Do you put up so much shit in your retail section when you
could turn it into a nice neat little cash machine by just
releasing old & new concerts, jam sessions, instrumentals,
periodicals, weird ass shit, outtakes, testpressings etc
for download or on cd.

How hard can it be? Every no name talentless piece of shit
is doing it and seemingly without a care. So, more cds plz

I don't need another o(+>-pendant-jizzbox-firtilizer.

Next thing you will be selling garden implements and some
wooden shoes.

Check, please.

Yes it is strange that he spends money manufacturing clothes & whatnot when that money could go into manufacturing CDs that he knows everyone is clamoring for.

brilliant! I think you speak for just about
every one of us! I know this example has been
beaten to death, but Pearl Jam has done an
incredible job of this for a few years now.

It can't really be that hard, right?

SHUT UP YOU NAYSAYERS AND BUY A DOG T-SHIRT DAMMIT

XtrueX said:

I agree. I'm surprised any of things ever sell. It seems like such a waste of money, both for Prince and for us.

I think he could easily sell us DVD transfers of:

Beautiful Strange
Beautiful Experience
Sacrifice of Victor
Love4OneAnother
The Undertaker

and others. Just a simple transfer of the original tape onto DVD, no sound remastering, no special features, not even scene select. Piece of cake, easy money.

I remember when he sold those Sac of Vic tapes and those Beautiful Experience tapes.

I quickly bought both, despite the price. They sold out in a couple of hours.

My Sac of Vic tape eventually came, Beautiful Experience never did. It might be a good thing though, because the Sac of Vic tape looked like it was a 10 year old VHS of a japanese PPV. There was sooo much fuzz on the sound, the picture was dim and grainy, and there were occasionally these weird symbols and the letters "WOW" that popped up in the corner. My Beautiful Experience tape, which was recorded from a broadcast of it on Much Music in 1994, is also fuzzy and has poor picture, but was still better than the Sac of Vic tape.

Maybe he doesn't have these things anymore, and that's why he doesn't release them?? Perhaps he pulled a Eugene O'Neill and destroyed a lot of his work or something?? That would certainly explain the terrible quality of the Sac of Vic tape that he released.

IstenSzek said:

Asking for every concert, the vault song etc is like when we were asked to help a cause most people find it extreùely hard to do that...

I was so naive back when he started on the net. I actually thought he'd use the store as an oppotunity to release albums like Dream Factory, Camille, Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic, The Undertaker and such. You know - put the unreleased back catalogue up for sale and earn a little money for himself. And these things would be sold on the site only, with only new albums being released through stores. I thought that was such an extremely logical thing to do.
But silly me - what do we get? Fancy earrings and symbol-covered underwear. Does anybody actually buy that stuff?

savoirfaire said:

This can be easily done on a home computer w/ a DVD writer

savoirfaire said:

Exactly. Imagine a double dvd set with all the vids he's
ever done [officially] fleshed out with say a handfull o
vids we've never seen. That would be cool and it would
sell. Everyone who's ordered a NEWS album would surely
buy his collected vids on dvd.

Problem is tho, I don't think Prince even has half of the
material anymore.

PhilG said:

It could, but there are a few problems with that:

1) I don't have a DVD writer, nor do I know how to transfer VHS to DVD, nor do I have a decent computer, or much other equipment.
2) With the exception of my Beautiful Strange video, these are all very poor quality videos that I have. ANd I'm LUCKY. Many don't have these at all to begin with
3) Even if these were all top-quality, mint condition videos, quality would be lost, because the transfer would be from source tape, to VHS, to DVD. Transferring source tape to DVD would be higher quality
4) It would look bad. I don't want to design some clip-art album covers and DVD labels. I want something to look good, to show the authenticity of these special DVDs. To me, a DVD isn't just about the movie, it's about the package, and I want to proudly display these things in my collection.

scififilmnerd said:

Do you really want the answer to that question?

Anxiety said:

Well, I assume somebody do since he keeps producing the stuff. What, do you? Who are the "guilty" ones? Stand up and be proud.

Next thing you will be selling garden implements and some
wooden shoes.



Wow! What a great idea!

scififilmnerd said:

Just spend a week lurking on the NPGMC boards, you'll find your demographic.

Anxiety said:

Oh, no - I couldn't possibly afford the admittance

XtrueX said:

I think most fans would be surprised at the number of "hardcore" fans who are members and go to the gigs that DO NOT have all of the official music - let alone unreleased, collectible, or internet only releases. CDs are a good idea - for a very limited minority of the Prince fan market (ie. serious collectors) I would love to see all of those things in the retail section but I do understand some reason why they may not be offered.

First of all, there has to be limited quantities of certain kinds of oddities and collectibles (thats why they are collectibles). I recall getting the Purple Rain movie booklet from 1800NEWFUNK. I got a SOTT sweatshirt. I got the 2Gether CD single. All were limited quantities and are impossible to find now (at least not at a reasonable price and decent condition). There were complaining crybabies when their orders were not filled because supplies ran out. Perhaps NPGMC wants to avoid that by offering items that can be produced and maintained in plentiful quantities. I mean how many test pressings are there to merit offering them over the web? What the use if you cant fill most of the orders tha come in because the product is not made anymore?

I dont know, these are just my thoughts on some reasonable explanations in lieu of just bitching about it.
[This message was edited Fri Aug 15 18:22:20 PDT 2003 by LaMont]

Anxiety said:

GUILTY. Of purchasing cheesy Symbol items, but not of lurking on NPGMC boards. I like the stuff, what can I say.

Would I rather have music and video items? Hell, yeah!!! But I still want the t-shirts and other items. And I think with the MusicToday licensing, the cash outlay from Prince is probably pretty limited. By partnering with a larger organization, they can absorb some of the set-up costs that Prince would encounter, and therefore avoid, if it was just NPGMC producing.

If it were truly a case of Prince releasing the music versus this merchandise, I would not partake, but I really don't think it's the case.

The NPGMC retail items are shit. NEWS and baby clothes. Someone give them some more money so they can buy a fucking clue.

Nefertiti said:

yes i agree. but you realize it's all about lifestyle (and EGO) so that's why all that clothing is up in there. the baby stuff is obvious in my opinion. i bet mani and he are trying for a kid but who cares. i wish there was more music available on there. maybe it's cheaper to make all the other stuff than mass produce cds and dvds and singles and all that.
maybe he can make more money on the clothes. maybe he has worked out a deal with someone to make the clothes.
still, i'd rather have more music. maybe Prince realizes the fact that even he can overkill with his own music.

Ive always thought he should put cd's up in the retail.. for everyone, not just for the club..

for example... Eps every now and then. maybe 4 or 5 songs,
at an affordable price.

Sdldawn said:

U R so right. I think it became more about the $ when Larry stepped in and started influencing his beliefs. I know that $ is an important part of what he does, but come on, I thought music was first and money was something that just came as a perk...At least that's what he preached in 93-96.

daPrettyman said:

co-sign

At least we will be able to buy something to hold the CD's they are not selling...

What about that damned "Supercute" - "The Daisy Chain" - "Peace" Cd singles ?!? What's so wrong to put them on sale??

BoraBora said:

He is now making more money selling them anonymous true Ebay.
he can't get $200 for Peace true the NPGMC

Wat is er in godsnaam mis met klompen??

Drippin said:

Ze maken zo'n herrie op mn marmeren vloer

ChocolateInvasion said:

dat bedoel ik.

klaatu said:

It's not the same. Prince would charge us for these, he wanted us to send him our CDs for free.