SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Yeah but all it would take is one shady member to distribute the tracks as torrents and that subscription service would take a hit too. I think Prince is always intent on getting paid in full first, delivering the goods second.

I for one would welcome an online store presence from Prince - NOT a subscription model. Something we can download what we want, when we want, according to our taste or even our finances at the time. Forget getting stuck in a membership CONTRACT for a year, just make it like iTunes but Lossless quality.

Se7en said:

Again, Prince has himself to thank. I have ALWAYS paid for Prince's music. Up until now. After his BS trying to shut the sites down and then releasing PFUNK as an FU to the fans, he gets ZERO money from me. Until he apologizes for that mess I will be one of those people who gladly will accept a free gift from someone else. Pre all that BS, I would have joined and paid for what he was selling.

I hope he reads these complaints and gets a concience. Where's Bob George when you need him?

.
[Edited 4/7/10 13:50pm]

Never mind the clunky design & crappy graphics. I don't think anyone would argue that the site would have been worth the money if it was faster & more intuitive to navigate. You'd just be able to make your way around the empty rooms much faster.

What would have REALLY made a Prince website WORTH a $77 annual fee?

- Access to tickets
- Exclusive music/ video content

Scott Addison Clay doesn't have the ability to deliver either of those things.

The poor customer service and clunky design is on Clay's head. The lack of worthwhile content is on Prince. And people would have put up with shitty customer service and graphics if they were acutally able to find the stuff they wanted. But with no tour and no new music, what can you expect? Speedy replies to emails and nicer looking jellyfish still wouldn't make those people happy about the $77 they spent.

Se7en said:

That's exactly what happened to NPGMC and to a certain extent Lotus.

Prince has been intent on cutting out the middleman and IMO that's why he is on this trip of trying websites.

The best way would be to simply use I Tunes or Amazon and release the music as mp3s.

What about this theory - the agreement with the programmers had a lump sum and then bonuses based on number of subscribers.
My guess is, the site-creators were working at a loss without the bonuses and that for them, like for Prince, it was not worthwhile investing that much effort when it became clear from the outset that theyw ere not going to come close to even the first bonus no matter what happened (especially when Prince wasn't delivering any interesting content).
The difference between the two, is that Prince's bank-account could probably weather the loss, whereas the programmers were probably not sure how they would pay off the Corvette they had bought on the basis of the bonuses they expected!!!

wasitgood4u said:

Possible.

Prince's bank account may be able to take the hit but he has taken a huge PR hit with the failure of this venture.

muleFunk said:

I'm sure they were paid for the web development and maintenance, but I highly doubt they'd be offered bonuses on subscriptions.

But to your point: lack of memberships would affect how much time and resources that got put toward updating the site.

Se7en said:

That will happen regardless of the model used and will only get worse as long as Prince breaks his promises, falsely advertises and overcharges for his (reahshed) "exclusive" music.

So that doesn't matter. What matters is that the internet has changed everything, that the customer/fan is in control now, but that Prince still hasn't come to terms with that. He wants to control everything AND make an enormous profit off it too. And when he doesn't get what he wants he gets mad and starts reacting childishly (PFU, NMC4U, not delivering content to LF after being dissapointed in the numbers that joined).

He is so far from reality that I gather chances are bigger that there will be no more Prince music websites in the future, than that he, for once, will do something that makes SENSE.

Tremolina said:

I must admit, I also think this. I hope I am wrong.

KeithyT said:

I hope you're right! He might actually stop faffing about with side projects that 99.9% of his fans don't want, and get back to concentrating on the music.

erik319 said:

True, that's one good way of looking at it.

KeithyT said:

Here's hoping!

bobzilla77 said:

this is an intelligent post. it addresses the issues, and makes it's points on its own merits - not on persoal attacks of others.

erik319 said:

Except that he doesn't even concentrate on his web site side projects either, nor does he have any associated artists to plug or tours to finish. These days it all just seems to be about making the quick buck, hit it and run, hoping he won't get sued.

Oh my goodness. The interweb is still crazy.

[Edited 4/8/10 7:53am]

um. whoa. way off topic.

This is going to be locked for a while till I can get it cleaned up.

Now let's stick to the topic, please.

Se7en said:

NO WAY did that happen. Prince's greedy ass giving a little guy more money than he has to? Please!

Lotus2unfld said:

Thank you for acknowledging Price is at fault.