what
would
be
a
reasonable
price
to
pay for membership fees ??


just the amount please !!
[Edited 2/3/09 7:52am]

How long is a piece of string? Some will say $100, some will say $77, some will say $25 and some will say $0.

Until we know what sort of content is available it's hard to say.

It depends on what's delivered for that price and we don't know at this point in time.
So it is a gamble.
Something very typical to USAsians.

It made the very cri$i$ that this world is in.

Yes. Don't deny it.
So don't complain about a misery $77. Inflation will make that sum like nothing real soon. (don't believe it? get educated; your society runs on debt)

Amen.

(and yes, I will pay it happily and get something...)

madison said:

1 rarely used Planet Earth CD

If I have 2 pay 1 red cent to join Lotus Flower then its a DEFINATE Goodbye 2 Prince!!!!! Once bitten twice shy!!!!!

I don't care too much about the cost providing it offers good value. Obviously this is impossible to judge without knowing the content.

Prince asked the same exact thing before. It ended up as the C-Note fiasco.

I think it's a stupid idea. He's been trying to snake this kind of market for 10 years now and the bottom line is that FANS shouldn't have to pay to be FANS. He's alienating himself by creating a pay system just to view something like his Coachella performance. Something that any fan of any other band or artist can do by just going to Youtube for FREE. Prince keeps thinking that his star is at 80's height. It's not. His record sales suck. He has to give his records away to get any chart success. I just don't get his logic...? Him thinking he's some demigod has created an image that is only marketable to a select few. Sure, he'll get all his hardcore fans buying memberships but he's closing the door to the rest of the world which is a free media society. We don't pay for news, content or music really. You would think he would have caught on by now. He's so busy trying to make a buck that the fan base he's attracting is only allowing him to do just that. Make a buck or two if he's lucky. It's so sad.

.
[Edited 12/28/09 10:31am]

squirrelgrease said:

Exactly.

Besides, we can't say what a reasonable price is until we know what might be being paid FOR.

Personally, I think paid downloads/mail order music is the way to go. Nothing wrong with DRM-free downloads or CDs by mail.

Memberships are archaic, and to be frank, Prince's track record of them doesn't instill a great deal of trust in anyone except the most die-hard gluttons for punishment.

NouveauDance said:

So true! I couldn't believe the way the NPGMC vanished without warning and without transition 2 something new 4 its members. That portal was so awesome 4 purchasing Prince music and merch, 4 previewing trax and viewing rare videos, and 4 staying abreast of official news. The site even won a Webby Award! I found that the big problem 4 them was moderating the message board, and I think they should've just killed it and kept everything else. We could all gripe on The Org, HQ, and elsewhere and having Prince pay 4 NPGMC moderators 24/7 was surely a drain.

Call me crazy, but I hope that Prince will send an email 2 all former NPGMC members with some kind of special-rate offer 2 join lotusflow3r's paid special areas. We know he still has the email addresses as we got at least 1 message related 2 3121 after the NPGMC was gone. Asking former NPGMCers 2 pay $77, $31.21, or some other amount, 2 join the new exclusive areas is not going 2 fly as they won't forget the feeling of "getting burnt" at NPGMC.

Does it appear that we are back to the old 'naysayers' situation?

(nay == 'nee' in dutch)

how about $7.77 for ex npgmc members and $77.77 for the new folks...



[Edited 2/4/09 1:37am]

I Wont be giving Prince my money.

For a majority of fans it will be about the music and the overall value of the deal. Exclusive meaning being able to gain exclusive access to a souncheck equating to paying money to meet someone famous is not cool. I'm all for being able to go to soundchecks! but if this is the only thing being bartered in order for them to just gain the $77 from me, I'm not for it. I don't believe in paying to meet celebrities, musicians, politicians, the pope you name it. With Prince it's about the MUSIC for me.

If P is going to deliver a good number of exclusive cds straight from the studio or the vault and live shows and exclusive concert tickets in the first 10 rows (at a reasonable price) and dvds with concerts and videos on them. I'm all for it.

If it's exclusive video that streams, exclusive lyrics and exclusive chat rooms and the latest GCS2000 MP3 or being able to meet him or even Jesus Christ! = it won't be seen as value to me and IMO others many others are just waiting to see the # of cds offered (the fancy web site, chat, soundchecks, etc.. are always a welcomed addition to the MUSIC but the music is what its all about), without the music it will die faster than the NPG magazine. So exclusive won't be so good? And if P. doesn't get the $$$ he will drop this site like any other enterprise that doesn't make the buck (this is site 4 or 5 for him? right?).

What's interesting is maybe he will sweeten the deal and offer a bunch of CDs and FLAC files? But if its some deal that you gets the 3 cds and then they are being sold in BestBuy or WalMart? No one will join with $$$, jobs, economy being so tight. I hope his camp knows just how bad it is for people in the real world. That people are losing jobs daily.

I like football and baseball. I sure as hell don't pay for access to view streaming clips from a game on a teams web site!! I pay to go to a game. I go to the team stores and buy gear. Sure do! and with Prince it = MUSIC.

We will see? but I think the true fans will want a good amount of music = cd, flac files, etc. And not just exclusive access to a store where you can buy t-shirts, mugs and candles. It's about the MUSIC. If it becomes to exclusive the juice won't be worth the squeeze for Prince and he will drop this like a hot potato (it all depends upon if its worth it to us!). $77 with a good number of cds does equal a good number of people that subscribe and means that P gets the $$$ and means the survival of the site. If no $$$ = death quickly like the NPG magazine. And you being a hardcore fan you know how fast that lasted and how you got not a dime in return.

It depends on the amount of music he barters for the $77, that's what we as fans we learned from the past sites. You have prolly spent a large amout of money on Prince stuff over the years. All I'm saying is that if he is a musician/artist it should be about music and art.

I would advise to not handing over $77 without an offer of a good number of cds in the deal! If you do jsut hand over $77(without the music being offered in the deal) and believe that the store will in time offer up exclusive cds after they get your $77 for nothing = you are a sucker.

doriangrayville said:

Now THAT is a good idea right there.

How about free.


and we pay for music, videos and tickets when they are available

Sdldawn said:

Now THAT is an even better idea right there.

WaterInYourBath said:

Nah man I'd rather pay $7.77 and get everything Free than Pay per view or buy per item... way cheaper my way

IMMORTAL1 said:

If you won't then mabe you should give it to ME

Sdldawn said:

Right. It's not hard at all.

I don't see why he can't do anything like Ani di Franco does. Just a sober site with some regular news or other writings and a record store where you can either order CD's or download files for a reasonable price of 5-10$.

Make various and safe methods of payment available, hire a good mail distribution company, take your customers and their complaints seriously and there you go.

Heck, he could even open up some of the vault that way and make a great buck while also making tens of thousands of fans very happy.

--
[Edited 2/5/09 14:53pm]

madison said:

Zero.

Paying just for acces to a website, whether or not under the misleading guise of a "lifetime mebership", is ridiculous.

Now what the price of a mail order CD would concern, I would say 10$ tops and 5$ for a file to download, DRM free of course.

I think the $77 price is "reasonable" depending on what is exclusive versus what is get the cd two days before stores.

Ofcourse Radiohead tried the whole "pay what you want" route - and while some may say it was ridiculous, personally I think it was genius as it opened up the band to a whole new wave of people who may not have given the album a listen if they had to pay for it. And hey, if they liked it there was a whole back catalogue to buy too - ka-ching!

As for LF, I will pay "if the price is right" I have benefited from being a member in the past and paying for the priveledge - even when signing up to the original NPGMC meant $200 out of my pocket due to a struggling aussie dollar. Thankfully, those days are behind us now cause the aussie dollar is.... oh dear!

But yes I would pay if the offering was like it had been in the past - new exclusive tracks, access to the vault, exclusive cd offerings etc.

Swa

Price doesn't matter 2 me. When i was in undergraduate school, i used what ever credit or currency that i had or could find to buy tixs to Prince shows. And, back then, it was only possible to usually get a seat by buying scalped tixs. I'd rather give the money to Prince and let him do with it as he sees best fit rather than pay greedy scalpers.And, what ever the web site entry costs, it will be fine but i'm waiting for the shows. please.
[Edited 2/7/09 18:07pm]

Sdldawn said:

Agreed

realm said:

A quality post and that makes perfect sense. It is about the music and that should mean new music (ideally exclusive). CDs don't bother me in this age, but I do like my solid collection to date and wouldn't want to see it stop at Planet Earth.

With that said, I am a sucker and I will sign up regardless.

blacksweat said:

I know for me it will matter how good the deal is this time around. I consider myself hardcore as I have all the releases and been to the Celebrations and tons of shows. Still I just can't justify giving money away to P unless the payoff is great. As a consumer if you give a lot of money and get shit, plan on continuing for them to give the same thing. For many of us it will be about how much music do we get for the set amount of money they are asking. I will wait and see and if I believe the juice is worth the squeeze I'll be in. Exclusive music not ties, hats, stickers, patches, shirts, candles..etc.

If he's streaming HQ live footage- I'm talking full concerts here- from Musicology, the o2, 3121 Las Vegas- then he'll empty out my pockets.

Another chat room- unless we chat with the man himself- is worthless and I couldn't care less.