Here is another email trying to explain yesterday's request.

Perhaps this notice will clear up any confusion brought on by the
CAUSE emale u received recently. Not long ago, an UNauthorized
version of the concert film SIGN O THE TIMES surfaced online.
Supposedly originating in Brazil and distributed by WEA International-
this DVD is not something that was approved by Prince or any of his
affiliates. Enuff is enuff...

We all know that Prince is one of the most bootlegged artists of his
generation and while much of this activity is tolerated, it crosses
the line when Prince's 4mer record company who is entrusted 2 steward
his catalogue gets in the mix.

The CAUSE emale is a simple request 2 show a Federal Court the actual
truth of this age-old riff between ARTIST and LABEL.

Even if u were kind enuff 2 send us just ONE cd that is shown on the
list u were mailed, it will serve as ample notice that we r tired of
this endless MISrepresentation of this man's life-long work. He
deserves better.

Let Prince steward his OWN catalogue, then the "coupled", poor-
quality, unmastered versions of his classics would cease. Imagine in
2004, a brand-new, prisitine, RE-mastered version of PURPLE RAIN
released on high definition DVD with xtras, outtakes and liner notes
from the Artist himself arriving at ur door. That alone is worth the
effort of helping us with the CAUSE.

-love4oneanother, NPGMC

"Even if u were kind enuff 2 send us just ONE cd that is shown on the
list u were mailed, it will serve as ample notice that we r tired of
this endless MISrepresentation of this man's life-long work."

I'm sorry, but this makes no sense.

Prince, I love you and sure I appreciate all your work. But this still makes no fucking sense. Does it? Let's see...I appreciate your work, so I drop some cash to get more of it. Then you're pissed about some video, so I should send you back one of those CDs, so you can prove that you're mad about the video.

Okay, I take it back. That makes perfect sense.

Well, why did`nt they just say that. If this is the case, then i think he is very right in what hes doing, the npmc should have this point from the start,

he just better not change any of his the words etc. of any of this "remastered" stuff...that is what I am antisipating,... wasn't there a rumore going around that him and sony are4 going to remaster his stuff BUT he intends upon "cleaning" his lyrics up. no of that other stuff should be changed by anyone including himself

I HAVE THE ANSWER !!!

DEAR PRINCE,

if u go on ebay, u probably can find one or more of these CD's you request in this list.

you probably will pay just as much as we all did when we were trying to purchase any music from you through ebay or other sellers.

if you are intersted in bootlegs, you can always contact me, i'm sure we can work out a trade, or a deal. just like in real life.

if not, you can always try to purchase bootlegs through your local wreckasto'

with kind regards.
please,
feel free to contact me whenever you feel like.
i truely would looove to trade something.

Johan.brepoels@pandora.be

...The TRUTH...?

My ass !

DOROTHYPARK said:

Oh yeah, I've heard this one before. Umm, the Celebration DVD set that was suppose to be released. I ain't falling for it again Prince. Quit teasing us with stuff that you'll never release just to get the stuff that YOU don't want to be sold. How many more times are you gonna dangle that carrot in front of us?? You're losing your fanbase Prince. Ppl don't care what you're saying anymore because we all know they're all lies. How does it feel to be known as a liar, Prince?? I thought being "enlightened" by God would make you a much more giving person, instead you are still TAKING TAKING TAKING...from the fans/fams especially. Shows how much of a crock your CULT...I mean "religion" is if you don't even follow one of God's rules that he laid down for us. For Gods(or Jah's) sake, stop thinking of yourself for ONCE and think of the fans that has paid GOOD, HARD-EARNED money for the stuff that you want us to so freely and costly send you. I'm sure you ain't paying for shipping are you? Come on Prince, you signed a contract, you got paid for that music that was released, you were GIVEN that recording studio that you take for granite because of your music. You had more freedom than was given to most artists.You have had and will still have a loyal fanbase that has supported you, even though you release less quality and quantity than when you were with WB. If this doesn't satisfy you, nothing will. Nothing will ever please you Prince. I pray you learn wisdom and patience and get away from that cult you put so much bullsh*t faith in, because it hasn't done you ANY good so far.

Rudedog

I wish they'd learn to spell the word "email". Also I wish they'd stop unnecessarily capitalizing letters e.g. "UNauthorized" etc. It's a petty criticism I know, but that's me

second thoughts...


Let's ALL send EVERYTHING (boots official releases, newspaper articles, pictures, posters, memorabilia, toiletpaper, whatever, with prince's mark on) BACK TO PRINCE, RIGHT NOW!

Who want's to start first?
Whomever does it first - i will follow!

let me know. i seriously mean this. ))
now wouldn't that be nice?

bwahahahahahahahaaa
Yowan

...still i'm very full aware that they should pay the man for what he accomplished through 'sound'... and pay him for what it's worth!

go on prince, kill 'm!

ian said:

That's not just you, I find them rather dictating too !

I think people are wiggin out a bit too much over these e-mails. If you don't like what was said, DON'T SEND ANYTHING. It's THAT simple. All this is not that big of a deal. Geesh!

rudedog said:

Prince can do what he wants, whenever he wants, there still is no musician up to this day who did release so many music in his career.. so leave the brotha alone. ))
He can change his mind every day if he wants to, be glad you know about all his so called projects, even if they will never see the light of day.. i kinda like the thought knowing there is so much to listen to, or to look at, that will never see thelight of day.
hopefully he will show it only to some very few, and then destroy the stuff.. now that will be cool!

a re-mastered version of Purple Rain on DVD?!?!
I don't believe it for a minute.
On the ONA tour and lately he seemed to be shying away from his 'comercial' material (If you came to get your Purple Rain on...ect ect)...
I would love to see this release, but I can't help to think of a black strip or blur over Apollonia's tits, the irritating bleeps of cuss words.. ect.. you know he'd clean it up and probably take Darling Nikki out of the movie. Just can't see him re-doing the Purple Rain DVD...
BUT - It's highly possible too,.. being that 2004 is the 20th anniversary of Purple Rain. So I'm thinking either way, some new format of the Purple Rain DVD will surface.

i'll be expecting that "purple rain 20th anniversary edition" along with my 7 cd Celebration set.

Hey I thought the SoTT DVD was a bootleg. Did it really have the WB logo on it?

And this doesn't really explain why they want our bootlegs...

beautifulone7 said:

Well, not really. I've got Purple Rain on DVD and video already, and the soundtrack on CD and cassette too. Do we need another DVD?

Does anyone really care about crappy DVD extras (aka disk-filler)? Why is this mentioned as an incentive to send Prince your bootlegs and CD singles etc? I don't think that's a very good deal...

beautifulone7 said:

Then we'd never see any of it. Sorry but I find the idea of millionaires complaining fucking ridiculous

Hey ! Where's BVH ? Perfect item for him to spew his c..p

ian said:

Well, it WOULD be nice to get a widescreen anamorphic transfer of this film on DVD...but...

Prince has no say in this, as far as I know. The film is a WB property. If there was to be a re-release at all, it would be their decision, not his. He could choose to participate (which would be nice) but he has no legal right to initiate a new release on his own.

Also, the whole idea that the obviously bootleg SOTT DVD had ANY involvement from WB is absurd. WB never had a stake in the film to begin with, as far as I know. Anyone could have supplied the VHS tape that the DVD is obviously sourced from so to say that WB is responsible makes about as much sense as saying that Disney did it.

If the singles rereleases were indeed produced by WB in violation of a contract, Prince deserves compensation. If, however, they only violate his wishes and not a contract, I say get over it and look to the future. Heck, some of these singles came out long before Prince ever made the conscious decision to sign his last contract with WB.

Regardless of the grounds for the request, calling on fans to send in material serves no purpose other than "publicity stunt". No legal case will be made on their ability to present piles of European CD singles of Kiss.

GIOVANNI said;)[/quote]
"he just better not change any of his the words etc. of any of this "remastered" stuff...that is what I am antisipating,... wasn't there a rumore going around that him and sony are4 going to remaster his stuff BUT he intends upon "cleaning" his lyrics up. no of that other stuff should be changed by anyone including himself"
---
Hey Giovanni...
This is the other Giovanni on the org... He didn't mean re-record Purple Rain, he meant re-master the original soundtrack (and digitize the film), and include extras, etc. from the movie on DVD. We ould all love 2 see the extra stuff from the cutting room floor...

Ciao, Amico!
Giovanni.

oh lawd...


'twas too little, too late...

like others have noted here, the dvd wuz a bootlegg and wea had no hand in the matter.


feelin's mutual, ketchupheads...

tolerated? tolerated??? if it were "tolerated" so much, princey wouldn'tve been suing folks left and right like he wuz a while back...that, and he definitely would cease with his incessant griping about how bootleggage is bad.


the reason why you're draggin your (remainin) followers into your own battle with wb is beyond me.


what, and we don't deserve better as well? and what the hell is it with the capitalization of all the prefixes here, what's that prove???


the carrot-on-stick act will getcha nowheres, man. nice try, but uhhh...we ain't that dense.


ha! chucks to you, princey!

The SotT DVD from Brazil is not a bootleg. I have it. It came as a bonus with a legitimate DVD magazine, and the opening credits show Alliance Atlantis as the distributor (instead of the original Cineplex Odeon Films). Yes, the DVD is of poor quality, but no worse than VHS. I'm still coveting my Japanese LaserDisc version.

As for the Purple Rain DVD... the European and Australian versions are widescreen and of good transfer quality. So, the product is out there already. All you need is a multi-region DVD player, approx. $200 these days.

I can't believe how crappy the situation has gotten ever since Emancipation. Despite what Prince claims, things were great for fans during the WB years (annual releases, maxi singles, music videos,tours). WB seemed committed to quality, innovation and world-wide distribution. It's been all downhill ever since Emancipation, except for maybe Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic. With Prince's NPGMC-only releases, he's doing what he purports to be so bad: he's encouraging bootleggers and eBay gougers, since the NPGMC isn't serving all fans.

Maybe Prince should give WB a call...

Prince shouldn't go to his fanbase. If a product is offered through Amazon, Tower and Circuit City, it is reasonable for the ordinary consumer to presume its legitimacy.

As far as I'm concerned, if Prince hadn't burned so many bridges, every one of his movies would have been on DVD by now. He could have made millions doing a collabo w/Warner Brothers to distribute his concerts, unreleased videos, etc. (which he simply hoards like an indulgent child). He could have even worked with WB to release his vault recordings in their entirety on a limited basis, which could have made him one of the richest musicians in history, even if he didn't sell another new release.

But a person who decides to manage himself has a fool for a client.

A remastered DVD of purple rain with outtakes and extra goodies would be cool.

jessyMD32781 said:

s'yeah, but it ain't happenin.

MadeUpName said:

You almost had me up til there...

As for Prince...I dunno about that email. My take is that there was a LOT of misconceptions about what he was asking and why the email was sent, along with a LOT of misconceptions by Prince and the npgmc as to how his fan base truly sees him...

I don't think he's asking for everyone to send in all their bootlegs and "legally" purchased recordings...I think he just needs examples--as many different ones as possible--for legal/lawsuit reasons...I think their feeling at the npgmc camp was that, if you wanna send in something to help them out, cool, here's a list of what we're looking for...but if not, cool...I mean, seriously...it wouldn't help Prince to have 12,000 copies of the "Batdance/Partyman" export single from Germany sent to him...but if he got at least one, then there ya go...

I also, tho, think Prince feels that his fanbase now is mostly comprised of those who see a "kinship" with him and understand/believe in/support his battles against the record labels...when in reality, the majority of his fanbase simply loves the music, and gets more than a little P.O.'d when his legal battles interrupt or get in the way of experiencing that music...asking fans to send him that very music they love is seen as a direct interruption of the experience they crave.

MadeUpName said:

A little revisionist history IMO. We still get annual releases, not just NPGMC only. We still get tours. Annually he now releases more music than he typically did with WB. His videos tend to suck anyway, and a DVD is coming. Prince bootleggers have always been around, even during the WB years.

namepeace said:

For whatever reason Prince doesn't want to "release the vault." I don't know why people keep hanging on to that, but he never has, even in the "glory days" with WB. Anyway, the few songs that were released from "The Vault" didn't exactly tear up the charts.


.
[This message was edited Fri Jul 25 10:24:15 PDT 2003 by Universaluv]