http://www.mtv.com/news/a...ince.jhtml
MTV News 07.24.2003 7:32 PM EDT
Prince wants his music back. Just a month before he releases the first DVD from his New Power Generation Music Club, the club has sent its paid members a list of album rarities Prince would like returned in his continuing struggle to guard against bootlegging and to control his own sonic real estate.

In an e-mail sent Wednesday to the NPGMC, fans were asked to "Help the cause!" and look for "anything with a WB logo that was unofficially released during Prince's tenure at that label."

Among the suggested discs to send in, according to a list provided by the NPGMC, were releases by such companies as Back 2 Back, 2-on-1 and BackTrax, which included such classic Prince singles as "Purple Rain," "Little Red Corvette," "Erotic City," "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy." Much of the material on the list — from CD and cassette singles to box sets and home videos — was released as imports sold in Germany, Japan and the U.K.

The e-mail asks for the material to be mailed to The Ways of the Pharoah, PO Box 169, Vermilion, OH 44089-0169, but without mention of a reward, reimbursement or compensation.

Fans are already in an uproar over the missive. One fan posting to a message board on Prince.org under the name GoldiesParade wrote, "I bought all those in a shop, so I legally own them, and Prince wants me to send them back free of charge. Fool."

An explanation was later posted on the NPGMC Web site. "Not long ago, an unauthorized version of the concert film 'Sign O' the Times' surfaced online," the message read. "Supposedly originating in Brazil and distributed by WEA International, this DVD is not something that was approved by Prince or any of his affiliates. ... We all know that Prince is one of the most bootlegged artists of his generation, and while much of the activity is tolerated, it crosses the line when Prince's (former) record company ... gets in the mix. The (reason for this request is) to show a federal court the actual truth of this age-old rift between artist and label."

"Let Prince steward his own catalogue," the message pleaded. "Then the 'coupled,' poor-quality, unmastered versions of his classics would cease. Imagine in 2004, a brand new, pristine, remastered version of 'Purple Rain,' released on high-definition DVD with extras, outtakes and liner notes from the Artist himself."

Prince recorded albums between 1978 and 1996 on Warner Bros., whom he's accused of unfair business practices. He split from the label circa the release of Chaos and Disorder, citing issues of control. Though he failed to get Warner Bros. to return the ownership of his master recordings (the label still owns Prince's back catalogue), Prince is legally allowed to re-record any of his Warner Bros. songs.

A spokesperson for the singer could not reach Prince for comment at press time.

—Jennifer Vineyard

... and there is that fine tasting P-U-B-L-I-C-I-T-Y!

ehi GoldiesParade, you're the star!

at least he's back on MTV.

dumbass said:

yep, and all it took was his emailing me, someone i love to suggest sending it to mtv, and my sending it to my contact.
took her less than 24 hours
hopefully the press will have a field day with this, like they did roughly a year ago...

that was well written...

wonder what hes doing
[This message was edited Fri Jul 25 18:47:11 PDT 2003 by cloud9mission]

I dunno...feels like a scam to me...but, then again, I can't stand the l'il runt...oh well...

Looks like the media is turning or rather twisting this into a anti-fan thing and of course they pick up on the negative Goldies comment.

It's a move on WB messing like hypocrites with Prince's music. And it doesn't take an obsessed fan to see this.

And really now, "free of charge", sheesh, it's like you're fighting for Prince's music, it's his you know. How could something 'free of charge', just a little cassingle going to screw you over...and do you really want to fight over that crap product WB put out. I own like, just ONE of those things, I knew better back then.

No mas queiren HODER!

MadMonkey said:

How is this a scam...I don't get it?

dumbass said:

Yeah, for all the WRONG reasons. I think the public at large have all forgotten about Prince The Genius and are likely to remember only Prince The Jerk. He only has himself to blame.

Bugger me I ve been quoted by MTV.

Shapeshifter said:

Prince, how low can you go ?

FlyingCloudPassenger said:

Erm - its not his, its Warners.

If he pays back the money that warners paid him then I'm sure they'll come to an agreement.

I have an intellectual property clause in my contract with my employer. If I left then I wouldn't whinge about getting back work that I "own" now would I ?

Prince really needs to just get over this and move on. It's 7 years on for christs sake.

...and the part most relevant here amunst the whole of this news story?:


"Just a month before he releases the first DVD from his New Power Generation Music Club"


Publicity, YO!




.
[This message was edited Sat Jul 26 6:15:59 PDT 2003 by dnaplaya]

"Then the 'coupled,' poor-quality, unmastered versions of his classics would cease."

prince is more than welcome to my old bootlegs... if he'd bother releasing them in better quality. i'm still not sure i understand his mission with the npgmc. he's got the perfect vehicle to release music directly to his "fams". with his back catalog, i fail to see why he isn't releasing a new cd once a month. there are a ton of rare songs, unreleased material and live tracks that he could sell to the club. personally, i'd rather buy it from him than a bootlegger or a record store.

why waste time in court battling over this mess when the solution to prince's problem is obvious. if warner bros. is issuing a dvd of "sign 'o' the times", he should release his own. a version that includes the entire show, or with added songs from SOTT period that haven't been released yet. fight fire with fire. obviously, the dvd with the better extras would be the obvious choice to purchase. he'll cut into warner's profiting of his material and earn cash on an already marketed product. we all know that there were oodles of footage shot for that film. we also know that the released video doesn't feature all of the songs performed in a standard SOTT show.

cut out the middleman, prince! fight the bootleggers by releasing the music the "fams" wanna buy. pull a one up and trump their noise with a better product.

FlyingCloudPassenger said:

So this is just another one of those lies from the "Digital Garden", right?

As far as I can tell it is all fact.

I enjoy the part about getting a new DVD of Purple Rain! RIGHT. Like that's going to happen from Prince!! What a ruse!

I actually have NONE of the "back to back" singles as I always thought they were for those who never bought Price albums in the first place and were only trying to own a song or two that they were familiar with. But if I did buy it and you (Prince) thought they were unethically released, then that's your problem, not mine.

In any case can't he just try to sue WB and demand they produce the evidence??? Why are the fans involved?

Prince.org got a mention on Mtv.com! And GoldiesParade got a mention, nice one!

Vermilion, Ohio?!? It's about 40 minutes west of Cleveland and it's a total little Hick Town. Why there?

Maybe I'll do some vestigatin'.

"Imagine in 2004, a brand new, pristine, remastered version of 'Purple Rain,' released on high-definition DVD with extras, outtakes and liner notes from the Artist himself."

Umm, no thank you. I would rather have the bootlegs of unheard music than a 20 year old movie that I already own in two formats. If he would go and release albums with music that is actually wanted by the fans (which bootlegs provide), we wouldn't go looking for them elsewhere, would we? And when did he become "the Artist" again?

doomboogie said:

I assumed that to be a typo and should be been "artist" with a lower case "a". i.e - the original composer rather than the written form of

freakyfeet said:

Then again, it's Mtv reporting on Prince, and when was the last time they've done that? Maybe they're a bit behind the times with all his silly name changing antics.

secretcub said:

Yeah, I'm with this guy/girl, but am I the only one who thinks Purple Rain isn't all that? Next thing they'll be trying to sell us a remaster of Graffiti Bridge, and then the Prince shops as well!

I'd rather have some more music, what about that???

ian said:

thank you (is there a "bow" emoticon?)

suomynona said:

Good work, sir!

Prince could record new releases of his old songs, even in a cave. Releasing them on the NPG Music Club site (like he's doing with his new songs) and cutting out WB altogether. I've heard of a hard rock artist performing live in Death Valley with thousands of people in attendance, and released it on DVD days after the performance to the people who attended. They made thousands of dollars off of it with no middle man at all.

...am I the only one 2 think it's kinda ironic that Prince battled 2 free himself from a contract where He (supposedly) felt stifled by being unable 2 release His music as often as He would have liked? Then goes and starts up 'NPG' as a way 2 get this (supposed) mass of stuff He's brimming over with glee 2 release - and suddenly...instead of all these hot jams expploding out of the label - it literally LIMPS out?

GET YOUR ACT 2GETHER MAN, U LOOK A FOOL

(In Wendy-esque Voice):
*'Im tired of this...Im REALLY tired of this...' edit*

secretcub said:

Very well said Secretclub, I agree with you 100%!

"I have an intellectual property clause in my contract with my employer. If I left then I wouldn't whinge about getting back work that I "own" now would I ?

Prince really needs to just get over this and move on. It's 7 years on for christs sake."





Thanks Freakyfeet, that's what I've been thinking for many years.

Prince is really the only person to blame on this mastertape issue: how could he be so stupid to think he would have both the money and the mastertapes ? (Bowie has never been, for instance!) And you fams want to help him on that ? Then ask him to give you a share of his multi-million contract!