WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.360 Imagine walking into a Target back in the spring 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:07.620 of 2009. You're just there to buy toothpaste. 00:00:08.380 --> 00:00:11.140 Right. Or maybe a new coffee maker. Yeah, exactly. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.339 Just running errands. And as you pass the electronics 00:00:15.339 --> 00:00:18.440 section, you stumble across a brand new three 00:00:18.440 --> 00:00:21.300 -disc album by one of the greatest musical geniuses 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:23.500 of all time. Just sitting right there on the 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:26.059 shelf. Just sitting there. And the wildest part. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.739 It is selling for less than the price of a decent 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:31.260 deli sandwich, like under 12 bucks. Which is 00:00:31.260 --> 00:00:33.520 just, I mean, it's insane to think about now. 00:00:33.659 --> 00:00:36.939 It really is. That is exactly the chaotic, brilliant 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:39.119 trap that Prince set for the music industry. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:42.380 And today, you are about to see exactly how he 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:44.659 pulled it off. Yeah, and the context of 2009 00:00:44.659 --> 00:00:48.149 makes that image even more jarring. At that time, 00:00:48.229 --> 00:00:50.049 the music industry was absolutely terrified. 00:00:50.329 --> 00:00:53.369 Oh, completely panicking. Right. CD sales were 00:00:53.369 --> 00:00:56.090 in this terminal freefall. iTunes was cannibalizing 00:00:56.090 --> 00:00:58.909 full albums by selling like 99 cent singles. 00:00:59.390 --> 00:01:01.530 And the global economy was still reeling from 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:03.670 a massive recession. The 2008 crash was still 00:01:03.670 --> 00:01:06.790 very fresh. Exactly. Most artists were just clinging 00:01:06.790 --> 00:01:09.269 to whatever traditional marketing still worked. 00:01:09.269 --> 00:01:11.469 They weren't taking massive risks. Well, welcome 00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:14.420 to this deep dive. Today, our mission is to explore 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:17.719 exactly how a musical genius navigates that shifting, 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.879 panicked landscape. We are looking at a comprehensive 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:24.260 overview of a single day in music history, March 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:27.900 24, 2009. Such a huge day. Huge. And we're going 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:30.620 to break down the sheer, staggering ambition 00:01:30.620 --> 00:01:32.959 of Prince's triple album project, Litus Full 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:35.140 of the Roar. What's fascinating here is the timing 00:01:35.140 --> 00:01:38.859 of this massive drop. You have to remember, 2009 00:01:38.859 --> 00:01:41.359 marked the 25th anniversary of his career -defining 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:45.019 masterpiece. Purple Rain. Wow, 25 years. Yeah. 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:48.099 And for almost any other artist on earth, a 25th 00:01:48.099 --> 00:01:49.780 anniversary is a time for a comfortable victory 00:01:49.780 --> 00:01:52.359 lap. You put out a remastered edition, you book 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.340 a global stadium nostalgia tour, and you just 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:58.420 coast. You cash the check. Exactly. But not prints. 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:01.060 No. OK, let's unpack this. Because dropping three 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:03.379 entire albums on a single Tuesday isn't just 00:02:03.379 --> 00:02:06.319 ambitious. Logistically, it's incredibly difficult 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:07.980 to pull off. Oh, it's a nightmare for a distributor. 00:02:08.189 --> 00:02:10.590 Right. And he wasn't just dropping B -sides either. 00:02:10.750 --> 00:02:13.909 He released a physical three disc set containing 00:02:13.909 --> 00:02:16.870 his 33rd studio album, which is the title track 00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:20.520 of the project, Lotus Flow 3R. Then, in the exact 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:23.479 same package, you get his 34th studio album, 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:25.900 MPL Sound. Two full albums right there. And if 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:28.000 that wasn't enough to digest, the third disc 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.840 is Elixir, which served as the debut studio album 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:33.599 for his protege, Bria Valente. He completely 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:36.219 refused to be creatively boxed in by his own 00:02:36.219 --> 00:02:38.900 legacy. Instead of looking backward at Purple 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:42.960 Rain, he delivered this complex, incredibly dense, 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:46.020 multi -genre experiment. It was just a massive 00:02:46.020 --> 00:02:48.159 statement to the industry and to his fans that 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.330 he was still pushing forward. So he has this 00:02:50.330 --> 00:02:53.409 massive product ready to go, but before we can 00:02:53.409 --> 00:02:55.530 even begin to understand how Prince sold this 00:02:55.530 --> 00:02:57.889 grand experiment to the world, we really need 00:02:57.889 --> 00:02:59.909 to understand what exactly he was selling and 00:02:59.909 --> 00:03:02.110 how he built it. Let's get into the sounds. First 00:03:02.110 --> 00:03:04.509 you have the Lotus Flow 3 album itself. The vibes 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:08.199 here are very... like acid rock, psychedelic 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:11.340 soul, and it even includes a cover of Tommy James 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:13.419 and the Shondles Crimson and Clover. Which is 00:03:13.419 --> 00:03:17.080 a classic. It is, but Prince, being Prince, he 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.860 interpolates the Trog's Wild Thing right into 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:22.099 the middle of it. Love that part. Right. And 00:03:22.099 --> 00:03:23.860 for those who might not know, interpolating basically 00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:26.840 means he took the recognizable melody of Wild 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:30.280 Thing and wove it seamlessly into the actual 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:32.969 structure of his cover song. Yeah, it creates 00:03:32.969 --> 00:03:36.169 this brilliant, unexpected mashup of rock history, 00:03:36.650 --> 00:03:38.409 but it's completely put through the Prince filter. 00:03:38.469 --> 00:03:41.729 Totally. Then you swap discs and put an MPL sound, 00:03:41.889 --> 00:03:44.090 and suddenly you are in a completely different 00:03:44.090 --> 00:03:46.250 sonic world. It's like Whiplash, but in a good 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:49.550 way. Yeah, it's funk, it's R &B, electronica, 00:03:49.650 --> 00:03:52.949 hip -hop, new wave. Right. He recorded this one 00:03:52.949 --> 00:03:56.009 in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and it has this incredibly 00:03:56.009 --> 00:03:59.430 experimental pop feel. He even brings in Q -tip 00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:01.819 to feature on a track called Chocolate Box. such 00:04:01.819 --> 00:04:03.639 a great track. And finally you have the third 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:06.800 piece of the puzzle, Bria Valente's debut, Elixir, 00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:09.379 co -written by Prince but completely sung by 00:04:09.379 --> 00:04:12.240 her. Right, pivoting again into pop, R &B, and 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:15.020 smooth jazz. It's just so much variety. It really 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:18.339 is. It is less like a standard album release 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:22.300 and more like... a cinematic anthology you have 00:04:22.300 --> 00:04:25.240 three distinct directors or in this case personas 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:28.459 operating under one massive sonic umbrella but 00:04:28.459 --> 00:04:29.860 you know as i was reading through the sources 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:31.699 i noticed something fascinating about how he 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:35.339 built this massive track list oh the vault yes 00:04:35.339 --> 00:04:37.560 the vault he didn't just lock himself in the 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:39.680 studio and write 30 new songs from scratch in 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:43.319 2009 he was opening up his legendary vault and 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:45.899 recycling he really was like look at the track 00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:48.740 list for mpl sound the song you're gonna see 00:04:48.740 --> 00:04:51.879 me is actually a remake of a track from his 2002 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:54.240 album One Night Alone. And the recycling goes 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.439 even deeper than remakes. Oh, tell me about it. 00:04:56.519 --> 00:04:58.839 The track Kept Woman on Brie Valenti's album 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:01.579 was originally from an entirely different unreleased 00:05:01.579 --> 00:05:05.100 2006 project. Wait, really? Yeah. He had worked 00:05:05.100 --> 00:05:07.540 on an album called Milk and Honey with a different 00:05:07.540 --> 00:05:10.040 artist named Tamar. That album never officially 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:13.220 came out, but it leaked online. So Prince simply 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:15.220 lifted the track and repurposed it for Valenti. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.180 That is wild. And he was also pulling from his 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:19.720 own defunct website. Oh, the digital graveyard. 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:22.850 Yeah. The track, Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel 00:05:22.850 --> 00:05:25.970 Wonderful, was posted on his old NPG music club 00:05:25.970 --> 00:05:29.470 site as a demo way back in 2006. And Here I Come 00:05:29.470 --> 00:05:33.230 was on another dead site, 302 .1 .com, in 2007. 00:05:33.370 --> 00:05:35.550 You never let anything go to waste. Exactly. 00:05:35.930 --> 00:05:38.069 It makes me think of his creative process like 00:05:38.069 --> 00:05:41.170 a master chef. Oh, I like that. Great. Like a 00:05:41.170 --> 00:05:44.769 truly great chef never throws away premium ingredients. 00:05:45.310 --> 00:05:48.149 If a dish doesn't quite work out or if a restaurant 00:05:48.149 --> 00:05:50.790 concept closes down, those ingredients go back 00:05:50.790 --> 00:05:52.990 into the pantry. Right. They just sit there until 00:05:52.990 --> 00:05:55.329 the chef finds the perfect new recipe to remix 00:05:55.329 --> 00:05:57.889 them into. That is a highly accurate way to view 00:05:57.889 --> 00:06:00.290 his workflow, especially considering how protective 00:06:00.290 --> 00:06:02.449 he was of his masters. But I have to be honest 00:06:02.449 --> 00:06:04.350 and push back a little here. OK, let's hear it. 00:06:04.490 --> 00:06:07.810 Because calling a 2002 demo a brand new release 00:06:07.810 --> 00:06:10.920 feels, I don't know, A bit like false advertising 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:13.220 to the average consumer. I can see how you'd 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:15.839 think that. Doesn't reusing years old demos or 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.779 pulling a track from Elite 2006 Project dilute 00:06:18.779 --> 00:06:21.519 the impact of this massive 2009 comeback? Right. 00:06:21.620 --> 00:06:24.160 Like, if I buy a new album, I expect new music? 00:06:24.459 --> 00:06:26.639 That is a totally fair reaction for a standard 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.000 artist. But it really speaks to how Prince fundamentally 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.839 viewed his own body of work. How so? Well, for 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:36.759 him... The vault wasn't a museum where old songs 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:39.420 went to gather dust. It was a living, breathing 00:06:39.420 --> 00:06:42.339 ecosystem. Time just wasn't linear for Prince's 00:06:42.339 --> 00:06:44.959 music. Time wasn't linear. Right. The groove 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:49.220 he laid down in 2002 could be the exact, precise, 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:51.740 missing puzzle piece he needed for a funk album 00:06:51.740 --> 00:06:54.519 in 2009. OK. So the age of the track didn't matter, 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:57.040 only how it fit the current vibe. Precisely. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:00.459 And his track lists were incredibly fluid, changing 00:07:00.459 --> 00:07:02.560 up to the very last minute. Oh, right. The digital 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:04.889 changes. Yeah. Take that crimson and clover cover 00:07:04.889 --> 00:07:06.589 we just talked about. Yeah. If you bought the 00:07:06.589 --> 00:07:08.430 physical CD at a store, it was sitting right 00:07:08.430 --> 00:07:10.189 there at track three. Yeah. But if you bought 00:07:10.189 --> 00:07:12.350 the digital edition of the album online, that 00:07:12.350 --> 00:07:14.670 song was completely gone. Just vanished. Gone. 00:07:14.910 --> 00:07:17.189 It was replaced by a 2006 outtake called The 00:07:17.189 --> 00:07:20.009 Morning After. He treated the track list as a 00:07:20.009 --> 00:07:22.509 modular living thing. OK, so he has this massive 00:07:22.509 --> 00:07:25.790 recycled multi -genre vault of music ready to 00:07:25.790 --> 00:07:28.850 go. But having the product is only half the battle. 00:07:29.129 --> 00:07:31.339 Oh, for sure. You have to sell it. Exactly. How 00:07:31.339 --> 00:07:33.600 do you actually get millions of people to care 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.420 about a dense three -disc experimental album 00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:39.819 in 2009? Well, you build a mythology around it, 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:41.939 and then you completely take over late night 00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:44.800 television. The muses for this era are vital 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:46.920 to that mythology. Right. He wasn't just writing 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.620 abstract love songs. He was pulling from his 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:52.899 highly exclusive real -world Hollywood interactions 00:07:52.899 --> 00:07:55.259 and putting them directly onto the record. The 00:07:55.259 --> 00:07:58.480 specifics are wild. You have a track on MPL Sound 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:01.100 called Valentina, which was explicitly written 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:03.600 for the actress Salma Hayek's daughter. Such 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:05.980 a specific reference. Yeah. Then you have Better 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:08.699 With Time, an ode to the actress Kristen Scott 00:08:08.699 --> 00:08:11.620 Thomas, who co -starred with Prince in the 1986 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:13.980 film Under the Cherry Moon. Right. And then there's 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:16.240 a song just titled with a dollar sign, which 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:18.540 was reportedly about the most popular girl in 00:08:18.540 --> 00:08:21.540 the whole wide world. By naming these elite Hollywood 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:25.319 figures, he is creating this high society mythos. 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:29.100 He is inviting the listener into his ultra exclusive 00:08:29.100 --> 00:08:31.139 private life. It makes the audience feel like 00:08:31.139 --> 00:08:34.559 insiders. And to push that insider feeling to 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:37.539 the masses, he embarks on this unprecedented 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:40.539 media blitz. He goes on The Tonight Show with 00:08:40.539 --> 00:08:43.029 Jay Leno. A classic promotional stop. But he 00:08:43.029 --> 00:08:45.269 doesn't just play a single song in Wave of Goodnight. 00:08:45.730 --> 00:08:48.090 He performs three nights in a row, March 25th, 00:08:48.090 --> 00:08:51.129 26th, and 27th. Which is huge. And then he comes 00:08:51.129 --> 00:08:53.490 back for a fourth appearance in May just to help 00:08:53.490 --> 00:08:56.370 close out Leno's first run as host. He also does 00:08:56.370 --> 00:08:59.090 The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He flies over to France 00:08:59.090 --> 00:09:01.809 and performs four songs on the massive talk show 00:09:01.809 --> 00:09:04.870 Le Grand Journal. It was a total sustained hijacking 00:09:04.870 --> 00:09:07.590 of traditional broadcast television right at 00:09:07.590 --> 00:09:10.330 a time when late night TV still drove massive 00:09:10.330 --> 00:09:12.620 cultural conversations. But here's where it gets 00:09:12.620 --> 00:09:15.840 really interesting. Amidst all of this typical 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:18.539 flashy late -night promotion, he and Bria Valente 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:20.980 sit down for a two -part interview on the Tavis 00:09:20.980 --> 00:09:23.279 Smiley Show. Oh, this interview. Yeah. And during 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:25.960 this interview, Prince, a man whose entire public 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:29.639 persona for decades was built on absolute impenetrable 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:32.799 mystery, makes this profoundly personal revelation. 00:09:32.940 --> 00:09:35.299 He really shocked people here. He tells the world 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:38.399 on national television that he was born epileptic 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:40.960 and used to suffer from seizures as a child. 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:44.000 a stunning, almost jarring moment of vulnerability 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.240 from someone so guarded. So why do this now? 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:50.600 Like, why mix intensely private medical history 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:53.639 with the promotion of a funky triple album? If 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:56.039 we connect this to the bigger picture, you are 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:58.159 watching a masterclass in narrative control. 00:09:58.419 --> 00:10:01.080 Narrative control. Yeah. Prince historically 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:05.480 loathed the standard PR machine. But here, he 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:08.000 effectively weaponized it. He used these high 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:12.139 profile mainstream platforms to deliver a profoundly 00:10:12.139 --> 00:10:14.820 intimate moment. By dropping his guard. Right. 00:10:15.220 --> 00:10:17.360 By sharing something as terrifying and personal 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:20.080 as childhood epilepsy, he cuts entirely through 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.779 the noise of standard album promotion. It stops 00:10:22.779 --> 00:10:24.440 you in your tracks. You aren't just hearing a 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:26.879 sales pitch anymore. Exactly the point. It builds 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:29.179 a deeper, vulnerable connection with his audience. 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:31.840 Right at the exact moment, he is asking them 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:35.159 to follow him into this dense experimental three 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:37.379 -album journey. Wow. He's sending a subconscious 00:10:37.379 --> 00:10:39.799 message, you know, like, I'm opening up my musical 00:10:39.799 --> 00:10:41.799 vault and to prove it, I'm opening up my personal 00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:44.820 history too. Which perfectly transitions us into 00:10:44.820 --> 00:10:48.200 the absolute paradox of his release strategy. 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:50.740 Oh, the distribution. Let's get into it. He goes 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:54.200 on all these massive mainstream TV shows to promote 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:57.059 the album to literally everyone. But the way 00:10:57.059 --> 00:10:59.700 he allowed people to actually purchase the music 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:02.860 was a trap. It was so brilliant. He promoted 00:11:02.860 --> 00:11:06.440 it to the masses but made buying it highly, highly 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:09.100 specific. The dual strategy here is one of the 00:11:09.100 --> 00:11:11.620 most fascinating business moves of the decade. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:14.429 Let's look at the physical release first. In 00:11:14.429 --> 00:11:16.970 the United States, if you saw prints on Jay Leno 00:11:16.970 --> 00:11:19.669 and decided you wanted the CD, you could not 00:11:19.669 --> 00:11:21.750 just walk into your local independent record 00:11:21.750 --> 00:11:23.830 store. Nope. You couldn't go to Best Buy. It 00:11:23.830 --> 00:11:26.750 was a physical release sold exclusively at Target. 00:11:27.370 --> 00:11:30.230 Exclusively. And the price for this massive three 00:11:30.230 --> 00:11:34.590 disc set. $11 .98. Less than 12 bucks. They were 00:11:34.590 --> 00:11:36.789 heavily exported to Europe later, but in the 00:11:36.789 --> 00:11:38.669 U .S. it was Target or nothing. But then you 00:11:38.669 --> 00:11:40.549 look at the digital side of the release and it 00:11:40.549 --> 00:11:43.769 is a complete 180 degree turn. He creates this 00:11:43.769 --> 00:11:46.490 absolute digital walled garden. The total shift. 00:11:46.679 --> 00:11:50.100 First, in December 2008, he launches a site called 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:53.659 mplsound .com, just to tease some instrumentals. 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:57.019 But then a month later, he shuts that down entirely 00:11:57.019 --> 00:12:00.399 and replaces it with lotuslow3r .com. Right, 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:02.639 which officially opened its digital doors on 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:07.059 March 24th at exactly 7 .07 p .m. Pacific time. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.000 Very specific timing. Very Prince. And this was 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:12.500 not just a promotional website. It was a fully 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:15.529 interactive, monetized digital experience. This 00:12:15.529 --> 00:12:18.269 is where the money comes in. Fans could pay a 00:12:18.269 --> 00:12:21.950 $77 annual fee to become founding members, which 00:12:21.950 --> 00:12:23.870 was a lot of money for a website back then. Keep 00:12:23.870 --> 00:12:27.690 in mind this is 2009. $77 for a website subscription 00:12:27.690 --> 00:12:29.649 was unheard of. And what did that get you? You 00:12:29.649 --> 00:12:31.870 could download all three albums. You got a founding 00:12:31.870 --> 00:12:34.909 member t -shirt. You got the ability to buy advanced 00:12:34.909 --> 00:12:37.830 concert tickets, including VIP access to those 00:12:37.830 --> 00:12:39.830 Tonight Show performances. Which is huge for 00:12:39.830 --> 00:12:42.809 super fans. And you got access to exclusive streaming 00:12:42.809 --> 00:12:45.350 video, including legendary footage of Prince 00:12:45.350 --> 00:12:48.330 covering Radiohead's creep at the 2008 Coachella 00:12:48.330 --> 00:12:51.149 Festival. He built a premium fan portal years 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:52.990 before the infrastructure for that sort of thing 00:12:52.990 --> 00:12:56.129 was normalized. So. What does this all mean? 00:12:56.809 --> 00:13:00.090 When I look at this, I see him charging $77 a 00:13:00.090 --> 00:13:03.330 year for this exclusive digital club, which feels 00:13:03.330 --> 00:13:07.090 exactly like a modern day VIP Patreon or an exclusive 00:13:07.090 --> 00:13:09.730 creator subscription. Completely. But at the 00:13:09.730 --> 00:13:12.769 exact same time, he is practically giving away 00:13:12.769 --> 00:13:15.850 the physical CDs at a big box store like Target 00:13:15.850 --> 00:13:19.139 for the price of a cheap lunch. It's quite the 00:13:19.139 --> 00:13:21.740 contrast. Was he actively trying to kill the 00:13:21.740 --> 00:13:23.779 traditional independent record store, or was 00:13:23.779 --> 00:13:25.960 he just trying to bypass the traditional music 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.220 industry altogether? Well, he wasn't necessarily 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:30.480 trying to kill the record store. I mean, the 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:32.139 recession and digital piracy were already doing 00:13:32.139 --> 00:13:34.539 that. True. He was trying to maximize his reach 00:13:34.539 --> 00:13:37.679 while maximizing his absolute control. He effectively 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:40.559 bifurcated his audience. Bifurcated? Yeah, he 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:42.759 played the mass market retail game and the nooch 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:44.720 direct -to -fan digital game simultaneously. 00:13:45.420 --> 00:13:48.039 By partnering with Target, he ensured that his 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:50.299 physical music was front and center in a place 00:13:50.299 --> 00:13:52.320 where millions of everyday people were already 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:54.340 doing their essential shopping. Right. The person 00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:57.299 buying toothpaste sees a $12 Prince triple album 00:13:57.299 --> 00:13:59.919 and thinks, why not? It's a total impulse buyer. 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:04.659 Exactly. But the $77 digital subscription... 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:07.450 That was a psychological play for the super fans. 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:09.950 The diehards. Right. That bypassed the traditional 00:14:09.950 --> 00:14:12.789 industry entirely, allowing him to monetize his 00:14:12.789 --> 00:14:15.549 most dedicated followers directly. He kept a 00:14:15.549 --> 00:14:18.129 much larger share of the profits and controlled 00:14:18.129 --> 00:14:20.710 exactly how they experienced his art online, 00:14:21.309 --> 00:14:23.350 free from record label interference. It's the 00:14:23.350 --> 00:14:26.250 ultimate high -low strategy. The big box store 00:14:26.250 --> 00:14:29.070 impulse buy and the elite digital club. It's 00:14:29.070 --> 00:14:31.740 genius. But of course, Every grand experiment 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:34.159 has to face the ultimate test. The numbers and 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:36.960 the critics. Did this massive, unconventional 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:39.679 rollout actually work? Commercially, it was a 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:41.659 staggering statement. The album debuted at number 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:44.340 two on the U .S. Billboard 200 chart. It sold 00:14:44.340 --> 00:14:46.139 one hundred and sixty eight thousand copies in 00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:48.419 its first week alone, which is incredible for 00:14:48.419 --> 00:14:50.519 a Target exclusive. And it had incredible legs 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:53.059 by 2012, according to SoundScan, which is the 00:14:53.059 --> 00:14:55.399 industry's official sales tracking system. It 00:14:55.399 --> 00:14:57.419 had sold over five hundred forty three thousand 00:14:57.419 --> 00:14:59.679 seven hundred units, selling almost one hundred 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:02.639 and 70 ,000 physical copies in a single week, 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:05.720 exclusively at a single retailer during a massive 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:09.200 economic recession, is a flex of pure star power. 00:15:10.019 --> 00:15:12.860 It made Lotus Flow 3 his fourth consecutive top 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:15.220 three album in the United States. But I have 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:17.340 to push back on the genius of this strategy. 00:15:17.419 --> 00:15:19.759 Always that. Because it debuted at number two. 00:15:19.980 --> 00:15:22.759 it missed the number one spot on the Billboard 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:27.620 200 by a mere 3 ,000 copies. He was beaten by 00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:31.080 Keith Urban's album Defying Gravity. Think about 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:33.600 how agonizing that is as an artist. It's like 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:35.639 missing out on a massive promotion at work by 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:38.179 a fraction of a percent. Right. If Prince hadn't 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:40.779 restricted physical sales exclusively to Target, 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:42.799 if you could have bought this at Best Buy or 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:45.539 Amazon or local indie shops, wouldn't he have 00:15:45.539 --> 00:15:47.620 easily grabbed those extra three thousand sales 00:15:47.620 --> 00:15:49.960 and secured that number one spot? Did his own 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:52.000 innovative business model actually trip him up 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:53.919 at the finish line? This raises an important 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:56.159 question about what winning actually meant to 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.000 Prince at this stage in his career. OK, that's 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.500 fair. Yes. Mathematically, widening the distribution 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:02.100 would have almost certainly secured the number 00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:04.379 one spot. But what is the tradeoff? What was 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:07.100 it? The tradeoff is between apps absolute chart 00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:10.279 dominance, and total artistic and financial control. 00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:13.179 Ah, because if he went wide, he would have had 00:16:13.179 --> 00:16:16.100 to share the pie with a major distributor. Exactly. 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:19.580 By doing the direct target exclusive, Prince 00:16:19.580 --> 00:16:22.720 likely negotiated an incredibly favorable financial 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:25.759 split, and more importantly, he retained complete 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.120 ownership of the master recordings and the rollout. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:31.059 The masters were everything to him. Everything. 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:34.460 So missing number one by a fraction is agonizing 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:36.879 for chart watchers and music journalists. But 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.399 for Prince, as a listener, you have to realize 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:41.500 that winning the charts wasn't his goal anymore. 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:44.139 Right. The control he wielded over his own art 00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:46.220 was likely worth far more to him than the vanity 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:48.639 of the top spot. He chose absolute independence 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:50.659 over the gold medal. I love that. What about 00:16:50.659 --> 00:16:52.740 the critics though? Did they get what he was 00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:55.120 trying to do with these three discs? It was a 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.789 bit of a mixed bag. which is to be expected when 00:16:57.789 --> 00:16:59.970 you drop three hours of genre -hopping music 00:16:59.970 --> 00:17:02.190 on reviewers all at once. Yeah, that's a lot 00:17:02.190 --> 00:17:04.569 of homework for a critic. Looking at the Metacritic 00:17:04.569 --> 00:17:07.230 scores, the reception for Prince's two albums, 00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:09.549 Lotus Flow Third and MPL Sound, was generally 00:17:09.549 --> 00:17:11.990 mixed to positive. Right. They landed aggregate 00:17:11.990 --> 00:17:15.809 scores of 61 and 62 out of 100. Respectable, 00:17:16.009 --> 00:17:18.269 if not universally hailed as his next Purple 00:17:18.269 --> 00:17:21.329 Rain. But Bria Valente's album, Elixir, really 00:17:21.329 --> 00:17:24.200 struggled. It landed a dismal aggregate score 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:28.079 of 49 out of 100. And that critical divide highlights 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.359 a very real, very harsh dynamic in the music 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:34.660 industry. The immense shadow a legend casts over 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:38.380 new talent. It's tough. It is. Prince was genuinely 00:17:38.380 --> 00:17:40.420 trying to use his massive platform to launch 00:17:40.420 --> 00:17:43.519 Valenti, physically attaching her debut to his 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:45.579 own highly anticipated comeback. But when you 00:17:45.579 --> 00:17:48.339 put a debut artist in a literal box next to Prince, 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:50.599 reviewers are inevitably going to compare the 00:17:50.599 --> 00:17:52.759 two. It is an almost impossible standard for 00:17:52.759 --> 00:17:55.039 any new artist to meet. You're asking critics 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:58.819 to evaluate a smooth R &B debut against a psychedelic 00:17:58.819 --> 00:18:01.059 rock album from one of the greatest guitarists 00:18:01.059 --> 00:18:02.819 to ever live. Yeah, that's not exactly a fair 00:18:02.819 --> 00:18:06.289 fight. No. The critical reception heavily reflected 00:18:06.289 --> 00:18:09.730 that struggle to stand out within the overpowering 00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:12.269 context of the Lotus Low 30 year package. You 00:18:12.269 --> 00:18:13.869 get the biggest promotional boost in the world, 00:18:13.910 --> 00:18:16.750 but you also get the brightest, harshest spotlight. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:19.420 So as we wrap up this deep dive, we are looking 00:18:19.420 --> 00:18:22.240 at the Lotus Lowe 3 -year era as this absolutely 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:24.500 fascinating collision of ideas. It really is. 00:18:24.660 --> 00:18:27.740 You have a legendary artist digging deep into 00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:30.339 his vault, remixing his own history without caring 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:33.660 about linear time. You have wild genre hopping 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:37.099 from acid rock to electro funk. You have intimate, 00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:39.980 deeply personal medical revelations dropped in 00:18:39.980 --> 00:18:42.940 the middle of slick late night television blitzes. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.980 Yes. And you have this completely chaotic yet 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:49.210 brilliant distribution model. $12 at a big box 00:18:49.210 --> 00:18:52.609 store for the masses and $77 on a walled garden 00:18:52.609 --> 00:18:55.589 internet site for the diehards. It really encapsulates 00:18:55.589 --> 00:18:58.690 Prince's relentless uncompromising drive to control 00:18:58.690 --> 00:19:00.750 his art and his narrative. It absolutely does 00:19:00.750 --> 00:19:02.329 and I want to leave you with a final thought 00:19:02.329 --> 00:19:04.349 tomorrow over building on everything we've explored 00:19:04.349 --> 00:19:06.650 today. Okay, lay it on us. Think about how you 00:19:06.650 --> 00:19:10.640 consume music right now. We live in an era where 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:14.119 massive pop stars rely heavily on exclusive retail 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:17.579 variants at stores like Target to drive their 00:19:17.579 --> 00:19:20.259 physical sales and game the system. Which happens 00:19:20.259 --> 00:19:22.799 all the time now. All the time. At the exact 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:25.779 same time, independent artists and creators use 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:28.220 direct -to -fan subscription models, charging 00:19:28.220 --> 00:19:31.299 a premium for exclusive digital access, behind 00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:33.819 -the -scenes videos and early ticket sales. Which 00:19:33.819 --> 00:19:35.819 is exactly what we just spent the last 15 minutes 00:19:35.819 --> 00:19:38.440 talking about. Exactly. Prince was willing to 00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:41.500 charge $77 a year for direct access to his digital 00:19:41.500 --> 00:19:44.079 universe and simultaneously bundled three albums 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:47.339 for $12 at a big box store way back in the recession 00:19:47.339 --> 00:19:51.099 of 2009. How much of our modern music consumption 00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:53.259 was actually blueprinted by Prince's chaotic 00:19:53.259 --> 00:19:56.119 experiment? We treat these tiered access strategies 00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:58.500 and exclusive retail drops as modern, cutting 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:00.640 -edge innovations, but he was laying the tracks 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:03.410 over a decade ago. He wasn't just surviving the 00:20:03.410 --> 00:20:06.289 shifting landscape of 2009, he was drawing the 00:20:06.289 --> 00:20:08.309 map that everyone else is still using today. 00:20:08.529 --> 00:20:10.210 Thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:20:10.210 --> 00:20:12.349 dive. Keep exploring, keep questioning the media 00:20:12.349 --> 00:20:14.410 you consume, and we will catch you next time.