Excerpts from Prince's 4th interview with  Rolling Stone Magazine
RollingStone, Issue # 949, May 27 2004

   


Prince's deal with Columbia: Because "Musicology" is so listener-friendly, Prince overcame his near pathological wariness about record companies and agreed to allow his lawyer to work out a deal with Columbia Records. Columbia, which is part of Sony Music, will distribute and help the market the album domestically ( and be reimbursed for the costs of doing so) and license it for sale in the rest of the world. It's an arrangement that essentially requires no upfront costs on the label's part, while providing a strong profit incentive for the company to sell as many copies as possible. On his end, Prince gets the enormous reach of an international corporate powerhouse.

According to Sony's president, Don Ienner, the label has filled orders for upward of a million copies of the album worldwide. "And with the first copy shipped, we started making money," he adds. "We have really high expectations for this, and, though there are no guarantees, we hope to remain in business with Prince for a long time. How often does an artist of his stature become available on any terms?"

Prince receives no payment from the label. But retains complete ownership of the album. He also gets a much higher percentage of sales than he would under a more traditional arrangement. "One advantage of writing "slave' on my face back then was that when I meet with a label now, they already know they're not going to be owning anything", Prince says wryly. "Maybe at one time they could get Little Richard for a new car and a bucket of chicken. We don't roll like that no more."



Being at Peace: " I feel at peace. I knew it would take time, and I had to deal with a lot of ridicule. But this feels like peace right now. Spiritually I feel very different from the way I used to, but physically? Not at all. I don't look at time that way, and I don't believe in age. When you wake up, each days looks the same, so each day should be a new beginning. I don't have an expiration date."

About Tom Petty: "It was an honor to play with Tom Petty (at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame ceremony). "Free Fallin'" is one of my favorite songs. I used to love whenever he would come on MTV, because you knew you were going to get a great tune. MTV isn't like that anymore."


"Kiss" Highlight: For a tumultous run of songs at the end of the Cleveland show, Prince invites perhaps two dozen women in the audience onto the stage to dance. One willowy girl wears a purple two-piece bathing suit festooned with the gylph that had become the singer's name for a time. Prince struts over to her, and she becomes his dance partner during "Kiss". After the line "Act your age, not your shoe size", he holds the mike out for her, and right in tune, she sings, " And maybe we can do the twirl!" Prince's eyes widen and he yowls, "Wooo!"

"The security guard wasn't going to let her get onstage", Prince says backstage after the show. " I said, "You can't send that girl home dressed like that!"