1800newfunk.com

1997-2002

Website

1800newfunk.com was launched in 1997, as Prince’s official retail arm of NPG Records, initially to process orders for Crystal Ball CD set – Prince’s first truly commercially independent release facilitated through what was then pioneering use of the internet. Designed by Sam Jennings, who would be webmaster for all Prince’s later sites, 1800newfunk.com was the first website operated by a major artist for the purpose as an alternative method to the traditional means of distributing music – the retail of physical music online. Ran entirely as an in-house operation, the website’s mission to sell music directly to fans also realised an increased profit from every sale, rather than the music industry’s traditional model of royalty which paid much less.

The creation of 1800newfunk.com was formed out of the ashes of Prince’s NPG stores in Minneapolis and London’s Camden which closed in February 1996. Their leftover stock was uploaded to the lines at 1800newfunk.com. The website served in this capacity until Prince’s retail operation merged into NPG Music Club in 2002 that was focussed on content streaming.

The interface of 1800newfunk.com laid out around phone keypad from which customers would access the products, categorised into five categories: Music, Ice (jewellery), Lifestyle (mugs, calendars and tourbooks), NPG Gear (apparel), and Posters. An optional toll-free ordering line was also available: 1-800-NEWFUNK which could dialled within the US. The website relaunched in 2000 but only to offer physical music releases. Much of the remaining stock following its closure in 2002 was sold off at later concerts. Manuela Testolini, an employee of NPG Retail, married Prince in 2001. They divorced in 2006.

The site gets it name from the 1994 compilation Prince created named 1-800 NEW FUNK, showcasing the artists signed to the then newly created NPG Records. These artists, which included Prince himself (under then name Prince Love Symbol) previously signed to Paisley Park Records which had been shut down by Warner Brothers in February 1994.