[Edited 9/27/04 17:03pm]

Well, who didn't see that coming a mile off?
(the only surprise I had was that it lasted as long as it did)

BorisFishpaw said:

That would be the logical reaction to this...
however, there are gonna be those who act like there has been no history of this...
But of course there has to be a reunion at least 4 times a year

I can't help thinking that there's a very fine line here between 'discussion/blog' and 'freedom of speech', 'trade' and 'sale'. Blatant advertising - probably not even necessary, so STOP IT. Hard call when technology and the internet enables it to flow so freely.

An outrage!

RONNYRON said:

ya know,

i can't really feel indignant or peeved or...well...i can't really feel ANYthing about the action against HQ by Prince's goons. the only thing i'm scratching my head over is why it's taken prince's camp so long to do something about the HQ trading forum.

i think that prince's tolerance toward fans circulating bootlegs is a discretionary matter. if he wants to take action against any aspect of his fan community that he feels promotes activity he doesn't approve of, then he has a right...maybe not a LEGAL right, maybe not even a LOGICAL right, but as a human being who created the music in question and furthermore is in possession of his own opinions on the matter, he has a BASIC right to voice his displeasure however he pleases, however successful or unsuccessful those attempts may be.

note that i'm not saying that i think bootlegs are "bad" or "evil" or that they should be stopped or any of that mess. i'm just saying that if prince doesn't like it that this stuff is circulating out in the world, he has every right to try to bitch about it and to try to clean up the mess. good luck, killer.

FURTHERmore, i kinda think prince is shooting himself in the foot every time he shuts down a web site or stakes out a wrecka stow or shuts down a bootlegger, because he's only making the bootlegs more...well...bootleggy.

the more "outlaw" this bootleg material becomes - the more prince tries to put the lockdown on this material - the more the fans are gonna want to hunt it down, and the more valuable it's gonna become, and the more this bootlegged material is gonna circulate in the black market.

but now that i think of it, maybe that's what prince wants. maybe he WANTS this stuff to be seen as "outlaw" and "verboten" because it'll just raise the property value so that by the time he's ready to release this stuff as legit NPG product, he can get a sweet deal out of a label/distributor when he starts talking about releasing his "infamous" unreleased material.

who knows. all i know is, actions like this won't stop the bootleg material from circulating, it won't hurt the site traffic at HQ - and honestly, i don't feel bothered by it one way or the other.

heh heh...am I the only one who's noticed the law firm's phone numbers.



Just kidding...I'm with you Anx...not moved one way or the other.

Anyone who is outraged by this is out of line...

I love Housequake something awful, but for them to get all high and mighty is misguided. Who do they think they're fooling; supplying the forum, while claiming ignorance? I can bring a group of teenagers into my house and tell them they shouldn't drink, but if I supply them with a list of places to get booze easily, it's still on me.

Prince is not a charity. He does not do this for free. He is an artist and a businessman...Yes, we all love the unreleased stuff, but the truth is:

IF THE MONEY DON'T GO TO PRINCE, IT'S STEALING...PERIOD.

Supplying a bootleg forum, at best, indirectly supports the practice of selling bootlegs, regardless of how many disclaimers you post.

Truth.

jpav said:

Hmmph!

As we all know, this forum did not supply bootlegs, nor did it sell, or endorse sale of unathorized material.

It simple gave a forum to fans interested in the discussion of such material, and those already in possession of such material to share them, offline, free of charge, with other fans.

Prince is, again, out of line - But who can battle with a mult-millionaire meglomaniac with expensive lawyers.

ok...so we will discuss this here

I too am not THAT surprised at the shutting down of the boot trading...whatever. Good thing now gone But it's the other stuff...the Fan Calendar etc. The complete control he has over what anyone says of him and his music. Even a site that offers info only on this stuff gets in trouble.

There are a lot of folks have been inspired to do the things they do because of the love and respect they have for him and his music. It doesn't seem as though he shares that respect or love back. I am ok if Prince wants to have control over his career and all, but if you don't put up a freeking discography on your website nor offer any information about you nor your music, you have to expect someone is going to...especially if you have over 25 years worth of music.

I was even warned about the advertising of the Prince Party I threw. I was told to get the word out but try hard to not let it get into P's hands cuz he don't like that kind of thing. It's stuff like that that gets me going.

Being a fan of his is NOT a love affair.

Nothinbutjoy said:

I don't get it...

Then I won't explain it to you.

MrSquiggle said:

me either..unless it was a reference to call them.

superspaceboy said:

He still has sour grapes from not being able to consolidate and gain over-riding control of every major Prince site on the web (remember the Collective?)



/
[Edited 9/27/04 18:51pm]

Who are we kidding? Even if people are only discussing or trading bootlegs, someone bought or downloaded an illegal product somewhere down the line.

I still think that it would have been better if Prince or someone at Paisley Park wrote an open letter to Housequake.com and his fans that stated his position. Then Housequake.com could have had a chance to save face and remove the offending threads. Now that Prince's lawyers are making demands, Housequake.com has to go on the offensive.

natful said:

Well, that's exactly what has happened - the trade tree threads were removed recently, and the bootleg trading forum was closed yesterday. The bootleg discussion forum is still open, as Aaron has been advised that it is definitely legal.
I'm a great supporter of HQ, and while I don't like this development, over the last 9 months or so HQ and specifically the trading forum has come into the spotlight. We brought it on ourselves by being too blatant.
I support Aaron's decision to comply with most of the requests, and I'm sure that HQ will continue to be the best fansite around. (No offense orgers)
The trading will move on to another home, which will no doubt be more circumspect.

gsh said:

It's difficult without the posts, makes it hard to do connections and so on (which sucks ass).
Although u can't see transactions doesn't mean there airn't any. People dont give a fuck and will trade anyways.lol We have a way around it and so we have freedom of speech so they can't take that away. So this peace of paper dont mean shit to b honest.

Always seems like they are trying to plug one or two holes in the dam when there are hundreds of other leaks.

Thing is, trading bootlegs, whether free or not, is still illegal, just as it would be if people openly trade copies of released albums. So I guess they do have a right to try and stop it if they can be bothered.

But I've always thought, how does this trade in bootlegs actually harm Prince? It more likely helps him keep his fan-base.

He started playing 'Empty Room' on the ONA tour - I can't help feeling he played that because he was fully aware hard-core fans regarded this as a legendary track, in other words he played to the fans obsession with bootlegs!

The trading of bootlegs was around long before the internet, only that was almost impossible to shut down and trace. The internet just made it visible to a larger audience. I suggest the lawyers have a wander around a local market sometime, catch some real traders...

metalorange said:

Of course.

Look at the first year of the NPGMC, one of the first tracks to be put up as a snippet was Splash.

Knowing full-well this was a (widely) uncirculating unreleased track, he knew that by putting this unreleased Revolution-era track up for download in the first month would wet people's appetites, and I'm sure most of us expected this to continue, even if it was just one Vault track a month. It was a carrot on a stick.

Anxiety said:

Call me a cynical old bastard, but I think you've hit the nail on the head there.

Seems to me that Prince's lawyers are now in the wrong. Afterall - and maybe we were all asleep on this one - but the 1994 law banning the sale of bootlegs has been overturned. please peep any of the following.

http://www.mtv.com/news/a...lines=true
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/h...689580.stm
http://199.249.170.183/bb...1000642521

so, please . . discuss as you will, trade as you will, purchase as you will . . . ..

they should be too busy contacting MTV and asking why there are bootlegs listed in Prince's section of the website instead of bugging housequake

Nothinbutjoy said:

*Ring, Ring*

Is Mr. Fuller home?
Hello, Mr. Fuller?
This is your conscience, motherfucker
Why don't U leave motherfuckers alone?
What's wrong with U?
Well, why can't we just dance? Why can't we just dance?
No, fuck that, fuck that!
I don't talk about U, I don't talk about U
U little almond-shaped head ass
Who the fuck do U think this is?
I'll kick your ass… twice!

done!