digital delivery.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Well...

    The logic of eschewing the internet is simply because he doesn't understand it, and those that don't understand it are compelled to jump on it like it's evil/bad/failed.

    Aside from free promo, is it more likely the case that the album's crap, even he knows it is, and wants some cash up front so he can do a runner...?

  36. envmod

    BATDANCE

    BATDANCE - this is all anyone needs to know about Prince.

  37. James Hughes 1

    I vote for Prince!

    Not his recent comments, just that I went to one of his gigs once at Wembley arena- top show.

    Now, of course, he is a mad as a box of soapy frogs.

  38. Robert E A Harvey
    Alien

    Ah.

    Thing is, ignoring the messenger - and I think he is a twonk, and the idea of him being a great musician is laughable, no matter how many instruments he played on one album that took 18 months to make - I think he may have a point.

    The balance on the internut is shifting from home-made, collaborative, genuinely interesting and creative to mass-produced, handed out to you, paid for, corporate pap. Just like everything else. Book shops are full of Tom Clancy dross, rather than samisdat manuscript subversive poetry, and the internut is drifitng the same way.

    Regardless of my views on his music, I think he has often seen things the rest of us havn't. It's just that being a twonk we'd rather laugh at him than listen.

    Oh look, is that icon a picture of him?

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Welcome

    I for one...

    Would like to thank God that numbnuts has given up and has accepted his face to obscurity, gracefully! Conversely, anybody else remember when MTV's primary programming was mostly music videos?

  40. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    Beyond download

    ...is interactive music. You don't just watch or listen, you participate.

    With some of Prince's videos from the old days that's gonna be WILD.

  41. heyrick Silver badge

    "They wont pay me an advance for it"

    Maybe there's the truth.

    But... ye Gods. He's dumping iTunes for the Mirror? Maybe there's more truth that he can't even make sales of his music, instead he'll get lots of albums shifted by, basically, having it be GIVEN away.

    I notice the article saying he's a Jehovah's Witness now. So his hatred of the online world is really not out of character [take a gander at http://www.bible.ca/Jw-internet.htm].

    The deep deep irony, however, is that said album will no doubt be ripped and posted to this horrible horrible virtual world within minutes.

    Mmmm, weird article this. I could have sworn I just read an Orlowski piece about The Wired bringing us all world peace, or somesuch. Then, I guess an internet without wallies like squiggle-name probably would be more peaceful.

  42. Kevin 43
    WTF?

    Charts....

    Seeing as it is given away, it must be ineligible for chart ratings - will he be doing the same for any singles released?

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He used to be good...

    ...before he turned into a religion-driven dickhead. I quite liked him in his early "Prince" and "non-ascii squiggle" days. However his gigs are still sellout affairs and apparently are value for money. Perhaps he knows something we don't?

  44. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    idioto

    Then what am I using right now to ready your numbnutzness, "Prince"? lmao Happy sales... haha

  45. F'tangF'tang

    Nothing Compares to YouTube

    I used to like the girl Wendy who played guitar in Princes Revolution...

    Her mouth was a nice shape when she smirked...

  46. CADmonkey
    Joke

    From the Spitting Image mid-80s book thing Pop trivia pages

    "contrary to popular opinion, in his private life, Prince is a pratt"

    I can't hear his name without thinking of that line. That's over 25 years, & counting.

    I love my brain.

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    At one time Prince was hip* and slowly he became outdated

    and now, unlike the Internets, he is quite, quite useless.

    * Seriously, who still says "hip" in a non-ironic fashion when not referring to knackered old things that are worn out and need to be replaced?

  48. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Coat

    Curious

    I was tempted to suggest he's totally lost it, but I'm not sure he ever totally had it.

    P.S.

    In my personal opinion he was crap anyway.

  49. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Prince ?

    He's so 1999 !

  50. George of the Jungle

    New Headline

    'Prince is completely over', declares relieved Internet.

  51. A. Lewis
    FAIL

    Good grief

    That barely-literate drivel counts for newspaper journalism these days?

  52. Mr Young
    Go

    The net is gone...eer, wait a minute!

    I just don't believe this Purple Princey Prick guy - is he deluded or what?

  53. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Before download was interactive music.

    "Beyond download ...is interactive music"

    Wrong way round.

    Muso and multi-instumentalist tech geek Todd Rundgren did an interactive album a LONG time ago, and a website to go with it. No World Order was released in 1993 on Philips CD-i (i for interactive) format, and shortly afterwards on PC and Mac versions. Another interactive CD, The Individualist, came out in 1995.

    So it's already been done, so long ago in fact that many readers of this site may be too young to know about it. There's a limited-quality off-air-recorded demo video from Discovery on a Todd fansite [1].

    Actually the state of Todd's website at the moment somewhat supports Prince's case; how many websites out there besides that one are untouched for a matter of years?

    The TR-i website and some of its associated websites and geekware (e.g. Patronet.com, and there was a weird PC music player gadget whose name I wish I could remember, it was two or three PCs ago) are long derelict.

    Prince and Todd have a surprising amount in common, in some ways.

    [0] http://www.seahaas.com/toddrundgren/videovault.html Todd Rundgren Video Vault

    [1] http://www.seahaas.com/toddrundgren/nwopromo.wmv CD-i walkthrough and interview

  54. danny_0x98

    Not Getting It

    I guess it's a peculiar hell when strangers use your "Let's Go Crazy" on their non-commercial birthday videos without paying a license fee. Mind you, it's expecting money from places where, heretofore, one never expected money, but thinking about that makes my brain hurt and the Writer Occasionally Known As Orlowski probably has a tard-appendage waiting in the wings for me.

    A few years back, maybe 2005 or so, I was talking with an agent buddy who had Prince as a client and he was telling me that Prince was adamant about not putting tracks on iTunes. It was reported to me as Prince exacting some sort of vengeance on Steve Jobs. No doubt there was a back story, but details were not forthcoming. I didn't delve because, though I think very highly of the music, I can do with out the madnesses that occasionally accompany talent. I did express to my friend my point of view that Prince was nuts. I think Jobs figures a person/label that passes on iTunes is hurting themselves more than they hurt him.

    As to today's comment about advances. I think Prince is talking about the way Wal-Mart or Best Buy will give an artist production money in return for a term of retail exclusivity. So Apple doesn't do that in general or do that in particular for Prince. Okay, he makes his choices and more power to him. But, I will not be begging his pardon as I scratch my head and wonder why Prince thinks he is entitled to an exclusivity deal. As one who pays for his music and who shops only at iTunes (yeah, I'm lazy), I guess none of my money will 70% go to Prince.

    You have to admire a guy who takes a stand when it costs him money. So, Prince, Salute! Let me know if you put your catalog on iTunes, I seem to have misplaced one of my discs for "Sign o the Times" and I'd like to replace it.

  55. kain preacher

    his problems with I tunes

    He released an album on Itunes that was mastered as one track. So for moment the whole album sold for 99 cents since it was mastered as one track.

    For some reason he thought people would want to listen every song from beginning to end in one setting .

  56. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    MTV not superseded by Youtube

    "MTV was superseded by YouTube for technological reasons"

    No it wasn't, at least here in the States, MTV was superseded because they quit showing ANY videos, ever, and just showed a bunch of crap shows. Then they put out M2 specifically to show videos -- guess what? It showed videos for like 6 months, then showed the same crap shows as MTV (cable and satellite promptly dropped it at that point.)

    Don't get me wrong, it'd be done for by now, but they took themselves out of the equation well before Youtube was ever founded.

    As for Prince -- well, he can do whatever he wants. Anyone who, for some misguided reason, wants his songs will probably get a free electronic copy since they can't buy one, his loss.

  57. fred #257
    Coffee/keyboard

    this is just too good.....

    "Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that cant be good for you."

    A tinfoil hat ought to work.

    (My keyboard could use one right about now...)

  58. streaky
    Alert

    Round the bend

    As if there wasn't enough empirical evidence that this guy is a complete looney toon...

    Well there you have it folks.

    Much as I loathe ITunes it's clearly a better distribution medium that a free CD in a paper nobody reads..

  59. skeptical i

    Jehovah's fault.

    Michael Jackson? Amazing talent back in the day. Also Jehovah's Witness. His descent into eccentricity (he was too rich to be merely "insane") is well- documented and requires no further comment.

    Prince? Ditto.

    Therefore, Jehovah cant be good for you. QED.

  60. Adrian Esdaile
    Jobs Horns

    Do you see what he did there?

    Step 1. Give CD away with large-circulation daily newspaper

    Step 2. Count how many papers were printed that day (not necessarily sold, haha...)

    Step 3. Claim newspaper's print run as actual album "sales"

    Step 4. Claim instant chart-topping "album" with 500-umpty billion million sales in ONE DAY!

    Step 6. There is NO step 5.

    Step 7. Win crummy award for top sales, get Platinum-Uridium-Tungsten record

    Step 8. PROFIT!

    Step 9. Give all money to GOD

    Step 10. Discover GOD is actually..... STEVE!

  61. Turtle

    Taking it personally.

    Some pop star whose popularity is not what it used to be, says that he is not thrilled with the internet, and all sorts of people are slagging him off as though he personally insulted them.

    It's not a big freaking deal.

  62. Ceiling Cat
    Grenade

    An advance? Why? He'll just blow it on frilly lingere!

    "They wont pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they cant get it."

    Funniest thing I've heard from a musician in years. Proves that, for ageing transvestite relics of 1984, it truly IS all about the money.

    I find it creepy that he also performs as a woman, in full drag and everything.... Not, mind you, that he ever behaved normally in the foirst place. And that whole "Symbol" thing, I won't even start on that....

    Grenade, because this is one musician who definitely needs a recal-pineapple implant, stat!

  63. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    'The internet's completely over,' declares petulant Prince

    And there was me assuming the article was going to be about Prince Charles!

    But it was about an alternatively pratulent prince, who has been almost completely forgotten...

  64. Sven
    Joke

    iPad

    Do I buy an iPad now? What if he's right, what to do, what to do?

  65. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    The fetid stench of negativity

    pervades this article and its train of sniggering comments.

    The notion of music as "relevant" is absurd. And ignorant. Either it appeals or it doesn't. De gustibus and all that.

    The notion that the "relevance" of music is related to the revenue it generates is frankly ludicrous. Three hundred years ago the world's highest-paid musician was Silvius Leopold Weiss. Johann Sebastian Bach was also around then, but made considerably less (and wasn't paid a penny for the Brandenburg Concertos).

    The notion that a musician of the prodigious gifts that Prince demonstrates should somehow no longer be competent because he is a couple of decades older is illogical. Benny Waters was still playing live at 95 years old, I myself saw Les Paul playing crafty guitar when he was 92.

    Prince was years ahead of the pack when it came to scepticism over the shenanigans of the record industry. He deliberately wore masks for TV interviews and changed his name to something awkward to print as a protest against his rapacious and unreasonable record contracts. So he went against the media. And what happens when you do that? You become a loony of course, because everybody plays the game except for loonies.

    So to the majority of the commenters on this list: congratulations on the comprehensive regurgitation of three decades of NME slurs. Not a loony amongst you. You must all be so proud of yourselves!

  66. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    What is funny.........

    Is he is getting paid for "giving the CD away free" and getting loads of press. You lot arent getting paid for slagging him off - do you think he cares.

    he makes lots more money and you lot bitch. MMMM who exactly is the stupid one here?

  67. DrXym

    Crybaby Prince

    Prince is such a crybaby. He proclaims he makes most of his money through tours, so why the hell is he complaining about how his album gets distributed. Is it likely that the newspaper is paying him more than a token fee for what is essentially self promotion anyway?

    I can't deny he has written some good music but I don't think much of him as a person. I suspect he doesn't like the internet because he can't control it although that doesn't stop him trying. He unleashed his lawyers on b3ta.com, a small humour site who had the gall to be run an image competition about him. The image of a chihuahua straining to shit out the prince logo was worth it alone. I'm sure the image is still out there somewhere...

  68. Dan P
    WTF?

    "They just fill your head with numbers and that cant be good for you."

    Numbers - they're rather similar to symbols, aren't they? You know, that thing he supposedly changed his name to in an attempt to maintain his "cool" (as opposed to idiotic numbskull) image?

  69. Nigel Brown

    @Adrian Esdaile

    It's been many a year since the Mirror could be considered large circulation.

  70. Bernard Lyons
    Thumb Up

    Requirement met

    Ah, Prince. Daft as a brush, always has been. Love him to bits. His after-show shows are legendary.

    I wouldn't have minded, er, loving some of his protoges along the way... Shiela E especially. Awesome percussionist, looked great in a lace bodysuit. Sigh.

  71. Atonnis
    Megaphone

    I think...

    Knowing people on the internet, a rant such as this will cause his album to likely become the most internet-distributed album of all time....

    ....which is probably exactly what he wants, and exactly what it is designed to do.

    So everyone, please just ignore the loudmouth little oik and move on....

  72. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Lest we forget

    His Power Generation days were fantastic. And Sign o' the Times! Doesn't get much funkier than that. Even the great Matthew Bellamy could learn a thing or two...

  73. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    iTunes: record companies get two thirds of the price. Prince: record company gets zero.

    "I think Jobs figures a person/label that passes on iTunes is hurting themselves more than they hurt him."

    Do you think the other Apple (the Beatles music one) agrees with that? Last time I checked the Beatles stuff wasn't on iTunes.

    It's a shame there's so much negativity here. Prince takes the opportunity to cut the pigopolist record companies out of the distribution chain, and almost no one has a good word to say?

    Do you know who gets what on iTunes revenue? In particular, did you know that the record company get two thirds of the price? The record company get two thirds of the price? How on earth does that work?

    "iTunes downloads cost 79p per track. Writer/publisher get 6p, Performer 6-8p, Visa/Mastercard 7p, Apple 12p, and Record Company almost 50p. Sod that. Help yourself to my songs & share them with your friends" (from http://www.tomrobinson.com/records/music/index.htm)

  74. Paul RND*1000

    %s/the internets/Princes career/g

    There...I fixed it for you.

  75. Gerard Krupa
    FAIL

    It could be worse

    He could have said young people need more Xenu in their lives. This is just a combination of someone who will say and do anything for publicity mixed with someone who has been unsuccessfully fighting against YouTube for 3 years (and by fighting I mean making threats to sue but never actually following through).

  76. tom 24
    Pint

    Prince and... God?

    He's got religion now? Does this mean he's past is "free love and psychedelic drugs" phase?

    Actually the interview is fairly entertaining, even if Prince's music may or may not be...

  77. John Savard

    Considering

    Since Prince's popularity is currently in decline, and since his decision to make himself temporarily unnameable was at least annoying, I'm not surprised there is negativity. This seems like a bargain price for his CDs.

    Of course, though, I don't see how a CD (as opposed to a vinyl LP) will fail to "fill one's head with numbers" just as much as an MP3 would. But then I don't understand the nature of his objection, given that my brain, at least, isn't wired into the data bus of my PC, at least not yet.

  78. Rattus Rattus

    man "compactdisc"

    NAME

    compactdisc

    DESCRIPTION

    This function has been deprecated and will be phased out.

  79. wolfmeister

    ha!

    Prince is the one who is "over". His 02 show was a complete & utter joke! - and the free album I got? Pah! even tho it was 'free' i have never ever listened to it (since the first and only 'listen' confirmed that it was also utter shite of the type that can only be given away in a newspaper) He should shut the f*ck up and retire gracefuly the little god-bothering twerp.

    I know his game, he thought: "i'm not relevent to pop now, and i cant switch genre or i'll look stupid... hmm.. I KNOW! i'll become a jesus convert and then i can sell any old crap I record to stupid christians for the next 20 years!" i bet that was it.

  80. Uplink
    Grenade

    All these numbers! They're not good for you!

    By extension, maths is evil. Because they fills your head with numbers. Whatever happened to religion, telling all the truth you ever need to know? When was it replaced with the lies of numbers? Number should be forbidden! Except from the Bible, which needs them.

    *All the grammar errors above are intentional :)

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