Se7en said:

How come in 2 pages of moaning about functionality and T-shirts, only Se7en has mentioned new/exclusive songs/versions?

Are these extra to the album tracks or what? What's the deal? How many tracks?

So basically, I give Prince my money every year*, and he gives me a bunch of things I'll get bored with after the first few times.

*This is assuming the site even lasts for a year, and I get no refunds if it doesn't (NPG Music Club anybody?)

I think i'll just wait until the CDs come out at target. I got burned before with the NPG Music Club.

So I got into the site with minor problems, but hey IT is my business so I had some insight, as far as that goes. I was able to download elixir and Lotusflow3r without any problems a little laggie but what do you expect when you have a few hundred people doing the same. But today really takes the Cake. I can't log in flashbacks stink yes you guess it another burned NPGMC member . I tried the support email addy with no response, I also called but go figure the ATT voice mail was full so I couldn't leave a message. boy... then to come find out all sales are final, Hmmm So I ask myself what does that exactlly mean? that means ur shat out of luck. thanks fo yo money sucka

what’s a Prince Friend 2 do.
you know were friends right? he says the word FAN is short for fanatic
So the moral of my story is what i got for $77 is two albums that i'll have to convert myself and a t-shirt that i will wear once, cuz most likley it will shrink. Just like my bankaccount did when i joined the Lotusflow3r site.
[Edited 3/25/09 19:46pm]

CarrieLee said:

i confess, it was hard for me to resist paying the money and seeing everything, but i decided to just wait for the target cd's. i was a member of the npg music club....i would have liked it better if he didn't charge a yearly fee, and let us pay for items we want. if we want to buy a never before seen video collection, then we buy it, if we want the cd's, or other music we pay for that. i would like the option to pick what i want. like when you buy music on amazon.com.

Since I am fortunate to live in the LA area, I decided to spend my $77 on a ticket to the Club Nokia show (I got lucky apparently), and I'll pick up the CD at Target for $12. Now that's value for the money, unless Prince decides to bring his protege up on stage for the entire last set!

The Police did a "members-only" website to cash in on their reunion tour, and so did Genesis. In both cases, I got amazing seats taking my chances with Ticketmaster and I wasn't even an AMEX member. I signed up for the Genesis site and got screwed over during its "members only presale." The only other thing the official Genesis site did for me over the following 364 days was continue to let me post in the forums which used to be free.

Now, it's possible Lotusflow3r.com will deliver in its first year, but I've found that these websites are just shameless cash grabs. Can you imagine the sales pitch the website companies give to the artists?

"Look guys, your fans are fanatical about you. All you have to do is promise them a better chance at exclusive seats and you'll make an extra $75 per fan without having to do anything or provide anything tangible! You've only got 20 seats to give away, but the fans don't know that, and to bait the trap, you can promise them exclusive photos and rarities."

saafiir said:

Agreed!

prince is crazy.

As much as I love the guy I've decided not to join. $77 is too much to pay for three CDs I doubt I'll like that much (judging by the falling standard of his music since about 1990), some pictures I already have in the "21 Nights" book, and a T-shirt I'll most likely find nauseatingly awful and never wear.

The money just isn't enough for what's on offer, especially when the CDs will be out here in the UK before long for a fraction of the cost, there are no live shows planned for over here as far as we're aware, and also because the T&Cs of the site state that "additional premium content" isn't included in the membership, so you can bet that as soon as anything worthwhile appears (concert videos, music...) we'll have to pay for it again, and then rejoin the site when it relaunches with a new name to tie in with his next album.

Why couldn't he have done something similar to what Nine Inch Nails are doing and realise that if you look after your fans they look after you, and if you do something like give an album away (and supply artwork, lyrics, ID3 tags, different formats, and Creative Commons licenses to allow free redistribution) people like this, share it with their friends, and the fanbase starts to grow, resulting in increased ticket sales for shows and then increased revenue for the artist?

Sorry, Prince, but I'm going to pass on this one, and should you tour the UK again I'll get my tickets by other means, and I'll get the albums from the shop when they appear.

Caught The Tonight Show performance...I wonder why was he talking about or singin about President Obama? I believe I clearly read an article where he says as a jw he doesn't vote and didn't vote for President Obama.

Any thoughts?