Comments on: Prince goes to Target: You don’t have to be rich to rule his world

By: po'k kid

po'k kid — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:23:10 +0000

My ex-wife was the biggest Prince fan in the world. I have seen him twice. Wrote his best stuff a long, long time ago. He is an 80′s artist – a genius musician, excellent singer and an above average performer. Nothing more nothing less. I have seen and would rather see Jmaes Brown, Sly Stone or george Clinton any day of the week.

By: Chosen

Chosen — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:51:02 +0000

I love Prince’s music. He is a true artist, unlike the cookie cutter trend acts that fill the charts today. If half the acts performing now can stretch to accomplish half of what he has done they still won’t come close to touching his genius. I will be at Target on the 29th and I’m looking forward to it! With two new Prince CDs in the same day it’s not to be missed.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:28:43 +0000

Hi
I only buy CDs because MP3 and AAC files offered by iTunes are what’s known as lossy (ie. they don’t have the full sound quality of a compact disc). To me, a CD is far more flexible and a quality long-term purchase. I much prefer them over any online offering that only offers lossy files. Files like FLAC are the only thing I would buy online music-wise. FLAC are lossless files (meaning they don’t sacrifice any quality) offered by some major artists now, which actually have quality identical to CD. The files are generally bigger though. You can, however, turn them into whatever you want, quite freely, to playback anywhere if you wish. Sandisk and others make players that play FLAC natively. There are also free players for Macs and Windows and Linux.
That said, it would take something special from Prince for me to buy after being burned too many times recently. Still, at least you can re-sell and share a CD easily. Regards, Kevin.

By: Joseph M.

Joseph M. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:32:28 +0000

Many music lovers buy both digital copies of music and physical cds, especially when special editions or collections are released. Also, fans do not usually take burned cds of their digital tunes to concerts or releases to be signed – it’s an American pastime of which many fans have held onto for some time now to have official cds signed. As I am not a big fan of Prince, as stated above, it is hard to disregard this superb move he made with Target. Music aside, with a price tag of $11.98, it is hard for anyone to argue that he is not reaching out to fans and giving the cash-conscious consumer a bargain.

By: Joseph M.

Joseph M. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:31:37 +0000

How many successful recording artists have the opportunity to truly save their fans a buck and still pour out respectable music?
It is also important to discuss the closures of most mega music stores such as Tower and most recently, the Virgin chains. Now Target, Bestbuy, and Wal-Mart have taken the place of the music-only stores that many of us grew up with. Moreover, these 3 retailers have all signed similar deals (the Christina Aguilera and Target deal to name one) with other musicians over the past few years and despite iTunes’ popularity, people are still leaving the house to buy cds. The convenience factor of which you reference when you say “I’m so addicted to iTunes that I can’t even remember the last time I purchased an actual physical CD, though I’m pretty certain I didn’t get it at Target” is understandable, but not completely relatable. (continued above)

By: Joseph M.

Joseph M. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:29:40 +0000

Margeaux, you ask your readers: “Do you think this is a good idea?” Releasing an album exclusively with a retailer such as Target is a genius move on Prince’s part and a true steal in this economy – a total of 3 discs (essentially 3 albums) for the mere price of $12? Although I respectfully disagree with the majority of your post on this topic, I must admit I have never been a die-hard fan myself. From a marketing perspective however, I must argue – selling an album solely through a popular retailer such as Target is an excellent business decision on a number of fronts. Target has a large consumer base and Prince has a strong foundation in the music industry – in an economic climate such as this, converging a big-name retailer with a superstar artist seems completely appropriate, if not natural. This contract with Target reveals his appreciation, in my opinion, of his fans and allows his audience to expand. (more on next post)

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 02:11:35 +0000

I believe that Prince’s worst is better than most artist’s best. I am also not insulted to learn that Margeaux and I have different tastes. Having read several of her “columns”, I actually find it encouraging.

By: chinadoll58

chinadoll58 — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:56:41 +0000

I was diggin’ Prince for a very long time. Now, he’s an empty note. Anything he wants he can buy; friends, fans, love. He’s not “hungry” anymore. I can’t give him my money.

By: JW Hines

JW Hines — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:03:26 +0000

Prince has put out a couple of good pieces of work since the early 90s; one of them being ‘The Rainbow Children’. That one is an all time classic up there with Around the World in a Day, Parade, and Lovesexy. The early NPGMC material was also brilliant. One can still hold out for hope that his genius will truly shine again.

By: amory

amory — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:39:41 +0000

sorry, “their” new cd not “there”. Caught that after I posted it. Just wanted to make that correction before someone commented on me being and idiot.