Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Prince Says Internet Is Over

Posted by samzenpus on from the it-was-fun-while-it-lasted dept.

the_arrow writes "According to the artist currently known as Prince, 'The internet's completely over.' At least that what he says in an interview with the British newspaper Mirror. Quoting Prince: 'The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you.'"

58 of 450 comments (clear)

  1. Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...and suddenly he became outdated.

    Now get off Prince's lawn, ya young whippersnappers with yer noisy electronic doo-hickeys!!

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sorry, what was that?

      I couldn't hear you with my iPod earbuds in, pumping numbers in my head and all.

    2. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by sorak · · Score: 5, Funny

      Do you really want to mess with a guy who owns ass-less pants and who invented the bat-dance? I say just nod politely and walk away.

    3. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by xtracto · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, I won't believe the internet is over until Netcraft confirms it.

      --
      Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
    4. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Prince was only hip with love stricken teenage girls and sexually confused young boys.

    5. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Prince doesn't understand.

      The internet is no more a "fad" than radio or television. It merely changed how we receive the radio and television. NOW instead of fixed schedules we can get things on-demand, whenever we wish.

      MTV and VH1 have not died. They simply moved. Now they are on the net and have a new name: youtube.com and googlevideos.com and itunes.com

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    6. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I say, Prince could be right in a sense. Smarthphones, Facebook, and twitter have a faddish aspect; they are "hot" lately. After these blow over, it's possible most people will be done with them - and I don't just mean those particular websites, like the passing of the guard from myspace to facebook - but with the idea of checking in 100 times per day to make inane comments that nobody reads.

      Like with cars. (Yup, a car analogy). I was talking to my dad about the classic cars of the 60s that sell for big bucks and said I couldn't see what cars from the 80s or 90s would reach that status. He said, probably none. When he was a kid, all the guys lusted after cars and wrenched on them all the time. Now that they have money, these same guys bid up those same cars at auction. Nowadays, we still have cars, but they're just "there" doing what the do, and the buzz isn't there. I think that's what Prince means, not that the Internet will stop existing or even stop being used.

    7. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by AngryNick · · Score: 4, Funny
      Crazy like a fox! FTFA:

      "I hope you like it. It's great that it will be free to readers of your newspaper. I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music."

      The guy is a genius! Who would have ever imagined using a dying news media as a promotional venue for music? I'm assuming the free music was distributed on cassette tape, rubber-banded to the paper.

    8. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by DIplomatic · · Score: 3, Funny

      Let's just change the internet's name to "The Global Data Transfer Protocol Formerly Known as The World Wide Web".

    9. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by AlamedaStone · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Crazy like a fox! FTFA:

      "I hope you like it. It's great that it will be free to readers of your newspaper. I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music."

      The guy is a genius! Who would have ever imagined using a dying news media as a promotional venue for music? I'm assuming the free music was distributed on cassette tape, rubber-banded to the paper.

      I preordered online.

      --
      "All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
    10. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by glwtta · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Being confident about being heterosexual do not make you one.

      Uh, I think the OP meant confident in the other orientation. It's just silly that they always get called "confused" - some of them know exactly what they want.

      --
      sic transit gloria mundi
    11. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by arkane1234 · · Score: 2, Informative

      MTV was a music video transport system, youtube is a video sharing system. The two are about as synonymous as diet coke and vodka. Both have the same delivery mechanism, but the two have different intended audiences and a completely different intended purpose.

      That being said, MTV is not anywhere near what it was in the 80's, sadly.
      I agree though on the first part, and the 'net is still in it's infancy.

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    12. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by omnichad · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah...umm...and VHS hasn't died either...it just changed it's name to Blu-Ray. Oh, and dinosaurs aren't extinct - they've merely evolved...into alligators.
       
      By your standard, when is ANYTHING dead?

    13. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by Asic+Eng · · Score: 5, Informative
      To put his statement into context, here some other parts of the interview:
      • says "people, especially young people, don't have enough God in their lives"
      • has been a devout Jehovah's Witness for more than 10 years
      • has a space set aside which he's labelled The Knowledge Room, with a library of religious books
      • strict teetotal vegan
      • says "Playing electric guitar your whole life does something to you. I'm convinced all that electricity racing through my body made me keep my hair."

      If it comes to insightful statements about the internet, I'd suggest to look elsewhere.

    14. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by Rip+Dick · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dinosaurs evolved into birds, Derp. Alligators evolved largely alongside dinosaurs. They are living fossils. In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrast.

    15. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by spike+hay · · Score: 5, Informative

      As a gay guy I can assure you nobody finds him cute.

      --
      If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
    16. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by DJ+Jones · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Really? There are a lot of cars from the 80's and 90's that sell for top dollar. You're just not thinking outside the box, kid. You're comparing rare muscle cars from the 60's to generic crap boxes from the 80's. Ignoring the obvious fact that classic value increases with age and you have a 20-year difference in your comparison, here are a few winners:
      • Toyota Supra
      • Mazda RX7
      • De Lorean
      • Lamborghini Diablo
      • Any Ferrari
    17. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >>>MTV was a music video transport system, youtube is a video sharing system.

      I don't see the difference. In the 80s and 90s the record companies used MTV to share their music videos with the teenagers. Today the record companies used Yotube to share their music videos with the teenagers.

      Same players, same purpose. All that's changed it now the videos are on-demand, instead of following a preplanned schedule.

      Same goes for watching Sci-Fi Channels in the 90s versus watching scifi.com today - it's the same old crap but now you can watch Stargate whenever you feel like it.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    18. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by commodore64_love · · Score: 2, Informative

      >>>VHS hasn't died either...it just changed it's name to Blu-Ray. Oh, and dinosaurs aren't extinct - they've merely evolved...into alligators.

      The format has changed and the name but the PURPOSE is the same. VHS had the purpose of moving movies into the home and Bluray has the same purpose. MTV had the purpose of moving Pop Music from the record companies to the teenagers bedrooms, and now Youtube and iTunes have the same purpose.

      BTW alligators don't come from dinosaurs. That's a separate family tree. It's the BIRDS that evolved from dinosaurs.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    19. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by Vancorps · · Score: 2, Informative

      As someone who participates in said classic car auctions I can assure you that new models do carry a lot of appeal both for older and younger generations. The new Shelby GT 500s for instance are highly sought after. Saleen, Roush, and Foose all make great money tapping into that interest. They extend past just the humble Mustang too. People love their cars and people love the connection that the Internet gives them. In a society becoming increasingly fearful of just about everything the Internet provides a security blanket for those too scared to go outside. For those that are social and do get out, the Internet will continue to provide them with ways to do it more and so it's not going anywhere. While Facebook as a single website may disappear social networking won't go anywhere as it just taps into what people do naturally. It is quite natural for a bunch of people to sit at a bar after work and talk about BS much like they do on Facebook.

      Prince is just trying to shock people into thinking he's relevant. The fact that people are still listening means that I guess he still is.

    20. Re:Like how in the 80's Prince was hip... by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's not even a new way to do it. It's the second time the unoriginal ass has done this.

  2. Kevin Smith by Scared+Rabbit · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not that anyone ever should have taken prince seriously, but if anyone still can they need to go watch an evening with Kevin Smith lol.

    1. Re:Kevin Smith by interval1066 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Or the story Charlie Murphy tells about Prince's basketball game.

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    2. Re:Kevin Smith by aapold · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That isn't Lake Minnetonka.

      --
      "Waste not one watt!" - CZ
  3. The internet says "Prince is over" by jsepeta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the days of rockstars selling $20 cd's and people paying attention to monotonous radio stations that only play a short playlist of over-publicized artists is over. he'll never make the millions he used to, and to be successful (wealth-accumulating) in the post internet world one needs to get off their ass and tour, actually PERFORMING music like the minstrels of yore.

    --
    Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
    1. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by jythie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or even worse.... one ends up being paid based of actual sales rather then convincing some executive how much you are worth ahead of time. That seemed to be his big beef.

    2. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by Nadaka · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anyone who becomes an artist for wealth is a fool. The purpose of being an artist is to create art because it is what you love. If you can manage to not starve while you do it, more power to you.

    3. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by S.O.B. · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The purpose of being an artist is to get laid.

      --
      Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
    4. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by jeffmeden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Funny, Prince basically says the same thing; he is very paranoid about Top-40 stations and exploitative record companies... Except that 8 years ago when he was saying this, people just added it to the list of reasons why he was crazy. Oh, and do you not realize that Prince still tours regularly, after more than 20 years? He doesn't seem to be toting the record company line of "the internet is stealing our music and killing our puppies", rather he has an admittedly dated opinion that there is simply now too much "noise" on-line for real art to flourish there.

      Disclaimer: I am not a huge Prince fan, but I don't think the guy's work gets a fair shake thanks to the crazy that comes out of his mouth when he's not singing.

    5. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by zoward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even performing live may not be profitable for artists. I just learned that Lilith Fair canceled 1/3rd of its summer schedule due to lack of ticket sales. AND apparently it's not the only concert calling t quits. This summer has been lousy.

      This isn't surprising. Between Ticketmaster, promoters, sponsors, concert hall "renovation fees", parking fees, etc ad nauseum, and the fact that we're in a recession, most bands large enough to tour have been priced right out of the largest target market for concerts - teens and young adults. If the Lilith Fair, which usually has many popular acts, can't fill a third of their venues, I can't imagine solo acts are doing well on tour either.

      --
      "Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
    6. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by mrjatsun · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Let me fix that for you...

      "Anyone who writes code for wealth is a fool. The purpose of writing code is to create something that's valuable to people, because it is what you love. If you can manage to not starve while you do it, more power to you."

      Everyone should do what they love, and try not to starve. Hmm, or maybe we should return to reality... :-)

    7. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's just statistics ... getting into coding you have a reasonable expectation that you can make a living from it, getting into art (or sports) that expectation is entirely unreasonable ... you better be prepared for the fact that the time you sink into it has just been for the love of the art, otherwise you are going to be disappointed.

    8. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by Mad+Hamster · · Score: 4, Funny

      In all fairness, Prince is touring and performing in Europe atm. This last Sunday he was the final act @ the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, played competently and honestly but imo there was no greatness or star quality to the performance.

      The best thing about Prince coming to the festival was Lemmy's remark at the end of the Motörhead performance earlier that day: "I don't know if you know us...well if you're here for Prince, you probably don't". :P

      --
      Yandelvayasna grldenwi stravenka
    9. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 2, Interesting

      isn't surprising. Between Ticketmaster, promoters, sponsors, concert hall "renovation fees", parking fees, etc ad nauseum, and the fact that we're in a recession, most bands large enough to tour have been priced right out of the largest target market for concerts - teens and young adults

      Further down in the thread someone mentioned 'cheap' seats for a Prince concert going for $200.

      The uber-famous have reached a level where their own lack of competition has hurt them. If I'm interested in music, it is going to take a lot for me to justify a $170 price jump from a moderately successful band that plays music I like to this 'elite' level of concert.

      For $200 I can get parquet box seats for my wife and I at a major theater for all but the most popular shows. Hell I had tickets on the first row balcony to the original cast of Spam-A-Lot for $75

      But all the additional fees, you are correct about that. Ticketmaster is a ripoff, and all the processing fees added onto it are outrageous.

      There is no reason that a $25 ticket should cost you $40 after all the fees are applied.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
    10. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by Nadaka · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Let me rephrase that:

      There are hundreds of millions of people who want to be artists. Of those, only a few hundred thousand have any talent at all. Of those, only a few hundreds are ever going to become wealthy and most of the rest will not be able to pay the rent from the proceeds of their art.

      Its like buying a lottery ticket, except the cost of that ticket is not $5, but instead it is the sum of decades of work and hardship.

      Writing code generally pays the bills and then some. Few of us are going to get extremely rich, but a fair share will make it well into upper middle class.

      Now, there are the kids out there that dream of writing/playing video games all day and being the next John Carmack. The parallel with artists is pretty close, except that you can use the same basic skillset to make a decent and more predictable living writing business applications.

    11. Re:The internet says "Prince is over" by Remus+Shepherd · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The purpose of every human endeavor is, ultimately, to get laid.

      Artists just get to lay the freakier chicks.

      --
      Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
  4. A series of tubes formerly known as The Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is to be renamed Prince.

    And the artist formerly known as Prince will be renamed ColecoVision.

  5. This just in! by epiphani · · Score: 2, Funny

    The internet says Prince is over.

    --
    .
  6. Aw man... by singingjim1 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Prince...Prince! Prince!! Whaddaya doing?? Damn. That's a shame. I mean, I know he was odd, but I had no idea he was addle-minded. In response though to the "get off your ass and tour" comment. I saw him working his butt off a couple years ago at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL ($300 tickets - the cheap seats were $200) and he performs regularly at his club in Vegas. So I don't think he's hurting for cash.

  7. Elle, Oh, Elle by whisper_jeff · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There was a time when Prince was an amazing musician, making some spectacular music. Purple Rain remains one of the better albums ever created. But. Prince has jumped the shark. He is so utterly out of touch with reality that the mind simply boggles. And he hasn't made any great music in a very long time. Well, that may not be true - he may have made a ton of spectacular music but it's all stored away in his vault, protected from pirates and music execs and, well, fans.

    The man truly is insane.

  8. The internet by gaspyy · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Internet says Prince is over.

    Who's right?

  9. Prince by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Funny

    He has no standing
    On the Internet, he's cold (so cold)
    He's not going to stop piracy, he's being too demanding
    Maybe he's being too bold
    Maybe he's never satisfied (never satisfied)
    But we shouldn't scream at each other
    That's what it sounds like
    When a short 50 year old purple has been Jehovah's Witness
    Makes trolls cry

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  10. He's just mad because... by lalena · · Score: 4, Funny

    he can't type his name on a computer. He's jealous of the numbers.

  11. If you feed the troll, you get to keep it by Rogerborg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nice job publicising that he's got a new album out. How else would we have heard?

    Then again, if it's only available on CD, I guess nobody here is going to buy it, so that'll be a target market FAIL for lil' Princey there.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  12. Re:yeah, I'm fixating on the less relevant part... by hey! · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There's a huge gap between having a head full of numbers, being good at math, and being good at understanding the world (which requires math).

    There's tension and interplay between understanding statistics (for example) and the experiential knowledge and even imaginative faculties needed to apply statistics to a problem like (for instance) running a business. Mathematics is like a map of the real world; it tells you about places you haven't been yet, but being there tell you things that aren't on a map.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  13. Re:He's right... by Tom · · Score: 2, Funny

    You must be using a different Internet than I am. There's a ton of amazing stuff out there.

    Fact is that the number of users really hasn't changed. I mean, real actual users as in people who contribute something to the discussion.

    Formerly, all the twits were collected by AOL. Today, all the twits are collected by Twitter and Facebook.

    It's a great service, really. Keeps the rest of the Internet clean for actual use. And it's free because the twits pay for it!

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  14. The internet IS over by twoallbeefpatties · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The internet is over in the same way that MTV is over: they both exist in a gentrified form. And maybe if you stay up late, you'll actually catch them both staying true to their roots. :V

    --
    Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
  15. The network formerly known as the "Internet"... by Lazy+Jones · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... will be using the symbol ¥ from now on. After 7 years or so, we'll switch back to calling it "Internet" because, quite frankly, using a symbol is a bit silly.

    --
    "I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you" (Freddie Mercury)
  16. Fill your head with numbers. by Jason+Levine · · Score: 2, Funny

    How can (80) he say (114) that being (105) on computers or the (110) Internet fills your head (99) with numbers (101)? After all (32), I'm online quite a lot (99) during the day (97) and night (110) and my head's (32) not filled up (98) with numbers (105). I think (116) I'd notice (101) such a (32) thing (109). It's quite (121) silly when (32) you think of it. What (115) would computers (104) be doing (105) filling our heads (110) with numbers (121) anyway (32)? It's not (109) like they try (101) to insert (116) subliminal (97) messages (108) into comments (32) that we type (97) out on online (115) forums (115) or anything (33).

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  17. Prince is an idiot, but for other reasons than tho by kramerd · · Score: 2, Interesting

    se.

    MTV used to be hip (or cool, or whatever) because it actually used to be a channel of music television. It would play music videos and have interviews with artists about upcoming albums or tours or music news.

    Now its full of crap shows where parents set their kids up on dates with strangers because they don't like the people their kids are dating followed by shows about pregnant 16 year olds showcasing how stupid these kids really are.

    Reading the article, Prince believes the internet is over for his album release (it will be on cd only) and none of his music will be available on itunes or youtube and he shut down his own official website, because he believes in finding new ways to distribute music (his new album will be given away in cd form to subscribers of the Mirror).

    Of course, Prince is a jehovah's witness, so I don't take anything he says seriously, and am willing to bet any amount of money that within 24 hours of release, his new album will be available on the internet (I just won't be able to purchase it legally)

  18. Prince must be like Quagmire by ctchristmas · · Score: 2, Funny

    Poor Prince... he must not have discovered internet porn yet.

  19. Re:Pancakes, not waffles by arkane1234 · · Score: 2, Informative

    About as gay as Twilight/Lady Gaga loving Whiney little bitch children
    gay 2010's style...

    --
    -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
  20. Internet:TV :: Website:MTV by Myopic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He's right that MTV is lame and passe (and has been since I became old enough to watch it in the 1990s), but that's hardly a good simile for the Internet. If you want to say that something is passe the way MTV is passe, then you talk about a specific production object on the medium: a website, or a service.

    So, perhaps Napster is over. Or perhaps Slashdot is over. Or perhaps Bittorrent is over. But saying the Internet is over is like saying Television is over. That's still a retarded thing to say, though, so maybe Prince would agree with that.

  21. IPv4 Only! by kybur · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is a blatant misquote by the media. Prince was merely saying that IPv4 is over. Prince recently dropped all IPv4 support in his home network, and is excited to be making the switch from unhealthy decimal "numbers" (actually he said "octets") to long 128bit hexadecimal strings. WTF is wrong with the media.

    The Internets are not deadz.

  22. Numbers! by yoshi_mon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you.

    That is the quote right there. Shows exactly where Prince's mindset is.

    I wonder if the guy could even balance a simple checkbook if he had to.

    --

    Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
  23. Relation? by LunarEffect · · Score: 2, Interesting

    MTV is to TV as slashdot.org is to the internet. So saying the internet is like MTV is like saying TV is like slashdot.org.
    Media have nothing in common with the data they display and don't usually become outdated if there isn't a more technologically advanced alternative. At this point in time there isn't an advanced alternative to the internet, but there are plenty of things to replace MTV.

  24. Heh. by BrokenHalo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Internet: Prince is over.

  25. No, Prince is *NUTS* by Weaselmancer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's not that he doesn't understand - he *can't* understand. Because he's crazy.

    Let Kevin Smith tell you all about it. You should see follow up links for part 2 and 3 in the sidebar if you're interested.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.