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Thread started 04/02/10 11:40am

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Prince’s Failed LotusFlow3r Site: An Insider Dishes on ‘Polar Bear’ Decor, Fed-Up Fans

Last year, a Los Angeleno named Scott Addison Clay was invited into Prince’s inner sanctum –literally. Clay recalls the pop singer leading him through “the catacombs of his insanely gargantuan basement.” The tour led into a cavernous room, where a man sat at a drum set. A woman picked up a bass, Prince strapped on a guitar and a private concert ensued. Clay said, “It was the most bizarre thing. I remember thinking, do we clap?”

These and other scenes that resemble a Dave Chappelle sketch come to life, including 2 a.m. pancakes and deafening listening sessions in a room lined with thick white fur (“It was like polar bears had laid down for him”), were all part of a run-up to the launch of Prince’s latest, greatest Web portal.

Clay and his team were from the marketing firm Cimarron Group, which develops interactive games and such for Hollywood films like “Twilight.” Prince had recruited them to build a platform for his upcoming three-album release. The result, LotusFlow3r.com, resembled a galactic aquarium, featuring doodads like a rotating orb that played videos. The promise: fans who ponied up $77 for a year-long membership would receive the three new albums, plus an ensuing flow of exclusive content, like unreleased tracks and archival videos.

A year later, LotusFlow3r has gone dark, thousands of Prince’s fans are very annoyed and Clay has been dismissed from Prince’s kingdom almost as abruptly as he was invited in.

A representative for Prince did not respond to request for comment.

The episode should serve as a warning to the growing number of artists experimenting with newfangled fan clubs and members-only content sites: feed the beast — feed it often and well — or suffer blowback from your most vocal fans.

Things in LotusFlow3r land boiled over last week when some members noticed that their credit cards had been charged an additional $77 — an automatic renewal of their memberships. Making matters worse, many of these members had previously contacted the site’s administrators to say they hadn’t gotten their money’s worth, and they wanted out when their year was up.

Prince fan sites lit up.

“So far I have paid another $77 for a floating jellyfish which vanishes when you click on it. Well done Prince. Nothing like treating your fans like royalty,” wrote OperatingThetan. Desire2006 added, “It looks like the [Better Business Bureau] will have 2 re-open its ‘Prince’ case file again!!!!!”

To his credit, the singer was a Web pioneer, having released an album online back in 1997 following his ugly contract dispute with Warner Bros. But his track record with online fan clubs has been spotty. In 2006, he abruptly shuttered his New Power Generation Music Club with the message, “In its current 4m there is a feeling that the NPGMC gone as far as it can go.”

Last week, some fans seemed to blame themselves for getting roped in. “I signed up again, knowing full well what happened to his past Web sites,” wrote IstenSzek.

Prince fan Steven Anthony, who was erroneously charged and then refunded, called attention to the fracas — and got a lot of hate from diehard Prince fans — with a scathing open letter to the singer on his blog. Anthony says he was “lucky” to get what he did out of his membership, including a T-shirt and access to tickets for a concert at Paisley Park in Minnesota. But Anthony still feels burned by the LotusFlow3r experience. He says, “I don’t really like Prince that much as a person right now, but I still support his work.”

After the hyped launch of LotusFlow3r.com, Prince became an absentee landlord, Clay said. “We only got stuff in dribs and drabs.” Clay declined to say how many paying members the site did attract, but he speculated that the number was a disappointment to Prince.

As for the unauthorized credit card charges, Clay said that he didn’t realize that their billing service had activated the automatic renewals. When he and his team saw the charges adding up -– and heard from irate members — they halted the process. He said “a few hundred” members had to be refunded.

Once wooed by the Purple One, Clay found himself frozen out not long after the LotusFlow3r launch. He says at one point he was peppering Prince with so many e-mails about the site and its future that the singer called Clay and told him to cut it out. About a month ago, Prince relayed the order for the site to be shut down. Now Clay is in the process of handing over LotusFlow3r.com files to a new Prince representative who Clay describes as “me 2.0.”

He and his team were paid for their work, he said, but they never had a written contract. Looking back on an experience for which Prince fans “praised and reviled me, in equal measure,” Clay said, “it was a wild year.”


http://blogs.wsj.com/spea...th-prince/
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Reply #1 posted 04/02/10 11:47am

PurpleLove7

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Thanks for the article but I'm feeling like this will give orgers another opportunity to bash the site and Prince.
Peace ... & Stay Funky ...

~* The only love there is, is the love "we" make *~

www.facebook.com/purplefunklover
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Reply #2 posted 04/02/10 11:55am

JudasLChrist

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PurpleLove7 said:

Thanks for the article but I'm feeling like this will give orgers another opportunity to bash the site and Prince.


Well? You reap what you sow, right?
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Reply #3 posted 04/02/10 11:56am

PurpleLove7

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JudasLChrist said:

PurpleLove7 said:

Thanks for the article but I'm feeling like this will give orgers another opportunity to bash the site and Prince.


Well? You reap what you sow, right?


Not entirely ...
Peace ... & Stay Funky ...

~* The only love there is, is the love "we" make *~

www.facebook.com/purplefunklover
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Reply #4 posted 04/02/10 11:59am

JudasLChrist

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PurpleLove7 said:

JudasLChrist said:



Well? You reap what you sow, right?


Not entirely ...


Well, I would say in this case, definitely.
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Reply #5 posted 04/02/10 12:06pm

xlr8r

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private said:

He says at one point he was peppering Prince with so many e-mails about the site and its future that the singer called Clay and told him to cut it out.


omg + falloff + sad
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Reply #6 posted 04/02/10 12:08pm

errant

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no less than the Wall Street Journal! eek





oh, and apparently there's going to be another site.... neutral
"does my cock look fat in these jeans?"
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Reply #7 posted 04/02/10 12:09pm

muirdo

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Sounds like he is distancing his name as far away from this as he can.
Trying to save his reputation before the shit really hits the fan.
fair play to him.
Fuck the funk - it's time to ditch the worn-out Vegas horns fills, pick up the geee-tar and finally ROCK THE MUTHA-FUCKER!! He hinted at this on Chaos, now it's time to step up and fully DELIVER!!
woot!
KrystleEyes 22/03/05
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Reply #8 posted 04/02/10 12:10pm

xlr8r

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errant said:

no less than the Wall Street Journal! eek





oh, and apparently there's going to be another site.... neutral



ending of Deathproof with the girls jumping shouting "yay!" gif


(told you 'it aint over')
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Reply #9 posted 04/02/10 12:15pm

errant

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xlr8r said:

errant said:

no less than the Wall Street Journal! eek





oh, and apparently there's going to be another site.... neutral



ending of Deathproof with the girls jumping shouting "yay!" gif


(told you 'it aint over')



honestly, I'm kind of glad he's going to have another site. Would be a good way to get weird, one-off stuff out there. not that the last one did that, but whatever. I just hope he scraps this paid membership model. It's failed him a couple times now. Going back to the pay-per-download scheme worked pretty well. Just, please, no DRM this time. And better quality file downloads.
"does my cock look fat in these jeans?"
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Reply #10 posted 04/02/10 12:16pm

xlr8r

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errant said:

xlr8r said:




ending of Deathproof with the girls jumping shouting "yay!" gif


(told you 'it aint over')



honestly, I'm kind of glad he's going to have another site. Would be a good way to get weird, one-off stuff out there. not that the last one did that, but whatever. I just hope he scraps this paid membership model. It's failed him a couple times now. Going back to the pay-per-download scheme worked pretty well. Just, please, no DRM this time. And better quality file downloads.


It'll be different/better
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Reply #11 posted 04/02/10 12:19pm

errant

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xlr8r said:

errant said:




honestly, I'm kind of glad he's going to have another site. Would be a good way to get weird, one-off stuff out there. not that the last one did that, but whatever. I just hope he scraps this paid membership model. It's failed him a couple times now. Going back to the pay-per-download scheme worked pretty well. Just, please, no DRM this time. And better quality file downloads.


It'll be different/better



you have absolutely no reason to believe that based on past experience falloff
"does my cock look fat in these jeans?"
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Reply #12 posted 04/02/10 12:20pm

Kara

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The finger-pointing begins...popcorn
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Reply #13 posted 04/02/10 12:22pm

xlr8r

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errant said:

xlr8r said:



It'll be different/better



you have absolutely no reason to believe that based on past experience falloff


It will be def better/different then the current LF
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Reply #14 posted 04/02/10 12:22pm

Efan

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This was already posted here: http://prince.org/msg/13/333699
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Reply #15 posted 04/02/10 12:26pm

xlr8r

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Kara said:

The finger-pointing begins...popcorn

lol
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Reply #16 posted 04/02/10 12:30pm

LondonStyle

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muirdo said:

Sounds like he is distancing his name as far away from this as he can.
Trying to save his reputation before the shit really hits the fan.
fair play to him.



As for the unauthorized credit card charges, Clay said that he didn’t realize that their billing service had activated the automatic renewals. When he and his team saw the charges adding up -– and heard from irate members — they halted the process. He said “a few hundred” members had to be refunded.

Now come on Clay .... We all know Prince knows nothing about Web Design and you got Paid in Full ...since you had no contract he could not do anything,....

So it begs the question ....Why did you not know this "billing" problem was gonna happen ...you had a year to sort it out....

Lies...Damn ...Lies and poor Web Design .... Clay you messed up big time!

The T-shirts the whole PR was down to your company ... You got paid so how come you did not deliver?
mad
Da, Da, Da....Emancipation....Free..don't think I ain't..! London 21 Nights...Clap your hands...you know the rest..
James Brown & Michael Jackson RIP, your music still lives with us!
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Reply #17 posted 04/02/10 12:31pm

drgnfly

I won't even read it no no no!
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Reply #18 posted 04/02/10 12:38pm

NuPwrSoul

Fascinating but not surprising. Some interesting things:

After the hyped launch of LotusFlow3r.com, Prince became an absentee landlord, Clay said. “We only got stuff in dribs and drabs.”


This became very clear to us, very quickly. 10 CDs hahahahahaha

Clay declined to say how many paying members the site did attract, but he speculated that the number was a disappointment to Prince.


It was a horrible price point/revenue model. But this is part of Prince's pattern of behavior with his projects--when they don't do as well as he thinks or expects, he drops it and is on to the next.

Once wooed by the Purple One, Clay found himself frozen out not long after the LotusFlow3r launch. He says at one point he was peppering Prince with so many e-mails about the site and its future that the singer called Clay and told him to cut it out.


DAMN!

About a month ago, Prince relayed the order for the site to be shut down.


Well there you go. Not surprised. "A flower that has water will grow... HELLO" guess no water for Lotusflow3r.

Now Clay is in the process of handing over LotusFlow3r.com files to a new Prince representative who Clay describes as “me 2.0.”


There's a 2.0??? NOOOOO! Please Prince get your shit in order before hitting us up. Hell go get Sam back.

More than likely, he'll find another fool to create some crazy ass website... and lots of fools to subscribe. :sigh*

He and his team were paid for their work, he said, but they never had a written contract.


No contracts = no lawsuits. We see you Prince LOL

Looking back on an experience for which Prince fans “praised and reviled me, in equal measure,” Clay said, “it was a wild year.”


Sorry, Scott. comfort
"That...magic, the start of something revolutionary-the Minneapolis Sound, we should cherish it and not punish prince for not being able to replicate it."-Dreamshaman32
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Reply #19 posted 04/02/10 12:39pm

LondonStyle

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xlr8r said:

Kara said:

The finger-pointing begins...popcorn

lol


i'd bet you £100.00 if Clay company had a contract with Prince this F**K up with the billing and poor customer service would not have happened...

He said it himself ...He had no contract but got paid in full ....yet his company still messed up on the Web Design...

Clay you took on more than you could handle my friend ... you blagged your hollywood status .... your a Yes man that can't deliver ... And now you want to push the poor website design problem on Prince....

For god sake man .... he a musician a weird one maybe but he knows nothing about web design.... this was your job...you Pr***! mad

I'm not really angry but this just shows you what Prince has to deal with when you run your own business, sharkes and blaggers who say they can do things they can't....This is the same Problem with his team regarding the Dublin Gig i bet ....lol

Man Prince is getting such a bad rep .....SHOW-Business is hard game to play!

confused
Da, Da, Da....Emancipation....Free..don't think I ain't..! London 21 Nights...Clap your hands...you know the rest..
James Brown & Michael Jackson RIP, your music still lives with us!
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Reply #20 posted 04/02/10 12:40pm

xlr8r

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NuPwrSoul said:

Fascinating but not surprising. Some interesting things:

After the hyped launch of LotusFlow3r.com, Prince became an absentee landlord, Clay said. “We only got stuff in dribs and drabs.”


This became very clear to us, very quickly. 10 CDs hahahahahaha



No contracts = no lawsuits. We see you Prince LOL

Looking back on an experience for which Prince fans “praised and reviled me, in equal measure,” Clay said, “it was a wild year.”


Sorry, Scott. comfort



classic lol clapping


.
[Edited 4/2/10 12:41pm]
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Reply #21 posted 04/02/10 12:41pm

Mars23

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http://prince.org/msg/13/333699 <---that one was 1st.
Studies have shown the ass crack of the average Prince fan to be abnormally large. This explains the ease and frequency of their panties bunching up in it.
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