If only all the Paris-philandering stuff had been released on Lotusflow3r.com -- that would've given folks a reason to join...

Prince once ruled the Web. Now he's got to step it up - Newsweek.

MUSIC
Pop’s Virtual Royalty
Prince once ruled the Web. Now he's got to step it up.

By Seth Colter Walls | NEWSWEEK
Published Mar 14, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Mar 23, 2009 biggrin


http://www.newsweek.com/id/189242


Prince has always wanted to be your everything. On his first hit single, back in 1979, the R&B Romeo declared his intention to become not only your lover, but "your mother and your sister, too." The public compromised by letting him become pop's polyamorous changeling. During his "Purple Rain" guitar solos, Prince could be our Jimi. When funking it up with "Kiss," he was a falsetto-voiced James Brown. He even showed an affinity for Joni Mitchell–style lyricism, giving her a shout-out on "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker." So when Prince ditched his record company in favor of self-distribution during the '90s, anticipation ran high. Since he had been battling over the right to release as many albums as he wished—instead of a measly one per year—the upside was implicit: Prince was going to tear it up on the Web. There were rumors of unreleased, would-be hits, deliciously out-there funk sessions and hundreds of other Princely experiments that could finally hit the marketplace. That treasure trove never fully materialized. His online "music clubs" came and went with each new Prince recording, but they were frustratingly uneven. Worse, the best new tracks came saddled with antipiracy technology that didn't play nice with your iPod. Prince's last site went dark mere months after charging for "lifetime" memberships.

Now Prince—the first marquee musician to flirt with the Web—wants to go on another virtual date. While he is partnering with Target to sell a new three-CD set for the recession-proof price of $11.98, Prince will also offer subscriptions to his new site, Lotusflow3r.com, for a not-so-recession-proof $77 per year. With the physical albums available so cheaply at a bigbox retailer, you'd be forgiven for wondering whether the site could possibly be worth that much. More important than the economic rationale, perhaps, is whether Prince can use the Web to advance any artistic payoff.

Prince's counterintuitive move to charge top dollar for a digital home that duplicates music available on CDs is a new strategy for inducing hard-core fans to pay more. Nine Inch Nails tried the reverse in 2008 by offering multiple MP3 downloads for virtually nothing, and then enticing fans to pony up as much as $300 for deluxe, fetish-object box sets. While Radiohead's own pay-what-you-wish MP3 gambit is cited as a revolution, it's often forgotten that their site also sold a premium box-set version of "In Rainbows" for $81. Even smaller acts are getting creative. Cult country wit Robbie Fulks recently released 50 new songs—a Prince-like deluge—exclusively via his Web site for $35. Fulks isn't sure whether he'll release the music on CD, but says this is not just an eco-nomic experiment. By writing many more songs than could fit on a standard disc, Fulks says he was trying to discover new musical ideas that might not have occurred "under more stringent self-censorship." (His plan worked.)

As other artists learn to harness the Web for creative reasons as well as financial ones, Prince can no longer skate on his reputation for being pop's first online mover. Scott Addison Clay, the artist's latest Web developer, gave NEWSWEEK AN advance tour of the Web site, and it seems better designed than Prince's past efforts. The music, by the way, sounds exciting. "Boom" mixes psychedelia with funk rhythms and orgiastic guitar. When Prince deigns to adopt modern fads, such as Auto Tune–like pitch-bending in the song "Chocolate Box," he innovates by harmonizing with the digital sounds in a way T-Pain could never accomplish. confused But all that mere music can be had at Target for less than $12 starting March 29. Ultimately, the site, which is set to debut before the Target street date, will have to thrive apart from those first three albums. Clay says future plans for Lotus flow3r.com include a hybrid documentary-music video. But the deal-sealer, he concedes, is the potential for streaming live, VIP-only concerts from Prince's Los Angeles mansion. "There could be a live chat going on with members watching a concert, and Prince could actually play requests," Clay says. He also claims a colleague has organized 10 albums of old Prince music never released in any form. eek Should there exist an all-tuba record Prince recorded half out of his mind back in 1988, now he's got a place to let it toot—if only he can commit to digitizing all his diamonds and pearls.

The BBB has pretty much ZERO pull.

All they do is list a company as having complaints and how many.

Potential customers can look you up to see if there's opinions on a business, but only if that business signed up and paid dues for "membership"

A Business is "Accredited" by just paying membership fees and not receiving complaints.

Am I wrong?

... two ideas:

1) The thread about exclusive content in the first week never materializing might be grounds to file complaints with the better business bureau.

2) Contact the reporter who did the story in advance of the site's rollout, the article featured implications of what might be possible with the site. Send him links to the discussion forum. Reporters are constantly looking for follow-up stories.

I don't think you all are going to see consistent value for your dollars without involving external folks: namely, the BBB and the media.

I'm sorry it hasn't been the experience you all hoped it would be. I had my reservations beforehand, but I hoped Prince would dispel them with better service this time.

I asked the Support team abiut the delay and they wrote today:

"We started to send out the T-shirts last week. They are being shipped
via the USPS, and hopefully all those in the continental US will have
received their shirts by the end of next week. Overseas orders will
take a little longer, and delivery times may vary depending of the
postal system for each country."

They are very nice quality shirts though, and worth waiting for!"

I also asked about the nearly empty "new galaxy" (I mean a 20 years old video I already have on DVD/VHS is not an update 4 me (and as far as I know 4 most of the subscribers either) and they told me in their E-Mail:

"We will continue to add further content to the site throughout the
course of your membership, and I hope that some of this makes the
galaxy feel less empty for you!"

So I got "standard answers" one more time This is sad.

I'm sorry, I can't come to the door right now. I'm afraid that in my weakened condition, I could take a spill down the stairs and suffer further school absences. You can reach my parents at work. Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your concern. Have a nice day.

complain in March next year if you feel you haven't had your money's worth by then.

complain before then and you'll have no grounds.

if we've had nothing else new by then, then I'll be amongst the moaners. but there's a long way to go before the end of the year's sub.

it was $77. i hardly expect Prince to give away his entire back catalogue for that.

GhostlyNun said:

AMEN...