A New Beginning

Funkatopia founder Mr. Christopher completely flipped his lid by making multiple changes to his funk fortress that most would consider crazy. A new 24/7 Prince station, a complete FUNKEDUP broadcast overhaul, and a dedication to a new direction.

The biggest and most notable move was the controversial removal of the two massive 7-hour Prince blocks that had become a stalwart for Prince fans everywhere on the FUNKEDUP app.

“It became dreadfully obvious that I was missing the mark on my original vision for Funkatopia and letting funk fans and myself down in the process. I love Prince and everything that he did to promote Funkatopia when he was with us, but even he wouldn’t have wanted what Fukatopia has become or to continue in its current iteration.“, Mr. Christopher noted.

The new FUNKEDUP app will now feature new funk artists and music along with even more of a deep dive of funk music from old classics and music that has been sorely missing from the broadcast. “Everything was so repetitive and was just getting stale. Even when Prince had his own station, he showcased new artists. I had to make the same decision.”, Mr. Christopher stated.

The new FUNKEDUP format features bands like Lettuce, Parliament, The New Mastersounds, Silk Sonic, Ari Lennox, and many others and of course, Prince. Hundreds of new songs have already been placed into the new format that launches at 12:01am EST on 01/01/2022.

So what about those hardcore Prince fans? Mr. Christopher has the answer for that and it was an amazing announcement. “I knew that the core of our supporters was there primarily for the Prince blocks and to compensate for the loss of Prince blocks, we created a brand new 24/7 Prince broadcast called Purple Yoda Radio that will be available exclusively to those supporters. Being an ASCAP licensed station is important to me and I need to make sure that I can keep the stations running and that artists are being compensated without running into a financial hole in the process.“

That means there are now two radio broadcasts available. The new Purple Yoda Radio is being made available to all of the Funkatopia Patreon supporters at www.patreon.com/funkatopia starting at 12pm EST on 01/01/2022. All Patreon supporter levels will get access to the new broadcast and the new app will be released later in the first quarter.

The existing FUNKEDUP app was recently updated for Android and iPhone, although Mr. Christopher is highly considering moving to the new provider currently being utilized for the Purple Yoda Radio broadcast. He states, “It is way more intuitive, does a better job at mixing up songs, and has a better uptime. All of which is very important to our growth.”

On top of those incredible changes, the brand new Best Funk Albums of 2022 post is coming in January along with a dedication to create weekly posts to Funkatopia.com. It’s all coming and you should be ready.