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Thread started 04/02/10 9:34am

BartVanHemelen

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Scott Addison Clay spills the beans: "Prince’s Failed LotusFlow3r Site: An Insider Dishes on ‘Polar Bear’ Decor, Fed-Up"

http://blogs.wsj.com/spea...th-prince/

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.”


[EDIT - added the article text - Mars23]
© Bart Van Hemelen
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.
It is not authorized by Prince or the NPG Music Club. You assume all risk for
your use. All rights reserved.
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Reply #1 posted 04/02/10 9:51am

swanny

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


No contracts in Prince world, that way he can royally fuck you and you have no legal comeback.
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Reply #2 posted 04/02/10 10:04am

Militant

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


New site! Yay! biggrin
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Reply #3 posted 04/02/10 10:04am

BartVanHemelen

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BartVanHemelen said:



Sheesh, things went south almost immediately after the launch, and this guy took A YEAR to come clean? Was the money that good?
[Edited 4/2/10 10:05am]
© Bart Van Hemelen
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.
It is not authorized by Prince or the NPG Music Club. You assume all risk for
your use. All rights reserved.
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Reply #4 posted 04/02/10 10:05am

Efan

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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.


I found this part in particular very infuriating. It shows exactly how little Prince regards his fans.
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Reply #5 posted 04/02/10 10:29am

rwn

BartVanHemelen said:

BartVanHemelen said:



Sheesh, things went south almost immediately after the launch, and this guy took A YEAR to come clean? Was the money that good?
[Edited 4/2/10 10:05am]


Exactly. Money is the only reason why you wouldn´t trash your employer in public confused
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Reply #6 posted 04/02/10 10:33am

Efan

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rwn said:

BartVanHemelen said:



Sheesh, things went south almost immediately after the launch, and this guy took A YEAR to come clean? Was the money that good?
[Edited 4/2/10 10:05am]


Exactly. Money is the only reason why you wouldn´t trash your employer in public confused


Actually, there are a lot of reasons not to trash your employer in public. I don't blame him for that. I do (or did) find the entire design and execution of the site to be ridiculously bad, and that I do largely blame Clay for. But if he was working to get more content added and trying to work things out in a private way, I support him on that.
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Reply #7 posted 04/02/10 10:48am

xlr8r

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damn omg
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Reply #8 posted 04/02/10 11:08am

purplecorvette
1

Efan said:

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.


I found this part in particular very infuriating. It shows exactly how little Prince regards his fans.


I agree.
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Reply #9 posted 04/02/10 12:27pm

PurpleLove7

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moderator

Efan said:

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.


I found this part in particular very infuriating. It shows exactly how little Prince regards his fans.


... like it happened "exactly" how he said it, yeah right.
Peace ... & Stay Funky ...

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

www.facebook.com/purplefunklover
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Reply #10 posted 04/02/10 12:29pm

Efan

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PurpleLove7 said:

Efan said:



I found this part in particular very infuriating. It shows exactly how little Prince regards his fans.


... like it happened "exactly" how he said it, yeah right.


Why do you put quotation marks around random words in your posts?
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Reply #11 posted 04/02/10 12:43pm

xlr8r

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Efan said:

PurpleLove7 said:



... like it happened "exactly" how he said it, yeah right.


Why do you put quotation marks around random words in your posts?

Probably for 'emphasis' lol
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Reply #12 posted 04/02/10 12:45pm

Efan

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xlr8r said:

Efan said:



Why do you put quotation marks around random words in your posts?

Probably for 'emphasis' lol


Except it has the opposite effect of diminishing the value of the word.
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Reply #13 posted 04/02/10 12:46pm

xlr8r

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Efan said:

xlr8r said:


Probably for 'emphasis' lol


Except it has the opposite effect of diminishing the value of the word.


I didn't say what where or how lol
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Reply #14 posted 04/02/10 12:49pm

NuPwrSoul

xlr8r said:

damn omg


twice.
"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 #15 posted 04/02/10 12:49pm

LondonStyle

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BartVanHemelen said:

BartVanHemelen said:



Sheesh, things went south almost immediately after the launch, and this guy took A YEAR to come clean? Was the money that good?
[Edited 4/2/10 10:05am]


Yep ... Clays a Blagger..... Bart Van Hemelen you called him out early doors...
I think poor Prince has taken a hit from this, like any business would do when you trust the person bidding for the job knows what the hell he's doing...

Clay was after the $$$$$

F**K the Prince fans .... at the end of the day all they are going to do is blame Prince.....

Smart Move Clay...but i think your interview with the WSJ will come back to bite you...

lol
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 #16 posted 04/02/10 12:50pm

xlr8r

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NuPwrSoul said:

xlr8r said:

damn omg


twice.

Post up your repsonse to this one..I trid to copy it but it wojldnt copy quote the whole thing..Im dyin lol
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Reply #17 posted 04/02/10 12:50pm

SomewhereHereO
nEarth

Militant said:

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


New site! Yay! biggrin

confused
Love God. Love Music. Love Life.
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Reply #18 posted 04/02/10 12:54pm

PurpleLove7

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moderator

Efan said:

xlr8r said:


Probably for 'emphasis' lol


Except it has the opposite effect of diminishing the value of the word.


Ah, thanks for that Efan ...
Peace ... & Stay Funky ...

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

www.facebook.com/purplefunklover
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Reply #19 posted 04/02/10 12:54pm

LondonStyle

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Efan said:

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.


I found this part in particular very infuriating. It shows exactly how little Prince regards his fans.


That's a stupid statement ... in the business (if your not a blagger) world when you take on a job you ask for things up front .... you set deadlines for stuff ....if the stuff does not come you stop work ....i.e. Payment etc..

Clay got paid in full and then sat on his hands for a whole year....

He had a year to sort out all the problems and failed ... why because he didn't care as he had been paid...

Hence the poor customer services and lack of emails .... lol
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 12:57pm

LondonStyle

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rwn said:

BartVanHemelen said:



Sheesh, things went south almost immediately after the launch, and this guy took A YEAR to come clean? Was the money that good?
[Edited 4/2/10 10:05am]


Exactly. Money is the only reason why you wouldn´t trash your employer in public confused


That and the fact he did not know what the hell he was doing ...err what's his track record with producing websites like lotusflow3r for international pop stars....

That's the first thing i would mention in an interview to the WSJ .... lol

The guys a blagger ....hence the billing problem ...school boy stuff ... lol
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 #21 posted 04/02/10 12:58pm

chookalana

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God forbid Prince use iTunes or Amazon like the rest of the music world.

Prince is an idiot.
"So strange that no one stayed at the end of the Parade..." - Wendy & Lisa's "Song About" on their 1987 self-titled album.
uzi RIAA
mac 'nuff said.
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Reply #22 posted 04/02/10 12:59pm

powersoul99

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.”

One minute he says he's lucky, then he slags Prince off!
Attention seeker.
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Reply #23 posted 04/02/10 1:00pm

Bohemian67

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BartVanHemelen said:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/04/02/my-year-with-prince/



To Anthony, who was erroneously charged and then refunded, called attention to the fracas — and got a lot of hate from diehard Prince fans —


[EDIT - added the article text - Mars23]


It's a well written article with balanced ideas. Only part I don't like is this, because we never got to see those emails to Anthony and we all know there are diehard Prince fans on both sides of the fence.

I do take my hat off to the developer who was a one man team, for not once spilling the beans about the site closure or anything else. That's professionalism. You keep your mouth shut and he was under verbal agreement that's all. It also explains why ALL THE EMAILS went unuanswered.

But the article also gives credit to Prince as being a web pioneer and good journalists do that. I also figured that the numbers to join LF were not that high so all in all not a very successful financial venture. However, he does mention that "Prince fan sites lit up." I wonder which other site lit up?
"Free URself, B the best that U can B, 3rd Apartment from the Sun, nothing left to fear" Prince Rogers Nelson - Forever in my Life -
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Reply #24 posted 04/02/10 1:03pm

olskooljamz

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swanny said:

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


No contracts in Prince world, that way he can royally fuck you and you have no legal comeback.



Prince paid the guy for his work, there's no 'legal comeback' for him to seek.

And the onus falls on the supplier to put a contract to the client...the web team should have drawn one up...not that this is even an issue.
Somewhere Here On Earth
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Reply #25 posted 04/02/10 1:09pm

funksterr

Never ever give Prince money. That's my Golden Rule.
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Reply #26 posted 04/02/10 1:09pm

LondonStyle

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chookalana said:

God forbid Prince use iTunes or Amazon like the rest of the music world.

Prince is an idiot.



He does use iTunes and Amazon.... lol

what's wrong with Prince fans / fams don't they know how to use the internet

lol
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 #27 posted 04/02/10 1:10pm

Bohemian67

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LondonStyle said:

chookalana said:

God forbid Prince use iTunes or Amazon like the rest of the music world.

Prince is an idiot.



He does use iTunes and Amazon.... lol

what's wrong with Prince fans / fams don't they know how to use the internet

lol

lol biggrin lol
"Free URself, B the best that U can B, 3rd Apartment from the Sun, nothing left to fear" Prince Rogers Nelson - Forever in my Life -
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Reply #28 posted 04/02/10 1:11pm

polkadotbliss

Scott could have set up away better customer service-no matter how little content he was getting from Prince-who ultimately has to take the blame cuz its all his ride-he's steering-if he decides to drive straight into a ditch-its not like ANYBODY is gonna say dont or you can't do that

whatever.....his next projects gonna be massive

in the torrent world wink
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Reply #29 posted 04/02/10 1:13pm

2freaky4church
1

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You guys should be angrier. Fams.
All you others say Hell Yea!! woot!
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Forums > Past, Present, Future sites > Scott Addison Clay spills the beans: "Prince’s Failed LotusFlow3r Site: An Insider Dishes on ‘Polar Bear’ Decor, Fed-Up"