Its a little late in the day to be posting on this topic but I really feel the need to comment. Moderators if you feel the need to move this post please do so but here are my 2 cents worth I gotta speak out.

I have been collecting bootleg Prince material since 1987,I am not ashamed of my collection infact Im very proud of it.I dont not sell bootlegs although willing to swap and trade with other FANS (please dont see this as an invitation to ask)

As someone else posted today,its all about supply and demand and I can only speak for myself here.I am a Prince fan and have been for 20 years,I buy bootlegs to satisfy my "need" and curiosity to hear as much material as possible.Does this make me a bad person,make your own decision.

As for Prince leaking the material himself,I suppose it is a possibility but somehow I dont believe that to be true.

If anyone is interested go have a look here www.bpi.co.uk The British Phonographic Society,they have a list of 50 of the most bootlegged artists and Prince comes in at number 5. This tells me that the FANS want more music not that they themselves are the bootleggers.

Judging by some of my recent posts you would think that am no longer a Prince fan,on the contrary I love Prince and cant imagine not having his music in my life.But just lately I find myself feeling torn between the man and his music and the man and his personal issues.

Much love Pochacco

I want IHOP

Once you have a complete hatred for prince your journey to the darkside will be complete
On a more serious note i understand how you feel.My thoughts are this just enjoy the music you get from him and forget the rest.If you enjoy bootlegs get em.Don't try to get caught up in what prince is thinking because he is proven to let you down when he does anything outside of music.Remember you like him for the music and everything else falls into place.
[This message was edited Sat Sep 28 10:53:15 PDT 2002 by 4LOVE]

Pochacco said:

That's a terrible piece of data there, though! No sources provided to credit the research, no dateline given for the research. It's almost as if the 'music powers that be' make up figures that approximate to the truth and then use them to justify their argument

Hell, they'll be making up the record sales figures next to ensure the artist gets less of a cut than they deserve.

For the record, I visited just one reliable bootleg information site, and that informed that Prince's music has been bootlegged on well over 500 different CDs. So someone at the BPI is slacking.

Pochacco said:

I c what ur saying but many of those bootlegs that u pay 4 can b found online thru file sharing programs. I've gotten many. But NEVER have I sold them. Yeah, it takes a lot longer and requires some work finding them online but they r there, and 4 free.

When some1 else profits, thats when it's wrong. In the case of WinMX or Kazaa no1 is profiting. That is TRUE sharing, imo.