Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: February 4, 1994
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Title: "Prince, Paisley Park bite the dust; Symbol Man Rises"
Written By: Jon Bream

Prince and his Paisley Park Records are dead! Long live the Symbol Man!

Last year, Prince changed his name to a glyph and announced his retirement from conventional recordings. This week he announced the dissolution of the joint venture of Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records.

"It's a mutual agreement," said Warner Bros. vice president Bob Merlis. "When I say, 'It's mutual,' it's not face-saving. I think he wants to make his career happen."

Paisley Park Records was not a profitable venture. Except for albums by Prince and a 1990 reunion by the Time, no Paisley Park record was a best-seller. (Before he formally set up Paisley Park Records, Prince produced hit albums under a Paisley label for the Time, Sheila E, Vanity 6 and Madhouse.) Paisley's current releases by George Clinton and Mavis Staples have sold 175,000 and "less than 100,000," respectively, said Merlis.

Last year, after having changed its top executive three times in about a year, Paisley Park Records set up costly penthouse offices in Century City, Calif., with a staff of nearly 20 people. Prince authorized extravagant projects such as sending a film crew to Egypt to shoot a movie with Paisley Park singer-dancer Carmen Electra that was never released.

The futures of Paisley Park artists Clinton, Staples, Rosie Gaines (who has finished but not released an album), Tyler Collins and Minneapolis-based saxophonist Eric Leeds have not been determined yet. Prince's future is as clear as it's ever been: He remains a Warner Bros. recording artist. And he has a new single, which he's marketing in a typically Princely fashion - unconventionally.

Ads for "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" appeared in this week's issues of People and Entertainment Weekly magazines. The ad features endorsements from producer Quincy Jones, supermodel Naomi Campbell, singer Sheena Easton, actress Holly Robinson, photographer Greg Gorman and others. The ad announces that you can hear "the song everyone's talking about" on the Miss USA pageant on Feb. 11, and you can order an advance copy by calling 1-800-NEW-FUNK.

What the ad doesn't say is that the song might be performed during the broadcast as part of a Revlon ad, or that the service charges to get an advance copy are greater than the cost of the recording.

A call to the aforementioned number is answered "New Power Generation." The single costs $ 3.95 for a cassette, $ 4.95 for a CD (other special versions with remixes and special packaging are also available); the handling charge is $ 3.25 and the shipping charge is $ 5 (for four- to five-day delivery) or $ 9.50 (for a two- to three-day rush order).

The operator who answered Tuesday said that about 50 percent of callers were buying the single. He said he had handled about 40 calls in six hours. The phones had been ringing "constantly," he said, and 30 to 35 operators were on duty. They're the same operators who work for The Connection, the Twin Cities telephone information service based in Burnsville.

According to the magazine ads, the single will be available in stores Feb. 24, but it won't be released on Warner Bros. "He is able to do this with our consent," said Warners' Merlis. "He is still a Warner Bros. artist and should he do an album, it will be for us."

Seemingly frustrated with Warner Bros.' inability to market his recent albums into multimillion sellers, Prince has taken a liking to this mom-and-pop approach of selling records. Late last year he began selling singles and albums by New Power Generation, his former backup band, via mail order and at a New Power Generation store in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis.

He may do the same with "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" or look for an independent national distributor such as Bellmark, which handled the recent smash single from left field "Whoomp! (There It Is)" by Tag Team.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Warner Reprise Video will release a videotape of the Joffrey Ballet's "Billboards," set to music by Prince. The list price is $ 24.98. The ballet was filmed last August at State University at Purchase, N.Y.