It is well known that Prince recent resurgence, from 2004 onwards, and starting with the Musicology tour, is closely linked to the decision of Prince of working with AEG, one of the two big enterprises involved in organizing live tours of big stars. This strategic move of Prince has worked wonders, leading to big hits like the above mentioned Musicology US tour, or the 21 nights in London.
Now, when I was digging about the details of the recently announced live appearances of Prince in European festivals, it happens that all of them are related to AEG's main competitor, Live Nation. I am not sure yet if the organization of all of these festivals is directly managed by Live Nation, but regarding tickets, it is clear that Live Nation is selling those tickets, and two of them (Arras Festival and Werchter Boutique Festival) are Live Nation events.
Besides, I found some days ago that Live Nation has a page, in their website, devoted to Prince tickets:
But then again, still today, you can see a certain purple musician prominently displayed in the page of AEG:
All in all, this is quite confusing and I have no clear picture to offer yet; but in my opinion, this information suggest that Prince might be about to switch (or maybe it's something already done) from AEG to Live Nation, regarding the organization & management of live appearances.
Whether this is good or bad news for fans of Prince music, I don't know, but it's quite interesting, in the light of the many recent news suggesting that Prince is in strong need of cash.
By the way, if you need to contact me in private, please send an email to cateto.catetez@gmail.com
Cool & interresting news Jose but did u hear something about new sounds & songs (New album?)
ReplyDeletestephan
:)
Interesting train of thought...
ReplyDeleteHowever, given Prince's history of not signing actual contracts and working out one-off deals for each occasion (album distribution, website construction...), it is likely he just picks what works best for him at that moment in time.
No Stephan, no news on the new album. Just wait until June and we will all see.
ReplyDeleteAs for Prince not signing contracts, it's time to wake up, DDay:
Prince signed contracts in order to work with AEG. And if he wants to continue working with big players such as AEG or Live Nation, he will have to sign contracts.
Promoters don't like to make deals based on casual conversations; in case of doubt, ask the guys who were organizing the Croke Park show.
Hey Cateto
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't want to get into a yes/no debate here. I just doubt Prince would be committing to longterm contracts, given how his Warner Brothers recording deal ended.
Ever since he's been doing stuff his own way, with one off deals. Whether or not things get put on paper is something we'll never know. The most recent information that seeped through came from his web developer for the Lotusflow3r site and he never had a written contract:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/04/02/my-year-with-prince/tab/article/
Also, according to http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/live-in-la-princes-three-shows/ , Prince didn't seem all too content with AEG.
I fully understand promoters don't like to work this way, but Prince still has an aura around him (for the time being), so I bet they are willing to take the risk.
As I'm living in Belgium, of course I got tickets for the Werchter concert the minute they became available. I have read in a paper however that 'only' about 30,000 tickets have been sold the first day, so the Prince fanbase does seem to be shrinking, especially considering the ticket prices...
You are right in some points, DDay (btw were you member of HQ? and if so, which nick did you use?).
ReplyDeleteYet I never said he will make a longtime contract. A deal similar to the one he did for Musicology or 21 nights is what I mean. It can be limited in time, but quite helpful to organize big things like a high profile tour.
Another couple of details:
Yes, Prince has a very deserved aura as musician; yet stories like that of Croke Park possibly make think twice other promoters, and in order to convince them, maybe a signature is needed.
As for Prince not too happy about AEG, who knows... maybe AEG could have also some reasons to complain. These kind of issues remain usually out of the general public.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteLive Nation Entertainment's subsidiary Ticketmaster sells tickets for AEG's venues. Additionally, Live Nation's website has pages for many artists that aren't promoted directly by LN. They are trying to become a 1-stop shop for music.
ReplyDeleteJose - do you have any idea how I as a journalist could get in contact with anyone at or near Prince camp? Has he any "manager" or team around him? Do you maybe have a clue, a name of someone?
ReplyDeleteKind regards
Michael
Michael, please send me an email to cateto.catetez@gmail.com to discuss this in private.
ReplyDeleteSorry if i'm off topic but is this some sort of hq rebirth?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.moquake.com/
^ I have no relationship whatsoever to that site, so I can't give any answer.
ReplyDelete