Tremolina said:

^wrong thread? lol

I figured this thread was started because of the NPGMC logo that is shown on the carpet in Paisley in the RNR Love Affair video, so I was just replying so that people didn't think it was some sort of sign that the club might come back...he just hasn't ever changed the carpet.

SquirrelMeat said:

Lotusflower - Took the money and ran.

Yep. This is the one I feel the most burnt by. I actually thought the 2001-2006 NPG Music Club incarnations were worth the money. But we all got jipped by lotusfailure.com. No denying that. What did we actually get for our $77? Less than a handful of exclusive tracks, some undownloadable streaming videos, and a crusty T-shirt that many never received. Virtually no updates or nuffin', and it lasted about 6 months. And that was all she wrote. What a great... con...

If he does put out a new subscription site, I won't be signing up day 1. I'll hold off and wait to see what happens.

.

[Edited 11/23/12 13:58pm]

i have a life time membership I am SURE prince woulf honor it if it did come back!

To me, all of Prince's music clubs were always worth it for one reason:

Great seats for fans/early access to concerts tickets.

The years of the npgmusiclub I was always row one or two at ANY Prince concert. Musicology tour...three shows in the Twin Cities....front row each time. WELL worth the price of the fan club dues.

I agree with Toejam & Squirrelmeat.....the one that burnt me was Lotusfailure - he really conned us with that one...

NPGMC days were ok - I couldn't afford to be a member the first year but I got the songs/ahdio shows eventually...

the 2nd year I coughed up the $ and it was ok except that of course he screwed us with not actually releasing what was originally advertised....at least he gave us C-Note & Xpectation as a kind of compensation....the northern hemisphere got much better value for $ with access to soundchecks/shows and aftershows etc

the 3rd year '$25 lifetime membership' was the best for us downunder -the rest of the world got shafted - but we got into soundchecks/aftershows and the good seats with his tours in Oz...

since then it's all gone downhill......3121 wasn't a club or paid service so no complaints there

but yeah, Lotusflower was an outright cash grab from Prince - I didn't even get a t-shirt (not that I care about the actual shirt - it looked cheap anyway)

so his track record is pretty bumpy....I'd adopt a wait and see approach....

[Edited 11/23/12 15:48pm]

toejam said:

skywalker said:

To me, all of Prince's music clubs were always worth it for one reason:

Great seats for fans/early access to concerts tickets.

The years of the npgmusiclub I was always row one or two at ANY Prince concert. Musicology tour...three shows in the Twin Cities....front row each time. WELL worth the price of the fan club dues.

Yes, I loved NPGMC. I paid 100.00 and got a lifetime membership (2 or 3 years worth.) Besides great seats at concerts, free Cd's (Paid for by the 100.00 membership), and downloads.

I never joined LF.com.

trax said:

subscription...NO.

Free website and just make us pay for the downloads. Prince would make more money this way IF he actually kept it updated with new material. The fans would be satisfied too because they will get what they pay for

This.

SquirrelMeat said:

KeithyT said:

Love4oneanother.com/npgonlineltd.com (1998/99/2000) - free (no membership)

NPGMC (first incarnation, 2001ish) - monthly memberships (werent they around $7.77 for the Ahdio shows) and annual membership ($100 which gave you ahdio shows AND extra mp3 tracks each month?)

NPGMC (second incarnation 2002ish) $100 annual membership for CDs.

NPGMC (third incarnation 2003ish) $25 "lifetime" membership.

3121.com - free (no membership)

lotusflow3r.com - $77 "lifetime" membership

[Edited 11/23/12 3:40am]

Sounds about right.

L4OA wasn't a club.

2001 - Worked best of all the years

2002 - Failed to deliver on half the promised CD's and ended up with some legal action

2003 - Took a lifetime membership fee then shut up shop.

3121 wasn't a club

Lotusflower - Took the money and ran.

Of course, theis is all on the back of the Crystal Ball fiasco.

And this.

But not:

So would I sign up again? No way. I fell for it every time apart from Lotusflower, where I thought I would sit back and watch before joining. Within weeks it was obvious that Prince was shafting the fans again.

I would like to see an official forum back though. When the last one was up all fams ran away from the org and it became a far less venomous and negative place. The ones who think they are positive really don't understand they are often the most blinkered and confrontational.

I used to like popping into the official forums just to see how far ass kissing could go.

It was a shame it closed. Within hours the fams turned up here, telling everyone how they should behave as fans and starting endless idolisation threads.

I think the fans themselves have a responsibility too, whenever they get "shafted". I stopped supporting Prince's online projects after the 2002 fiasco, because it was obvious that it wouldn't work out, UNLESS he would just create an online "wrecka store" with just loads of music and nothing else.

No forum, let the "fams" create their own. Besides all that is getting old by now.

prince would have to lay out the contract with the fans ahead of time

lossless flacs are required .. no more crappy shit quality overpriced mp3's

a tour booked that covers all regions .. presale and reduced prices

access to his entire catalog .. even if there is a fee per download

even then his music is so bad these days i probably would not bother .. however .. start putting up vault tracks and live dvds and i may be convinced

i got my crystal ball thru 1-800 fine

i enjoyed the ahdio shows

one night alone live was my last participitory prince music club

but what really needs to happen is for prince to go bankrupt .. he is a spoiled brat with crappy music and does not deserve any support until he puts out respectable music and a respectable website

First thing is that it isnt coming back, as it was said before its a logo on the floor in the studio and Prince never removed it. However if PRINCE is thinking of some kind of "club" again, start looking at others that have clubs, official sites etc...and do it the right way. As far as pay sites i dont really like the idea because there are too many "what if's" not just with Prince but any artist, what if i become a member for a year and that year you take off from music? what do i get, say you dont tour that year, what exclusives that i was promised do i get. SO i dont usually and almost never buy into that stuff unless there is something right off the bat being delivered and stuff that i can get access too upon payment, if not, you might as well roll dice and pray for a lucky number. More into just having an official site and selling stuff there, but putting stuff on sale when its available or at least being worked on, PRINCE has a bad habit of starting things and losing interest quick in them

If P did something again. FLAC and 320MP3s would make sense but really it was years ago that the NPGMC offered the monthly downloads. FLAC files would not have worked then as the majority of people were on dial up. Nowadays they should be standard.

Almost think he would want to go with a music club sometime again as the technology is here to make the experience more fine. Same with youtube, I think his complaint at one point is people post real crappy videos from concerts and he doesn't want to be judged but nowadays they can go with HD video clips. You almost think he would try to work with them and post some stuff in HD quality. Either way some things always filter onto youtube as it is. So why not have some control over it??

TrevorAyer said:

prince would have to lay out the contract with the fans ahead of time

lossless flacs are required .. no more crappy shit quality overpriced mp3's

skywalker said:

To me, all of Prince's music clubs were always worth it for one reason:

Great seats for fans/early access to concerts tickets.

The years of the npgmusiclub I was always row one or two at ANY Prince concert. Musicology tour...three shows in the Twin Cities....front row each time. WELL worth the price of the fan club dues.

Yeah, Paid $100 and got new music every month. It was awesome time. I remember I still had dial up and had to goto an internet cafe back then but it was still so much fun to get music monthly and direct. I was just happy to get new music every month but getting great seats was the best. Having easy access to seats in first 7 rows! It was cool that the core fans got good seats and I remember running into people that I seen at PP at shows. It was a good vibe.

Then then $25 lifetime fee. Worth it again. For the celebrations, good seats and soundchecks! Priceless! If you got into some soundchecks it was worth every penny!!!!! Have Prince giving us Q/A at time and playing stuff like Beautiful Strange to a 100 of us how can you beat days like that? and people still complained about the web experience..I guess the $77 site really tarnished the Hollywierd experience.

Wish they would just come back with a something like NPGMC. Offer music, seats and a yearly get together that would be a winning combo imo.

The NPGMC was fine--I was a little annoyed by the sudden death, but $25 lifetime was kind of a ridiculously low rate after deluxe the first year was $100, so I didn't really expect a long life there.

I didn't have a problem with my experience ordering Crystal Ball--I lost my shirt somewhere, and it would have been nice to have a paper booklet instead of that annoying online thing (I got one a few years later when I picked up a retail set used for I think $5), but since I might be one of the few people who has listened to Kamasutra very many times, I'm glad I sprang for the direct order. My wife and I have a preschool and use Kamasutra for naptime music sometimes--it works as well as most of those "relaxation" albums a lot of people use, and it's the closest thing to the Prince I'd like to listen to that I can generally work in to my workday. I've got three year olds walking around singing that "you can blow my whistle baby" and (in their misunderstanding of P!nk) explaining that "I've had a ship day, you've had a ship day, we've had a ship day" and seeming really happy about it--I think they think it's a song about boating, because that's the only part they ever sing. But I'm pretty sure that I need to keep whatever we play pretty innocuous lyrically--so even though they did ask what the name of that music was--we just told them it had an "Indian name" and left it at that. So sometimes they'd ask for that "Indian music" and that's what they meant.

Lotusflow3r was annoying. The site was crap--I prefer bells and whistles that ring and toot, and while someone may have liked that presentation, I didn't care to try to turn that sphere to watch a Japanese dubbed video or a low quality lipsynch from some subpar TV show. Especially not after all the hype about the people working on the site having access to the sort of vault material we all really wanted. And I didn't get the appeal of having to strum guitars or punch disco jellyfish (or whatever it was you had to do) to see a single promo video for each album or read the lyrics that you used to get right there in your hand when you plunked down your paper and change for whatever kind of touchable music you were buying--and, annoyingly enough, I didn't get the lyrics when, like a supportive fan, I went to Target a few days later to get the discs. I liked all three of them by the way--but I would have liked them more without the site, and with more extra tracks released piecemeal and me paying for them, like I did back in the eighties.

I liked b-sides, and I'd gladly spend regularly for newly released music (which even back then included vault material)--and Prince could have a relatively spare site (like the Musicology store portion of the old site) but instead of dropping several (mostly previously available) things initially and then losing interest, he could put all these rehearsals and stuff he's leaking now through Facebook pagesand such in one official place instead (in FLAC or high quality MP3s) and get stuff out in a clear and organized way (though I'd still like physical releases). I'd prefer to get stuff directly from him, instead of the hassle of monitoring sites to see what he's dropped where, or, if I miss something during its window, tracking it down where someone has re-posted it--all because nearly twenty years after Exodus, Prince still hasn't figured out how to "download your work into your fans computers" even though everybody else in the world seems to understand. Good lord, if nothing else, go to bandcamp!

It's a stupid game, and I'd much rather just pay him a simple, clearly defined amount for specific product that I can appreciate on its own merits. Instead, my experience of the work is tainted by my frustration and annoyance at the stupidity of the way he "distributes" stuff and delays releases and, for whatever stupid reason, hooks up with "Purple Music" and has crap remixes put on pointless singles that I can't even buy in the U.S. (where, let's remember, Prince himself LIVES!, and where, for that matter, he didn't even distribute his last album--but the people who did have access to it got it as a freebie with their disposable reading material).

I like Superconductor--I expect, if Prince ever gets around to a new album release, that I'll have generally positive feelings about the music on it. I just wish he could figure out how to sell me music again (and, if he wants occasionally, to give me music) without all the other foolishness that can make it hard to appreciate the actual music, which, in my mind, isn't as great as it used to be, but still has much in it to enjoy.

Speaking as a "non-musician," from "a consumer point of view"--when Prince decided to take over the non-musician part of his business, he needed to do it right--or find people who could and work with them. He's been "free" since 1996, and I don't want to watch his failures to find his way as a businessman anymore. I got on this boat for the grooves.

rdhull said:

Paid subscripton!

keep the riff raff out

Totally agree. And keep it yearly, not 'lifetime'.

skywalker said:

Not only did I not have any problems with anything related to the NPGMC, but I actually got a great deal out of it. Fun, good times, memories (most of that revolving around relationships built in the forums and chat room), advance notice on tickets, ticket purchases, tons of music, other product (if you wanted it), the few live interviews were great, and whether anybody who wasn't there believes it or not, certain "people" did drop by from time to time. Not to mention the fact that, back then, it was actually a cool website to visit. Something that hadn't really been done before.

However, repeating that makes it something that HAS been done before. And honestly, I think he tried to push the tech side with the Lotusflow3r site and failed, miserably.

So, if there was a new website, for me it would require...

1. The previously mentioned yearly membership fee (it really does make a difference). Make it reasonable and don't give away cheap, small sized t-shirts in the process. Put the money towards making a solid, user friendly site.

2. A forum and a chat room, or no go.

3. Pre-sale tickets to members. A huge number of bands/artists do this now. But then, that would require enough shows for it to matter, which may be part of why there hasn't been an official website.

4. Access to new/unreleased music. A free joint once in a while would be cool, but so long as the music being sold is exclusive to the site, that's cool too.

5. An official line of communication so announcements were made there first, not re-posted there from someplace else.

6. All of that in an easy to navigate design without a bunch of outdated, unnecessary bells and whistles.

That would do it for me. I'll climb back on board for a least a year to check it out if all that was available.

EddieC said:

The NPGMC was fine--I was a little annoyed by the sudden death, but $25 lifetime was kind of a ridiculously low rate after deluxe the first year was $100, so I didn't really expect a long life there.

I didn't have a problem with my experience ordering Crystal Ball--I lost my shirt somewhere, and it would have been nice to have a paper booklet instead of that annoying online thing (I got one a few years later when I picked up a retail set used for I think $5), but since I might be one of the few people who has listened to Kamasutra very many times, I'm glad I sprang for the direct order. My wife and I have a preschool and use Kamasutra for naptime music sometimes--it works as well as most of those "relaxation" albums a lot of people use, and it's the closest thing to the Prince I'd like to listen to that I can generally work in to my workday. I've got three year olds walking around singing that "you can blow my whistle baby" and (in their misunderstanding of P!nk) explaining that "I've had a ship day, you've had a ship day, we've had a ship day" and seeming really happy about it--I think they think it's a song about boating, because that's the only part they ever sing. But I'm pretty sure that I need to keep whatever we play pretty innocuous lyrically--so even though they did ask what the name of that music was--we just told them it had an "Indian name" and left it at that. So sometimes they'd ask for that "Indian music" and that's what they meant.

Lotusflow3r was annoying. The site was crap--I prefer bells and whistles that ring and toot, and while someone may have liked that presentation, I didn't care to try to turn that sphere to watch a Japanese dubbed video or a low quality lipsynch from some subpar TV show. Especially not after all the hype about the people working on the site having access to the sort of vault material we all really wanted. And I didn't get the appeal of having to strum guitars or punch disco jellyfish (or whatever it was you had to do) to see a single promo video for each album or read the lyrics that you used to get right there in your hand when you plunked down your paper and change for whatever kind of touchable music you were buying--and, annoyingly enough, I didn't get the lyrics when, like a supportive fan, I went to Target a few days later to get the discs. I liked all three of them by the way--but I would have liked them more without the site, and with more extra tracks released piecemeal and me paying for them, like I did back in the eighties.

I liked b-sides, and I'd gladly spend regularly for newly released music (which even back then included vault material)--and Prince could have a relatively spare site (like the Musicology store portion of the old site) but instead of dropping several (mostly previously available) things initially and then losing interest, he could put all these rehearsals and stuff he's leaking now through Facebook pagesand such in one official place instead (in FLAC or high quality MP3s) and get stuff out in a clear and organized way (though I'd still like physical releases). I'd prefer to get stuff directly from him, instead of the hassle of monitoring sites to see what he's dropped where, or, if I miss something during its window, tracking it down where someone has re-posted it--all because nearly twenty years after Exodus, Prince still hasn't figured out how to "download your work into your fans computers" even though everybody else in the world seems to understand. Good lord, if nothing else, go to bandcamp!

It's a stupid game, and I'd much rather just pay him a simple, clearly defined amount for specific product that I can appreciate on its own merits. Instead, my experience of the work is tainted by my frustration and annoyance at the stupidity of the way he "distributes" stuff and delays releases and, for whatever stupid reason, hooks up with "Purple Music" and has crap remixes put on pointless singles that I can't even buy in the U.S. (where, let's remember, Prince himself LIVES!, and where, for that matter, he didn't even distribute his last album--but the people who did have access to it got it as a freebie with their disposable reading material).

I like Superconductor--I expect, if Prince ever gets around to a new album release, that I'll have generally positive feelings about the music on it. I just wish he could figure out how to sell me music again (and, if he wants occasionally, to give me music) without all the other foolishness that can make it hard to appreciate the actual music, which, in my mind, isn't as great as it used to be, but still has much in it to enjoy.

Speaking as a "non-musician," from "a consumer point of view"--when Prince decided to take over the non-musician part of his business, he needed to do it right--or find people who could and work with them. He's been "free" since 1996, and I don't want to watch his failures to find his way as a businessman anymore. I got on this boat for the grooves.

Thing is with Prince like most musicians/artists they are not good at running businesses, some are most arent, but the bigger trouble is PRINCE has not one person around him that knows how to run a business, or at least speak up to him. Some of the complaints in the past about his clubs and online releases always is in the form of delivery, and business so if that many people are complaining about the same thing then you have to look at whos doing your business, now if the complaint is the quality of music thats all BS and subjective to the fans, what u like i may not and vice versa.

lastdecember said:

or at least speak up to him.

That is the problem, right there. Only, extrapolated, it's that when people do they suddenly disappear from Princeworld and are rarely heard from again. I'm not even saying this as a negative. It's just BEYOND clear after all these years that Prince does Prince. He does what he wants to do, how he wants to do it, and advice or suggestions to the contrary (be they from the outside or the inside) aren't wanted or solicited. When dude makes contact, he knocks it out of the park. But he strikes out more than I ever thought he would.

Edit: Because baseball metaphors make more sense with correct spelling.

[Edited 11/24/12 15:12pm]

Cerebus said:

Not only did I not have any problems with anything related to the NPGMC, but I actually got a great deal out of it. Fun, good times, memories (most of that revolving around relationships built in the forums and chat room), advance notice on tickets, ticket purchases, tons of music, other product (if you wanted it), the few live interviews were great, and whether anybody who wasn't there believes it or not, certain "people" did drop by from time to time. Not to mention the fact that, back then, it was actually a cool website to visit. Something that hadn't really been done before.

However, repeating that makes it something that HAS been done before. And honestly, I think he tried to push the tech side with the Lotusflow3r site and failed, miserably.

So, if there was a new website, for me it would require...

1. The previously mentioned yearly membership fee (it really does make a difference). Make it reasonable and don't give away cheap, small sized t-shirts in the process. Put the money towards making a solid, user friendly site.

2. A forum and a chat room, or no go.

3. Pre-sale tickets to members. A huge number of bands/artists do this now. But then, that would require enough shows for it to matter, which may be part of why there hasn't been an official website.

4. Access to new/unreleased music. A free joint once in a while would be cool, but so long as the music being sold is exclusive to the site, that's cool too.

5. An official line of communication so announcements were made there first, not re-posted there from someplace else.

6. All of that in an easy to navigate design without a bunch of outdated, unnecessary bells and whistles.

That would do it for me. I'll climb back on board for a least a year to check it out if all that was available.

-- It would be cool, but it won't be the same.

I'll just cherish the memories and thank Prince and the NPG for

letting us closer into their world. I enjoyed the ride,no, my whole family

enjoyed the experience. children

You just have to know what you're getting.

I got amazing seats to two shows in 2004, for $60 or so. Those seats were going for $500 a year ago. So yes, definitely worth it.

But I didn't buy Lotusflower because it was always unclear what you'd get. Prince would really have to earn peoples' trust again with a web site offering. It's so sad, because he has the material to make it work.

If the NPG Music Club returned, why would I pay for a new membership, when I can easily get Visa to prove that I already have lifetime membership?

A majority is gonna sign up if it does return and then come on here like acting they never did at all. Fake ass bitches!

HonestMan13 said:

A majority is gonna sign up if it does return and then come on here like acting they never did at all. Fake ass bitches!

The only reason i signed up was to get the access to presale concert tickets in LA. If I had lived anywhere but CA I would of passed. I knew it would end up being a fiasco.

[Edited 11/26/12 17:07pm]

Shit. The only reason I started visiting the org regularly is because the NPGMC and all the other Prince sites were gone. I'll straight add a signature here announcing my new membership if Prince starts another website. Believe!

After watching the entire video finally

Maybe...just maybe

2020 said:

After watching the entire video finally

Maybe...just maybe

Well, he HAS kept the NPG moniker and we all know Prince is very meticulous with his. He knows every scene that will be in his videos. And maybe he has been working on an online club these past few years as well..to get it right.

?

veronikka said:

ZombieKitten said:

I think the one where you could pay $25 for a lifetime membership (or was it yearly?) was OK, I was happy with that - esp the entry to soundchecks and aftershow. But I couldn't afford $77 for the next time.

I agree that it raises expectations and it MUST deliver

I would pay $25 again but not more than that