Anxiety said:

Can you remember where it was published, Anx?

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

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. 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. 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.

Fuck a year, I am giving him until June 30th. If there is no other exclusive content other than what we got, then I officially paid $77 for a $12 cd.

TO PRINCE:
I'll quote Wendy from the movie Purple Rain, "Wow...you can REALLY hurt people. Doesn't that mean anything to you? I mean, doesn't that make you feel like SHIT?!"

Legal Issues?

seems unlikely. if there would be, he would not have put up those old
videos. and even if there are legal issues, he has a ton of music and
videos (released and unreleased) from the post warners period that he
could put up on the site without any legal obligations whatever.

Problems between Prince and the site builders?

hmm, perhaps. although scott is still running that ship, isn't he?
and if there were problems i'm sure there would be a quicker way to
resolve the issue, hire new people or just put up a new site with a
quickness. if you want to keep your customers happy, the last thing
they should have to suffer is management problems. especially at an
early stage like this and without any information on what's going on.

Lack of interest on Prince's behalf?

likely. if he wanted to put more stuff on there it would be done. he
is after all the one who is calling the shots. a designer is just a
designer and a hired hand. all the music/videos that go up are only
those that prince wants to put up. if nothing appears, that means he
has no interest in putting anything up right now.

Did the 'teething problems' piss Prince off, so he washed his hands of it?
could be. but he should have learned from the npgmc and the 3121 site.
there's not really an excuse for all those 'teething problems' that
could have been easily avoided. some of the things that went wrong on
the site launch and shortly after were beyond embarrassing.

if prince got upset or pissed off because people complained en mass,
he should take note and make things better and just move on with the
project. people complained for a reason. i didn't hear anyone say
stuff like "i don't like the songs, i want a refund". the complaints
were about legit problems. if he can't take that kind of flack he
should never have set up a new site. besides, he's the ones who went
for the graphics heavy site that's extremely low on new content.

How much effort is really involved in uploading new music/videos?

not a whole lot. if the site and the bandwith etc are all up the way
they should be, a kid could upload the new content onto it. in fact,
kids do it from their bedroom every minute of the day.

When do you reckon we'll see some updates?

that's the million dollar question right now. if the reason for no
new content is a combination of the questions you asked, it could
be a whole while. i wouldn't mind to wait until august or even some
longer if they would at least give us teasers of new stuff or let
us in on what's going on.

Anxiety said:

Couldn't agree with you more, Anx.

I have considered writing in to complain, but unless the majority of the other members do too, I think it'll be like pissing in the wind.

I wonder what response would be garnered if some of the larger music magazines reported on it. I wonder if he'd be OK with looking like a money grabbing, fan screwer in the press?

MrsGoodnight said:

it was mentioned by the site designer in one of the articles about the site. i have a feeling he may have jumped the gun a little bit with that comment.

Anxiety said:

The thing is though, if Scott was out there making statements to the press that weren't true, Prince's camp was surely aware of what was being promised of the site. Notice that no one in Prince's camp issued any statements to clarify any inaccuracies, which leads me to believe that what the web designer said about the site was either part of the original plan or a purposeful attempt to get us all to sign up only to pull the old bait and switch.

-
[Edited 6/12/09 19:22pm]

MrsGoodnight said:

Not too long ago I posted 6 reasons why we are disappointed, which should address your concerns!

These three press releases or articles specifically state what we will get with our membership. Unfortunately most of this has nothing to do with the contract on Lotusflow3r.Feel free to add to the list or correct me if I am wrong!


1. Exclusive first week content and a T-shirt – (No exclusive content and no T-shirt yet)
2. Exclusive information about private or secret shows (I have learned about all gigs thus far, from other sources)
3. Possible full length concerts, as well as unreleased music (No unreleased music, but some unreleased video)
4. An array of Film footage and music from the vault (No music from the vault; some film footage)
5. Perks such as live-cam concerts from the mansion (This will be March 25th, 2010, and we will all subscribe again)
6. First dibs at tickets to live shows, unannounced gigs (Trouble with initial access for some of us, did not justify the trip to go to only one gig)

The truth is, these articles and press releases colored our perception, and that is why we are disappointed!

Dr,Funkenberry -Prince also plans to give his fans access to tickets to live shows, concert footage from past performances, exclusive imagery from his past albums and other exclusive photos, exclusive information about any private or secret shows, as well as exclusive content that will only be available in the first week of the site launch and may never become available again. Fans who join the site early will also receive a boutique-quality “Founding Member” t-shirt that displays the central image from the galaxy. Over time, Prince will continue to give fans more access to high-end never released photos and video content and much more.- Press release Drfunkenberry.com

Spinner- and to give fans their money's worth, Prince will continue to roll out content on a regular basis, including live video clips and possible full-length concerts, as well as unreleased music. According to Clay,- Spinner –Prince To Open up vaults for New Web Site

Variety- Prince's revamped Web domain, appropriately Lotusflow3r.com, gives his loyal followers exclusive access to an array of film footage and music from the Purple One's "Vault" -- a library that contains an immense amount of unreleased material. At a lofty annual subscription price of $77, fans also will be treated to such perks as live-cam concerts from the mansion and first dibs at tickets for last-minute, unannounced gigs, which have become a Prince trademark.- Variety- Prince Works Outside Record Label

I hope this helps you understand why you feel the way you do! It was just media hype!

...well whatever happends..i'm gonna still b there..i c it has..hey..it's gonna weave alot of people out...and so if i'm the ONLY one left...THEN MORE FUN 4 ME!!..
..mzsexybaby

mzkqueen03 said:

well me too lm still there too !!! so ure not the only one lol ...