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Forums > Past, Present, Future sites > Scott Addison Clay spills the beans: "Prince’s Failed LotusFlow3r Site: An Insider Dishes on ‘Polar Bear’ Decor, Fed-Up"
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Reply #240 posted 04/04/10 8:04am

PurplePartyman

avatar

SPOOKYGAS said:

LF Membership was 1,999,3121. but Ernie and Bart and S geez..were not members neither waz spooky or Graycap. But my funky flowerites P is a muther funking genius when it comes 2 environmental wrekas.

Naaa I think you overbid. probably closer to 777. smile
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Reply #241 posted 04/04/10 8:15am

Vendetta1

NuPwrSoul said:

Trickology said:

Prince put himself out to the public eye and got everyone to go along with his elaborate digital interactive media extravaganza scheme. He deserves every bit of criticism he gets,everytime a spotlight is focused on his presence. Even if it's harsh,unfair and blunt in tone.


Exactly, you can't have it both ways... if people are going to laud him with accolades for his pioneering use of the internet, then he needs to be called on his recently shitty endeavor. If you're going to get credit, then you're going to get the debit too.

None of this is surprising to any of us who have followed Prince's career for a significant period of time. And none of this is surprising for people who have done business with him.

Along with the lawsuits, failure to pay his taxes, and failure to pay his engineers, this is all feeding the meme of a self-indulgent artist with questionable business ethics. Someone, who when faced with fulfilling his legal and/or ethical obligations, responds with "chill" or "cut it out."

Lotusflow3r sucked big time. Content, design, accessibility, and so on and so on. And I say that as someone who purchased a membership.

The site was distant, dark, disconnected, ungrounded, unwelcoming. The man who once pioneered using the 'net to reach people (who remembers BedIScream??) has retreated. For him the 'net is just another dumping ground for whatever he's selling (and he's not even selling a whole lot).
Thank you, Nu. I agree wholeheartedly.
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Reply #242 posted 04/04/10 9:04am

NouveauDance

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Nothing I read in this article was surprising, in fact it all seemed rather normal for a Prince venture, unfortunately.
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Reply #243 posted 04/04/10 9:24am

Purpleaxxe1972

Honestly I couldn't afford the $77 when the site went live, and I"m glad I couldn't. I try very hard not to waste money these days and after a year finding out the site offered little to nothing to justify the membership fee I would have been angry at myself for wasting what amounts to two month's worth of a water bill or a month's electric bill payment. Had I wasted $77(as seen in hindshight, this is what it was) I probably would have even questioned whether I would have bought another CD from this man. Poor business practice and poor fanbase appreciation is going to do him in eventually.
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Reply #244 posted 04/04/10 10:42am

udo

avatar

NouveauDance said:

Nothing I read in this article was surprising, in fact it all seemed rather normal for a Prince venture, unfortunately.

True, but still strange in the context of average business practices.
Pills and thrills and daffodils will kill... If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry.
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Reply #245 posted 04/04/10 10:47am

Lotus2unfld

FunkyDissCo said:

Lotus2unfld said:

Whether Prince answered your emails or not .. Clay and crew should have answered ALL of the emails to the support team.

bottom line.


I said the same, some time ago. I was really angry about that. But don't we know more now? I mean, what should they've written? Like "Sorry there will be no new content, Prince lost interest in the site"? We all know - contract or not - you can't do that, and at that point i indeed do understand we weren't informed about what was going on...

Right, they could've send more mails saying "sorry for all inconveniences" and stuff, but with regard to the things going on in the background, i actually doubt it would've saved a lot.

For me, this is all about an artists who didn't deliver. Web guy could've done better, yeah, but in the end it's not his fault the site was a desaster. It wasn't his decision that music and videos couldn't be downloaded. It wasn't his decision there was zero new content for most of the time. If the site would have been running slow, with some casual bugs, no t-shirts, and a bad customer service not replying to my mails, BUT with awesome new content every month, everything would've been fine in my world...



There were emails with basic questions that were simply ingorned.
Email gone unanswered.
And that is SOLELY the web development teams fault.

I think he got paid and started partying. while the cats away the mouse will play as they say. And now he comes back trying to save face....blaming Prince
for not delivering enough content to throw up on the site.

what we don't know is how true that is or not. What we do know is that Clay did not do his job. Period.

What we also do know is that Prince obviously did deliver material to put up on the site.

We don't know how much more of it was delivered to Clay and Clay simply dropped the ball.
this is the time of the first fast.
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Reply #246 posted 04/04/10 10:52am

carlcranshaw

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I think somewhere Prince is saying: (Deep Voice) "You are all making some valid points here. I applaud you."



Either that or he is in the studio somewhere with a beautiful lady with a stack of cash not thinking of us in any way.
‎"The first time I saw the cover of Dirty Mind in the early 80s I thought, 'Is this some drag queen ripping on Freddie Prinze?'" - Some guy on The Gear Page
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Reply #247 posted 04/04/10 10:57am

Lotus2unfld

FunkyDissCo said:

Lotus2unfld said:

Whether Prince answered your emails or not .. Clay and crew should have answered ALL of the emails to the support team.

bottom line.


I said the same, some time ago. I was really angry about that. But don't we know more now? I mean, what should they've written? Like "Sorry there will be no new content, Prince lost interest in the site"? We all know - contract or not - you can't do that, and at that point i indeed do understand we weren't informed about what was going on...

Right, they could've send more mails saying "sorry for all inconveniences" and stuff, but with regard to the things going on in the background, i actually doubt it would've saved a lot.

For me, this is all about an artists who didn't deliver. Web guy could've done better, yeah, but in the end it's not his fault the site was a desaster. It wasn't his decision that music and videos couldn't be downloaded. It wasn't his decision there was zero new content for most of the time. If the site would have been running slow, with some casual bugs, no t-shirts, and a bad customer service not replying to my mails, BUT with awesome new content every month, everything would've been fine in my world...




It's not like Prince doesn't create and produce tons of new material, ya know?

I mean ... ALL the time.

don't you think he might be busy creating, recording and producing new material?

Clay's talking about "peppering" Prince with emails. come on ... give me a break. I don't doubt that he threw a bunch of emails at one point ....

trying to make it look like he was trying to do his job. but if he really interested in his own work .. regarding the site....he could have arranged
to see Prince face to face...and discuss the site, it's future and new content.

that's just my opinion. I really don't think Clay did his job.

there's too many earmarks ... subtle but obvious earmarks that Clay dropped the ball on this.

crying 'no contract' doesn't cover it.

There's plenty I dont know. But not everyone is a self-starter. And a prolific artist like Prince could easily get a little overwhelmed with his own creativity at times ... where Prince doesn't have much time to go back and check up on Clay and team to make sure their doing their job. Clay realizing this ... takes the day off. Maybe takes too many days off ... goes golfing
who knows.



I do see something ...but I don't pretned to know everything.
that's just my impression.
this is the time of the first fast.
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Reply #248 posted 04/04/10 10:58am

Vendetta1

Lotus2unfld said:

FunkyDissCo said:



I said the same, some time ago. I was really angry about that. But don't we know more now? I mean, what should they've written? Like "Sorry there will be no new content, Prince lost interest in the site"? We all know - contract or not - you can't do that, and at that point i indeed do understand we weren't informed about what was going on...

Right, they could've send more mails saying "sorry for all inconveniences" and stuff, but with regard to the things going on in the background, i actually doubt it would've saved a lot.

For me, this is all about an artists who didn't deliver. Web guy could've done better, yeah, but in the end it's not his fault the site was a desaster. It wasn't his decision that music and videos couldn't be downloaded. It wasn't his decision there was zero new content for most of the time. If the site would have been running slow, with some casual bugs, no t-shirts, and a bad customer service not replying to my mails, BUT with awesome new content every month, everything would've been fine in my world...



There were emails with basic questions that were simply ingorned.
Email gone unanswered.
And that is SOLELY the web development teams fault.

I think he got paid and started partying. while the cats away the mouse will play as they say. And now he comes back trying to save face....blaming Prince
for not delivering enough content to throw up on the site.

what we don't know is how true that is or not. What we do know is that Clay did not do his job. Period.

What we also do know is that Prince obviously did deliver material to put up on the site.

We don't know how much more of it was delivered to Clay and Clay simply dropped the ball.
This post is hysterical. falloff
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Reply #249 posted 04/04/10 10:59am

muleFunk

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That is what I was implying earlier .Prince was not involved in the day to day operations of the site.Then when the shit hits the fan Clay covenniently gives an interview.I still think he was accepting the blame for the credit cards being charged.

Still ,like NuPwrSoul said, Prince's name is on the site and he is responsible in the end. If we had our name on a site/business we would be at least stopping in to check on things.
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Reply #250 posted 04/04/10 11:15am

Lotus2unfld

squirrelgrease said:

Lotus2unfld said:

I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head but an Indian Medicine man once told me that my spirit animal was the Hummingbird.

Therefore, obviously, Prince is the White Fox. Don't mock that.

Peace!


It's this kind of stuff that goes straight into my Dream Journal.



Kiss my left.....

.....

,,,,,


,,,,,






elbow.



lol


Peace!
this is the time of the first fast.
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Reply #251 posted 04/04/10 11:27am

errant

avatar

muleFunk said:

That is what I was implying earlier .Prince was not involved in the day to day operations of the site.Then when the shit hits the fan Clay covenniently gives an interview.I still think he was accepting the blame for the credit cards being charged.

Still ,like NuPwrSoul said, Prince's name is on the site and he is responsible in the end. If we had our name on a site/business we would be at least stopping in to check on things.



the guy was let go a month before year 1 finished. i'd say he went above and beyond in coming back to straighten out the mess. and if I was in his position, I sure as hell wouldn't let my reputation go down in flames over Prince's latest bullshit whim.
"does my cock look fat in these jeans?"
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Reply #252 posted 04/04/10 11:28am

Lotus2unfld

Kim69 said:

Lotus2unfld said:




Polar Bear? Clay don't be a Jackass!.

You oughta know better than that.


Prince is the White Fox. Not Polar Bear you bone-head!


I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head but an Indian Medicine man once told me that my spirit animal was the Hummingbird.

Therefore, obviously, Prince is the White Fox. Don't mock that.

This is all very unprofessional of Clay and will NOT make Clay and his team look good before any other professional company looking at hiring someone for future projects.

Clay don't diss Prince for giving you too much freedom. Cuz i suspect that's what actually happened. He gave you freedom to do your J.O.B. .. instead of breathing down the back of your neck .. you got lazy and lax and you blew it. You dropped the ball.

His fans where and had been getting mad at him ... cuz fans don't know whose on the other end of the computer.
They're thinking Prince is sitting at the computer all day long over there at Lotusflow3r.com support.

And your on the org. You saw the fans getting mad. It was your job to check the Prince fan sites and LOOK for
potential problems ... in customer care .... and put those fires out before the flames fanned. You blew it!

Instead of dissing Prince, buck up .. be a professional ... and learn from YOUR mistakes and shortcomings
Figure out what YOU need to do to not repeat those mistakes again in the future on future projects for other companies.

That's what professionals do.


Peace!





I do not agree with your assessment. Let's assume Clay is a super-talented Web Designer...which his website suggests....then, if one of the most famous and talented music icons in the U.S. asked HIM to help develop his website... he should assume that Prince "the guy who was in the forefront independent music distribution online" had a plan and will give him the parameters of exactly what he wanted to deliver on his new website??

Why would Clay...who has experience with web based yet NOT music based distribution, not wait for Prince's go ahead with what PRINCE wanted? Think about it...Should this guy who has no music experience tell another guy with over 20 years experience how to set up his website? No, he will wait for Prince's ideas and then implement them in the best way technologically he knew how....Clay is the tech guy...not the music distribution guy....
[Edited 4/3/10 1:14am]
[Edited 4/3/10 1:15am]
[Edited 4/3/10 1:16am]
[Edited 4/3/10 1:17am]



I hear what your saying. And it's well thought but I personally think it's mis-directed,...for reasons I've stated somewhere on this thread on various posts.
this is the time of the first fast.
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Reply #253 posted 04/04/10 11:33am

Lotus2unfld

squirrelgrease said:

Lotus2unfld said:

I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head but an Indian Medicine man once told me that my spirit animal was the Hummingbird.

Therefore, obviously, Prince is the White Fox. Don't mock that.

Peace!


It's this kind of stuff that goes straight into my Dream Journal.



I have to laugh at my OWN self sometimes. lol I guess I could've written that statement a little better but .. you just have to follow along.

the doggone board here just keys in too slow ...for me.


peace biggrin
this is the time of the first fast.
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Reply #254 posted 04/04/10 12:27pm

FunkyDissCo

So, there we go now...

Now it's the web guy who prevented Prince from giving us all the exclusive content we were promised, yeah? Prince really, i mean REALLY wanted to put unreleased stuff on that site, but the stupid 24-7 partying web designer just didn't react to that, yeah? So now it's his fault we didn't get what we paid for?

This is so weird in turning reality inside-out... My first thought was "fam alert... again...", but i have to correct myself. This ain't got nothing to do with being fam-ish, this is a serious psychotic disorder.
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Reply #255 posted 04/04/10 12:34pm

polkadotbliss

lol

to me it sounds way more like Scott vas massively enthused at the beginning-possibly too enthusiastic-but keen .....

then-he had that enthusiasm kicked outta him by Prince's-well

LACK OF ANYTHING CLOSE TO INTEREST.....

and now-he's been kicked to the kerb-like most every single other person that deals with P

and he's giving his account-cuz its not like we'll ever get a word from P on it
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Reply #256 posted 04/04/10 12:59pm

erik319

avatar

After you with the razorblade, sqirrelgrease, fammy forehead symbol, here I come.

This thread is MENTAL. Seriously. It makes my eyes bleed.
blah blah blah
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Reply #257 posted 04/04/10 1:35pm

80spfantwp

avatar

erik319 said:

After you with the razorblade, sqirrelgrease, fammy forehead symbol, here I come.

This thread is MENTAL. Seriously. It makes my eyes bleed.


Know what you mean! Is it really that hard for people to read between the lines and arrive at the glaringly obvious? Prince lost interest as soon as he realised how few fans joined. That it most likely the moment the site's lifeline was cut.

Most of us suspected this was the case early on. It now seems that our suspicions were right.

That would explain why other sites were given exclusives and these were not uploaded to the site intead.

Why some people cannot separate prince the musician from prince 'the business man' I don't know!
eek
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Reply #258 posted 04/04/10 1:41pm

DMSRCMC12

I thought $77.00 for a tee shirt was a great deal.I hope he opens another site so we all can get sucked in again.Why u won't join again if there is a tour?
I need a pair of shorts for $77.00 next!
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Reply #259 posted 04/04/10 1:44pm

NuPwrSoul

errant said:

muleFunk said:

That is what I was implying earlier .Prince was not involved in the day to day operations of the site.Then when the shit hits the fan Clay covenniently gives an interview.I still think he was accepting the blame for the credit cards being charged.

Still ,like NuPwrSoul said, Prince's name is on the site and he is responsible in the end. If we had our name on a site/business we would be at least stopping in to check on things.



the guy was let go a month before year 1 finished. i'd say he went above and beyond in coming back to straighten out the mess. and if I was in his position, I sure as hell wouldn't let my reputation go down in flames over Prince's latest bullshit whim.


WORD!!

I think for most of the year, Clay & co. tried their best to put a good hopeful face about what they (and we) saw a month in: Prince lost interest within weeks of its launch. Does anyone remember the Tavis Smiley interview? Prince did not plug the site AT ALL. A complete flip from his days plugging the NPGMC.

I DO blame the designers for not exerting more professional pressure on Prince from the beginning: the puzzled entrance, the buggy design, the flash-heavy resource hog site was NOT A GOOD IDEA. Whoever came up with it--Prince or the designers--it was the designers' professional responsibility (and duty) to say, Umm this is not going to work so well we should try something else.

Apparently they did not and the site launch was a disaster: people couldn't even figure out how to access the sign up page without first coming to Prince.org; and there was no forum, no FAQ for paid users to get tech help for the choppy videos, navigation, etc. Those are designer flaws that cannot be placed on Prince.

Unfortunately for Prince, he didn't seem to give a damn, so he shares in the responsibility.
"That...magic, the start of something revolutionary-the Minneapolis Sound, we should cherish it and not punish prince for not being able to replicate it."-Dreamshaman32
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Reply #260 posted 04/04/10 2:12pm

GoldiesParade

avatar

I would not be surprised if Prince's online days are over. They better be if his next plan is a subscription venture.
http://www.goldiesparade.co.uk/ - Prince discography, tour history, news and more.
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Reply #261 posted 04/04/10 3:18pm

eireboy34

NuPwrSoul said:

errant said:




the guy was let go a month before year 1 finished. i'd say he went above and beyond in coming back to straighten out the mess. and if I was in his position, I sure as hell wouldn't let my reputation go down in flames over Prince's latest bullshit whim.


WORD!!

I think for most of the year, Clay & co. tried their best to put a good hopeful face about what they (and we) saw a month in: Prince lost interest within weeks of its launch. Does anyone remember the Tavis Smiley interview? Prince did not plug the site AT ALL. A complete flip from his days plugging the NPGMC.

I DO blame the designers for not exerting more professional pressure on Prince from the beginning: the puzzled entrance, the buggy design, the flash-heavy resource hog site was NOT A GOOD IDEA. Whoever came up with it--Prince or the designers--it was the designers' professional responsibility (and duty) to say, Umm this is not going to work so well we should try something else.

Apparently they did not and the site launch was a disaster: people couldn't even figure out how to access the sign up page without first coming to Prince.org; and there was no forum, no FAQ for paid users to get tech help for the choppy videos, navigation, etc. Those are designer flaws that cannot be placed on Prince.

Unfortunately for Prince, he didn't seem to give a damn, so he shares in the responsibility.



nod
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Reply #262 posted 04/04/10 3:45pm

BartVanHemelen

avatar

NuPwrSoul said:

Exactly, you can't have it both ways... if people are going to laud him with accolades for his pioneering use of the internet,


Which is an unsubstantiated myth, debunked by facts.

NuPwrSoul said:

The man who once pioneered using the 'net to reach people (who remembers BedIScream??)


I do. You don't seem to. BedIScream was one of the first steps in splitting up fans between "good" and "bad". I predicted at the time what would happen, nobody listened and said I exaggerated, and then EXACTLY WHAT I PREDICTED HAPPENED. And it has continued all the way since then.

Wanna bitch about the "negativity" on the Org? Look towards the source: PRINCE.
© Bart Van Hemelen
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.
It is not authorized by Prince or the NPG Music Club. You assume all risk for
your use. All rights reserved.
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Reply #263 posted 04/04/10 3:49pm

BartVanHemelen

avatar

muleFunk said:

I like Bart and I am really fucking with him but I cannot recall Bart liking anything musical or other that Prince has done and I have been on the Org since the around 1998.


Because in that whole time period Prince hasn't done anything worthy of praise.
© Bart Van Hemelen
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.
It is not authorized by Prince or the NPG Music Club. You assume all risk for
your use. All rights reserved.
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Reply #264 posted 04/04/10 3:54pm

KYI

This link may help you with some contact information

http://www.networksolutio...flow3r.com
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Reply #265 posted 04/04/10 4:32pm

muleFunk

avatar

BartVanHemelen said:

muleFunk said:

I like Bart and I am really fucking with him but I cannot recall Bart liking anything musical or other that Prince has done and I have been on the Org since the around 1998.


Because in that whole time period Prince hasn't done anything worthy of praise.

biggrin

hmm
lol
[Edited 4/4/10 16:33pm]
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Reply #266 posted 04/04/10 5:29pm

lastdecember

avatar

Well this is why i constantly tell people that your (insert fave artist) has nothing to do with their business, they are NOT taking the emails, putting up the news, twittering U, blogging themselves etc...they have staffs that do this and usually its the cheapest that can be gotten, and usually with someone like PRINCE who does NOT oversee things, it bites him in the ass, which is why im really interested after the whole Crystal Ball thing ( i mean i got 8 copies and paid for 2, but a year later) anyone would put money like that into a Prince site before they saw some feedback from fans, and its not just Prince, you should be skeptical with all artists. I mean look into things dont just thrown down cash, this isnt a show, its a website with "promises" of "Possible" things??? OK now read that over again and THINK about the words.....PROMISES OF POSSIBLE THINGS, you paid 77dollars for an album that was in stores and a shirt that was given out at another event.

"We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F
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Reply #267 posted 04/04/10 6:00pm

KCOOLMUZIQ

Obviously Prince has something else up his sleeve with the new Ebony cover interview coming in June. I'm sure he will shed some light & surprise us diehard fans with something new for the suffering he put us through last year.

Even though I feel I got my moneys worth for the presale tickets that went on sale at lotusflow3r.com launch a little over a year ago. For his 3 shows in one day concert series at the Nokia Center here in beautiful Downtown LA.
We will be rewarded for are suffering and all this will be forgotton in a few short months..


Stop crucifying Prince sometimes things don't go as its planned
eye will ALWAYS think of prince like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. eye mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that prince wasn't of this earth, eye would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. prince
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Reply #268 posted 04/04/10 6:37pm

xlr8r

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KCOOLMUZIQ said:

[b] I'm sure he will shed some light & surprise us diehard fans with something new for the suffering he put us through last year.


I never suffered.
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Reply #269 posted 04/04/10 7:12pm

NeoSoul

avatar

swanny said:

'He and his team were paid for their work, he said, but they never had a written contract.'


No contracts in Prince world, that way he can royally fuck you and you have no legal comeback.



But there is a contract that Prince has with fans. If you read the agreement for lotusflow3r, it tells you not to expect anything for your money. Seriously. read the agreement before signing up for a new Prince web site.
NeoSoul.com
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Forums > Past, Present, Future sites > Scott Addison Clay spills the beans: "Prince’s Failed LotusFlow3r Site: An Insider Dishes on ‘Polar Bear’ Decor, Fed-Up"