here we go with the Prince.org vs Housequake shit....playing the game just like Prince wants...divide and conquer....

I don't think Prince.org is any safer than HQ....and anyway - what ever happened to not just freedom of choice - but also freedom of speech.... I spent a lot of Time at HQ - but I still came here every now and then...does that make me a 'hater' or an 'outsider'?

settle down people - I think this is gonna be a bumpy ride!!

BTW I don't think Prince would have a leg to stand on if its copyright issues he's 'concerned' about in reference to the banner....in fact I know he hasn't - but he likes to play games - especially when he knows that aaron hasn't got the funds to fight him...and in truth I can't argue with aaron - why fight it? Prince doesn't fight fair...he never has...

sarkozyiszeman said:

I think it's insulting to mess with your fans public communities in which they discuss for the most part why they love your music. This is coming from the "slave" which wanted freedom from boundaries.

jimino1 said:

Why do so few people want to own up to the fact that Aaron breached the copyright in aa MAJOR way by putting up all those videos and allowing discussions and (covert) solicitation of bootlegs??? It's true ostrich behaviour - the Org corrected its wrongs but HQ kept doing shit like the banners. Time to take your medicine, it's that simple.
Divide and conquer? The Org is solide.

Prince has just changed his PLans : 4 this year we will GET the Black Album/CB/and the 2007 fight between Fan club Sites & Prince's staff in ONE MIX!!

Teacher said:

What I don't get is this: Prince 'requested' to remove the banner (most likely via a C&D letter, I would guess), and it is removed. But why does that mean that it is necessary to close the website???

(Just speculation anyway...)

Meanwhile, Trent Rez treats his fans like they are royalty.
[Edited 1/30/09 1:26am]

EmancipationLover said:

Well, if you shit in somebody's face over and over again they're gonna get more than pissed off eventually. I believe Prince was ok with leaving HQ alone, but that the fanmade Lotusflower banner was the straw that broke the camel's back. It's a funny "coincidence" that this happens on the day before most people believe his own site will open, but it's still stupid on Aaron's part.

love2thenines2003 said:

"MPLSound" will be renamed to "Londell sound" and will be a 60 min. long one-track album with spoken C&D letters over an electrofunk beat - featuring a guest appearance by Carmen Electra (who announces her conversion to the JW belief) at the end.

Sdldawn said:

We're talking about someone who is selfcentered, eccentric and selfobsessed.

sarkozyiszeman said:

So what news is next - that the Pope is Catholic?

Teacher said:

How fucked up that in your analogy, Prince is the one getting his face shit in over and over again. I read it the other way around at first.

Everyone just slow down....don't freakout

Let's see what the next 48 hours brings.....

(I've been getting my Yoga on lately, it does wonders for the nerves and episodes like this)
[Edited 1/30/09 1:37am]

shit baffles me..



someone rick roll his ass

Sdldawn said:

Trent Reznor loves his fans
Thanks for the vidoes trent

EmancipationLover said:

This was no news but just a reminder.

Damn, there's more conspiracy theories here than ever !

Firstly, the simple reason that nothing's been said is that as many of you know, I look after the Prince liaison and legal statements for Housequake and I've been snowed under with my day job - in fact I only found out HQ was closed by email from one of the other mods this morning.

As some have noticed, relations with official sources have been very good of late, however mostly because we've been "playing the game" and trying our best to not offend P. An example of this is how we've had a header that doesn't even mention Prince's name nor shows his photo.

A couple of weeks ago, one member put together some excellent lotusflower "inspired" banners that used a symbol that looked a bit like Prince's but with a flower modification. As they didn't infringe copyright, we took the decision to put these live, along with the official banners we were supplied directly by P.

Roughly 24 hours later, we got a very blunt email saying "this must be removed" from one of his team. We tried to discuss this explaining that it's very difficult to have a fan website that doesn't have a picture of Prince or even show his symbol, however P was adamant that we don't "imply official status".

As someone else noticed on this thread, this was quite frankly the straw that broke the camels back and Aaron came to the belief that this really isn't a fun thing to do any more. Please remember that this is just a hobby for Aaron. It costs him money to run (we can't take donations any more as it changes our legal status and this was used by Prince's legal representation to claim we were a commercial organisation - nice huh ?) and take up a great deal of his time. Would you spend time and money on something you didn't enjoy ?

Is HQ over ? I personally don't know but I've spent a great deal of time playing "united nations" to repair relationships between Prince and all the PFU members (I brokered the "ceasefire" between the PFU and Prince) so I'm not about to give up yet.

It Ain't Over !

ps - thanks for the notes of support for HQ. This isn't about Prince.org vs Housequake, this is purely about fans rights to support an artist in a reasonable manner.

mplsmike said:

No kidding

Free album.
Remix the albums and keep/share the damn files
free videos
albums available to purchase as soon as their ready - no bullshit
forum
fan pictures
chat
Video
official site where live shows are announced

should I keep going..


this goes hand in hand with that "business" ethics thing we were all discussing earlier.. ya know, the thing Prince lacks.

.
[Edited 1/30/09 1:35am]

Teacher said:

Actually Prince was more pissed off about the recent Photoshop thread on here than he was about the banner.
[Edited 1/30/09 1:34am]

What?
The banners were made by a fan and not official?

What happened will come out eventually. Personally... I shed no tears... but I know a lot of people luved that place for some reason or another. For them, some sort of explanation ahould be shared.

Gav made a post while I was posting..... so ignore me.
[Edited 1/30/09 1:37am]

Gav said:

Thank you

Gav said:

He was?

Sdldawn said:

the Multi tracks

Teacher said:

Any rivalry between the two sites is only fuelled by childish nonsense like that post. If it exists, it's certainly not by "the vast majority", and isn't exclusive to Housequake.

Gav said:

I can imagine - it's bullshit to do that too, I wouldn't participate in that ever. I think photoshopping on the whole is lame and boring, and doing Prince stuff is even worse. I think Prince and I are mostly upset about the same pic, with the little girl. That was horrible, truly appalling. I can't believe anybody finds that funny and ok, and it sucks ass that it was allowed to stay up.

thebumpsquad said:

Of course

sue me

Gav said:

Thanks a lot for the clarifying info. It's pretty much what my guess has been - Prince doing his usual thing, and Aaron just saying that that's enough for him. Just to be clear though: Housequake hasn't been shut down due to legal action from the Prince camp, but due to Aaron's free decision that, under the given circumstances, he doesn't enjoy it anymore. Hope that's a correct interpretation...

Teacher said:

Was that pic that you're talking about on that thread?

EmancipationLover said:

Spot on.