This just in:


At 08:17 PM 12/17/2002 -0800, you wrote:

Hi again! There is a rumor flying around that the club is closing? Is this true?

High

The NPG Music Club has been taken down. There is no further in4mation at this time.


PEACE,
NPG Music Club
http://www.NpgMusicClub.com/

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If u r a current NPGMC member, please include ur famname in all correspondence with ur emale address.



PEACE,
NPG Music Club
http://www.NpgMusicClub.com/


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If u r a current NPGMC member, please include ur famname in all correspondence with ur emale address.

I would like to add that I find this possibility very upsetting! I have enjoyed the club and it's members tremendously!

Berry said:

Did U receive this NPGMC mail?
Strange, I didn't receive any mail from NPGMC!!!

I believe Berry received this email because she wrote to them. They replied to her question.
I agree with you Berry. Meeting other members at the soundchecks and especially at the Celebration was too much fun. Great times and great memories. I sincerely hope the club isn't over.

NPGMC RUMOR BASED ON RUMOR
Has no one learned anything from dealing with the NPGMC??
They hate to release info. They are purposely cryptic.
Yet you take this usual type response from them & let the rumors fly.
Remember you asked the question - they did not volunteer the info. You put them on the spot & they sidestepped the question. And now you want to make more of it then there is.

Some people never learn.

thedoorkeeper said:

True. Unless Prince was ready for an announcement I wouldn't expect the staff to divulge anything about the club.

I'll have to agree that since a lot of people are jumping down NPGMC's back, I wouldn't give any erroneous info either.

If they say the club will be back up in January and it doesn't happend until February then they'll be even more emails flying around.

I think it's a wait and see situation.

Damn, and they didn't even warn us before. Damn damn, now
I didn't have a chance to download "Silicon"



I wouldn't worry too much. They're always cryptic. I'm sure
they're just giving the site a facelift and there will be
some kind of npgmc next year. Perhaps another format as the
previous two, but they'll think of something for sure.

And so what if there isn't an npgmc? It's unlikely the man
will do another world tour next year, so the only real perk
to get from a club would be new albums. And he doesn't need
a club to sell albums, he can just put those up on the
retail page whenever they're ready and let people order them
as they see fit.

I'm sure many people would be happy as long as they still
have a change at getting some new material. No matter what
the format of the 'club' would materialise as.

All they've said is that the site has been taken down (a fact) and there are no plans for a 2003 Club (not a suprise... do you think Prince can plan anything more than a few weeks in advance?).

So it's just a typical cryptic NPGMC response showing that they don't know what's going on, kind of like how they didn't know what CDs we'd get when we joined in February (or even as recently as a couple months ago).

The Club will only go away if Prince has nothing to sell. Considering he probably will take a break from touring next year, having a Year 3 of the club only makes sense if he has a "product" to release. Believe me, I don't think an announcement that Year 3 membership will get you Xenophobia, Best of and whatever else he "chooses" to release will get anybody to join.

The bottom line is that Prince is probably going to go into the studio in the next few weeks. Depending on how much "releasable" music he thinks he has available, there may or may not be a club next year. If there is no club, it won't be because of the BBB stuff (NPGMC couldn't care less); it will be because Prince has nothing to sell at this time--and vague promises will not be enough to entice members to join after what happened this year.

Berry said:

"It ain't over".

thedoorkeeper said:

You don't know what ur talking about! And thanks for being insulting!

I'm sorry, but the the club has always been very respectful to me. As you will notice the time that I sent it in and the time in which they responded.

I have had a lot of interaction [email] with the club. A more typical response, if the club was definately NOT closing, would have been more like "We have not heard anything about that". Or "what makes u think that?".

In all honesty it sounds as though a decision has not been made, but keeping it down is a consideration. Maybe the club will go on at a lower level. Just join, get ur name on a list and get seats or something to that effect...
Who know's.

Well since everyone seems to do not much else then complain and whine abbout the club ...Why u all so surpriced now that they "might" shut it down ???

Everone seems to take rumours as the truth !


Ive send them an email to thank them and got a nice reply.

Berry said:

Please point out to me in the NPGMC reply the portion that indicates they are considering closing down the club. I don't see it. I think you are stretching an e-mail into a different shape to agree with your doomsday theory.

Why are so many people, who profess to love the club, in a rush to proclaim the club dead?

break it down!

p cannot close the club down. it's part of his bread-n-butta.

thread ends here.

Here are a few quotes from the NPGMC posted commentary The Chocolate Invasion on The Future of the NPGMC:
"All this, lest we forget, is only the beginning"
"let's speculate on the future. U know this thing can only grow and grow and grow..."
This death of the club is a rumor with very little basis.

thedoorkeeper said:

My theory is, is that they didn't say that this was untrue.

Please, I am not saying that the club is closing. I am simply saying they "may". That is why I chose my words carefully.

It would not make a lot of sense to me either.

If this is true, then it's pretty sad. Looks like Prince is going back to his hiding place.

I really hope there's going to be a celebration next year. Or are people going to trash that too?

Berry said:

I got this email also. I wonder what is going on. Why does it say include your famname with your email in all correspondence?

Prince's NPGMC has received alot of attention and has given Prince a very unique profile, I see NO reason for him to end it. I honestly feel that the site is under maintainence and new merch will be added (like the 2003 calendar) from Vegas etc...Ending the Club would be a backwards step.

Haven't seen your pretty face on the org in a long time...
No way the club is going anywhere, but I do think that it will be a little different than the first two years. I too was at the Vegas show and he seemed quite at home with the members. In fact we had the better seats than, Demi Moore, Glady's Knight, Anthony, Jason Giambi, Mike Tyson and a whole list of celebs and non-members. We'll know soon enough.

nunatak said:

Here's hoping you won't be waiting until December 2003 to get your 2003 calendar shipped.

Heavenly said:

What is spreading all these scary rumors and fear about the club closing?

Could be fear that there will be no Celebration.

To some the Celebration is more than the event of the year, its the event of a lifetime! Nobody is going to trash the best thing going on at paisley park. The Celebration (as you and I know when we went there) is a wonderful sideshow event that not everybody can afford to attend every year. It cost us both each over $1400 just to travel there.

We don't live near Minneapolis, nor do we have the time to sit here all day hammering out 2500 posts, yet there are people that are purposely overlooking what is really going on right now and i'm not surprised because they want the club (currently crooked or not) to succeed in fear that there will not be a Celebration. That much is clear.

So what if distribution channels change. But this inflated idea that the great Willy Wonka will be so angry that he'll lock the gates of the chocolate factory is a bit of a scare tactic. If Prince is in a mess right now, its his own mess and his own creation.

And we all know and love Prince. We know he loves to blame people for his own mistakes, he sues his fansites and such but if the musician doesn't work out the problems with his staff has communicating with his core fanbase, then that alone is SAD.

Alot of people left the Prince camp because they said he was too greedy.. I never listened to them as I just wanted the music. And we'll continue to use our common sense as we both did at the start of year 2. But take a scale and on one end put the week long Celebration ticket that you can purchase in addition to your 100 dollars. Then on the other end put this huge fiasco of hardcore music lovers who waited all year long at home for some albums, some downloads of new music, and were teased by all this false advertising and sarcasm.

Which side does the scale tilt? For many surprisingly its the Celebration without a contest. And that alone is what is going to keep the club alive no matter what mistakes they make.

popgodazipa said:

Thank u so much. And I hope u r right!