Prince’s history online has been checkered, at best. Most people know about how jealously he has guarded his material, scouring YouTube for any performance clips and videos and vigilantly removing them. Most famously, he tangled with a Pennsylvania mother who posted a video of her baby dancing as “Let’s Go Crazy” played in the background. And, while most artists of his stature have come around to the promise (as well as the limits) of online distribution, Prince has done his best to botch his digital presence at every turn. He has had online-subscription services that ran out of steam (the NPG Music Club, which ran from 2001 to 2006) and lavishly designed official Web sites that collapsed under their own weight (lotusflow3r.com, which posted snippets of albums but failed to deliver exclusive content). He even had a CD-ROM game called Prince Interactive, from 1994, that let you tour a virtual studio and find hidden tracks. (Remember CD-ROM games? Want to buy an old one for ten dollars?)
What he hasn’t had, until now, is a sanely designed, low-maintenance Web site. Hopefully, that’s what 20pr1nc3.com is. The site, which went up this past weekend, follows on the heels of a mysterious YouTube account, 3rdeyegirl, which has been hosting videos of tour rehearsals, outtakes, and more. The Web site only has three pieces of content at the moment, but they’re significant: there’s a lyric video for a new song, “Screwdriver”; a short preview for what might be a Montreux concert film; and promotional audio for Prince’s latest protégé, the Cameroonian singer and model Andy Allo (because what would a Prince site be without protégés?).
With an artist as mercurial (and as historically Internet-hostile) as Prince, this is a significant development, though it’s worth asking if the new material is any good. The answer is a qualified yes. “Screwdriver” is a straightforward rock song that seems like it was recorded with Prince’s new all-female band, and it features a volcanic guitar solo toward the end. It’s not quite “Let’s Go Crazy,” but it’s a pocket-size reminder of his instrumental prowess and his love for basic rock and roll (think “Peach” or “I Like It There” or even “Bambi,” which he has also been rehearsing with the new band). The 3rdeyegirl material finds him moving more toward funk jams: there’s “Same Page, Different Book,” which was released two weeks ago and then deleted, and a new jam called “Chapter and Verse”:
“Chapter and Verse” doesn’t sound like a finished song, or even especially like an unfinished one. Still, if Prince has come around to the idea of using the Internet to distribute new material, he’s welcome to put out as many sketches and outtakes as he wants. Based solely on the name of the Web site, it seems like this will be a going concern for the calendar year only, but there are worse things than a year-long peek behind the purple curtain.
