Prince is another person now. He doesn't care about his past and so should we.
He is more like, leaving his past behind and living his future.
Don't be surprised if worse acts happen from now on.

Instead of releasing 2 star rated albums over the past fifteen years he should have stopped recording until his creativity had rejuvented - but Prince is a quantity man, not a quality man!

But talking about bootlegs and shutting down sites, remember 10 years ago when he said 'Free the music' if his music was free then everybody owns it, so bootleggers own it simple. But Prince's answer to 'free the music' was a dodgy website where you paid large sums of $ to listen to music that had no content 'What I call glitter music, that 'Gold, Emancipation stuff that is in the bargain bin for a $!)

If Prince wants to combat the bootleggers - well Prince, release your vault on a 200 cd compilation worth $800. Would you buy it?

Too bad because it was the best Prince site of any kind that I ever saw. But, it does support those that make and buy bootlegs if it is giving information about them - even if it doesnt sell them or tell where to get them. If all Prince fans were like me and bought all official releases regardless of what was on the black market, bootlegs would not be a threat to any artist.

Bull said:

Yes that's exactly what I'm telling you. I'm not just talking about Wendy and Lisa that's a big assumtion on your part. You don't know Prince history very well if think he did what he did all by himself, he's only as good as the people around him. Look at the weak shit he did in the 90's. And a lot of the music that were on the first 4 albums were based off of jams sessions he'd have with the band. Look at the Dirty Mind album, Fink co-wrote Dirty Mind, Uptown was Andre's and Partyup was Morris' song, so there's 3 songs out of 8 that he had help on. So maybe you should listen to what you're saying

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

2freaky4church1 said:

No he doesn't. They got something on him and it's not the site itself. :p

wyld1 said:

The hyperlink to guide2prince.org has been on the links page of this very site since the revamp in 2002 (at least). It wasn't a secret underground site. There is no over-riding NPGMC member conspiracy to tittle tattle and to suggest there is smacks of paranoia.

bkw said:

Most likely none of the photographs copyrights are owned by Prince, but by the photographers. And even if he did it wouldn't justify shutting down the entire website. Instead taking down the pics would be just fine.

As for the alleged "encouragement" of bootleg selling and trading, that entirely depends on the facts as interpreted by a judge. There is a conflict of freedom of speech and copyright protection there. A judge's personal opinion usually makes the difference then.

DAFUNKYOU said:

The website only claims a copyright on "the look and feel" of it, that is the selection and arrangement of other copyrighted material. It does not claim to own the materials it has selected and arranged. And btw, the DMCA is only an act which is part of the US Copyright Statute. It does not specifically have to do with this.


--
[This message was edited Sun Jan 18 13:37:23 PST 2004 by Abrazo]

this is making me sick! Guide2Prince.org is one of the greatest websites of all time! The work they have put in on that is incredible.

I have a ton of bootlegs, but ya know, I didn't buy one from Guide2Prince.org. Not one! How can you justify going after this site, Prince? It just proves that you just don't have a clue anymore.

Here is my take on bootlegs. I hope Prince or his Nazi spys are reading. Bootlegs perpetuate Prince as an artist. He only has a core of diehard fans left, and bootlegs keep us going. THE BOOTLEGS KEEP US INTERESTED UNTIL YOU GET AROUND TO RELEASING AN ALBUM!!! If it weren't for the boots, many of us would of jumped ship after Emancipation, or way before that. The bootlegs keep you going as far as why your hardcore fans can still be your fans, the ones buying your high-priced garbage from 1-800-NEWFUNK, and the NPGMC. It's us, we're all the same people.

Dude, I'm telling you, alienate your fans more and more by elimanating their sense of community through sites like Guide2Prince.org and you see your bank account go down, down ,down. How can you not see that??? Boots keep fans coming to the shows, patiently waiting for you to release something worthwhile, and buying your stupid t-shirts from your do-nothing website, that costs 25 bucks per year, or more. Have a clue!!!

FUCK YOU prince*, FUCK YOU - AND KISS MY HEAVILY-LADEN BOOTLEGED ASS WHILE UR AT IT

*ur not even worthy of my capital letterage anymore little man

Another site just bit the dust:

http://www.smallclub.org/

smallclub has recently been contacted by the law firm representing P and his music club. As a result, this site has been temporarily closed.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

-- smallclub staff

My god, who's next?

well this news

caps off the perfect

shit day for me

this is total bullshit

Everlastingnow, Your a freakin bonehead, Prince wrote all of those songs,Prince and prince himself.You keep talking about all of these other people. Let me give you the benefit of the dought for a minute and say that all of the people that you are talking about are great. How have their last few albums faired? How many albums have they put out in the last couple of years?How have their tours been, if in fact they toured at all? Are you understanding my point yet. You may not like prince, you may think that he makes bad business decisions, you may hate the way that he looks, but you can not honestly sit here and tell me that any of them are on his level musically. At least up until the last couple of years.

Why oh why isn't anyone standing up and fighting this?

Are there no lawyers on the Org or anywhere else who can lend G2P or Small Club a hand??? Or PR people that can help them get the media on their side?
Is the press getting a hold of this???

This is just insane.

Bull said:

That's it?? That's your response?? Prince and Prince himself huh? Well, that alone proves you haven't a fricking clue so let's discuss this again when you get one okay?

And by the way, who the fuck cares how their albums faired?? The Rainbow Children sold not even a fraction that Britney's latest has, does that make Britney's better??

well the only way to really show your disgust with this move is tor write a letter and mail it to the management and to the legal dept

bitching here aint gonna do much

All i have to say is that boots are illegal and there is no use of talking about them except to promote their existence... I have complained a lot here about the "boot talking", so I hav to say i agree with that but well don't really dig the pain it may cause but think of the one who produce those songs, it must be a pain to know there are people illegally sell them...

Just to let you know this thread at NPGMC has had over 3,500 views and is 13 pages long as of 1:00 am Sunday, Jan. 18 and ALL views have been expressed.

WHY WHAT APPLIES TO MARIJUANA (TALK ABOUT IT AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT SELL SOME) DOES NOT APPLY TO PRINCE'S BOOTLEGS ?

I agree with the comments that basically state that bootlegs actuallt BOOST Prince's album sales. They are what made him a legendary artist untimately, and they are what keep many fans' interest alive. However, as I said so many times, it should be once again no surprise for fans that he is, has always been and will always be a HUGE ASSHOLE. So no reason to leave the Prince train in my view, just leave many expectations aside...

Okay this is what I do not understand. A few months ago Prince asked for all those who owned bootlegs to return them to him. Many of you (if not all) said hell no called him an asshole (much like today) etc. What I don't understand is if you all feel justified in those feeling about music that you purchased and did not create why would you think the creator of that music; who has every right to own and control the distribution of that music should feel any differently? I mean does that make sense to the many of you who keep calling him an asshole for doing this? If Prince has a bug up his ass about WBR (the company that made him) over sharing ownership and making much money on the music. What makes you think that he would not go after any site that has to do with bootlegging? I know that his boots are legendary I really do. I also feel if he released some of this shit himself he would be swimming in the money. I just don't agree with the overall feeling people have that they are somehow being cheated because Prince is fighting for what is his by rights!! As I stated in the start of my response if you feel that the boots you own are yours then you have no leg to stand on being angry with Prince for wanting sole control and ownership of his music.
Peace

chiltonmusic said:

The problems for many fans here ids that becasue they are fans they "own" the music as much as prince do... Even if there is no involvment from their side!!!

Prince got tighter as he got older because he lost his hair and now he wears a wig, true or false?

chiltonmusic said:

What you probably don't understand is that the facts seem to indicate that this site does not sell, distribute the music. It talks about it and provides information on what is out there, but not where and how to get it. This may be "encouragement" of buying bootlegs, but even if they encourage to buy bootlegs it is not copyright infrigement and therefore has got very little to do with infringing on Prince's intellectual property rights.

Everlastingnow, What the hell does Brittany Spears have to do with this conversation? What a dumbass statement to make.When she puts 30 or 40 albums out then you come and talk to me, until then know what the hell your talking about.Those other artists haven't put out any music, and they haven't toured because know is interested. I'm not saying that I don't like them or their music, I'm just saying that there is not enough mainstream interest to get their careers moving again. Clintonmusic you are exactly correct in what you said.

To bad all these posts weren't something worth chatting about, like - new music.
I agree

TonyC said:

I think that if ever anybody starts another Prince reference site, they should add a link to a zip file on the home page with maybe a 5-downloads-a-day limit, so that somebody somewhere always has a back-up of the site and can host it on any anomynous free web provider.

GaryMF said:

or could many of the extremely eloquent posters here write to the following
Qmagazine@Q4music.com
MOJO@emap.com

2 of the UK's leading music mags - Q especially interested in the internet and the music biz