HELLO! Being burned on "Crystal Ball", I have taken a Wait-and See approach to NPGMC's plan to issue 4 cd's before joining.

WELL, we are about to enter into the FIFTH month and none of you have seen a THING in your mailbox. And the concert tickets incentive only apply IF Prince plays in your area!

QUESTION 1: Is this acceptable?Are you satisfied? Prince has to deliver 4 new discs every 2 months to come through.( I wouldn't bet the farm on it).


QUESTION 2: Is the concert end of the deal enough to keep you happy for now? Or are you beginning to get "CB Deja-vu"?


QUESTION 3: "The Best of O)->" is named as a NPGMC disc.How do you feel about this? Do CORE fans that own MORE than Prince has ever released NEED this album? Or is it a good DOCUMENT or BOOKEND to own? ("Best of's" to me are more for casual listeners, like "VBOP"). Is this disc a RIPOFF, considering the infamous "Vault" stuff?

I am curious in your responses; I am wary of Prince "the Businessman" and have yet to join NPGMC. I see history repeating and your feelings will play a big role in wether I join or not.

Thanks for your time!

The club is great i already got my moneys worth. So don't join. Peace!

I WILL WAIT AND SEE

I joined in June of last year. I bought all the months previous and was very happy with all the new music.

This year I am waiting until June. I did not update or renew my membership as I new the tour was coming and could use my memebership last month for advance tix. I'm still on my first year till this coming June.

The Crystal Ball fiasco (which it indeed was) is now almost 5 years old. The NPG Music Club is a much, much better organized group as evidenced by the downloads, the One Nite Alone Tour, Prince's quick responses to the scalper problems, NPG's quick responses to our e-mails, etc. etc.

I chalk up the beginning problems to Prince working out the kinks and I think things really seem to be running well now.

Hopefully he will tour again this year, there is of course The Celebration and 4 CD's are promised and if one is a best of, that's ok with me as 3 Cd's of NEW material works out beter than the 3 or 4 new songs a month last year.

I did like the Ahdio Shows very much, though. I miss them.

It's not quite the same as the Crystal Ball thing. I ordered Crystal Ball in late 97 and never received it (just how good IS Kamasutra?). It wasn't a problem whilst I knew that the CD hadn't been released - I just assumed that Prince was waiting until he had enough orders to make it worthwhile. It was only when I saw it released in retail outlets and I heard about how others had received their copy that I started to complain. Now, I truly believe that online ordering has improved and I've joined the NPGMC year 2 with a new hope. Right now, there haven't even been any CD's issued. It's not ideal, but I'll start complaining once the CDs have been announced and people on this site start saying how good the CDs are when I haven't had mine.

Incidentally, if the Best Of 0)+> CD is re-recordings of Prince's hits (makes sense - the title suggests a pun of the Warner's release) then for me it will be quite an exciting release. It can't take away from the originals, but will add a new dimension to them.

'the crystal ball..'hmmm..what was that...96..97?
..you really do take a 'wait and see' approach don't you?...
...i think you know the responses you'll get..they are on numerous threads here...a lot of people satisfied..and a very vocal minority that is not...
the npg music club is handled by a completely different staff than the 'crystal ball' and they are quick to answer reasonable questions and remedy situations if at all possible...
people act as if prince sits in a room and mails stuff out, answers questions, records songs, tours, runs the music club, etc...
..join or don't...you're the only one that can make that decision...
but chances are if you already think you 'see history repeating' then in reality your mind is already made up...

pimpytheclown said:

Where did you get this info from? In the members area, downloads section of the club, it states that details of upcoming CD's will be listed. There is no mention of any CD's, let alone a best of O(-+>

If this is true, then I will surely be pissed and feel completely ripped off.

CD`s we will get:
1-one nite alone piano album
2-xenophobia
3-one nite alone live-2 cd
4-one nite alone aftershows-1 disc of cuts from various aftershows
we will NOT get the best of O+>
and i know this how?????thank u 4 ur feedback!

Alright . . . once and for all - IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE "FIFTH" MONTH!!! Hell, it's barely been 2 1/2 months!! The memberships started right around Valentine's Day. Damn people!

The CD's are coming.

pimpytheclown said:

FIFTH month? Year 1 ended January, Year 2 started February. So it is the THIRD month (pushing it ... FOURTH).
As with public companies: they have fiscal years which do not necessary start in January.



I will be dissatisfied when at the end of the period I still haven't all 4 CD's. Dissatisfied? I will ask (and get) my money back.
There was never a promise for a certain date of delivery. Only because a year-span has 12 months (but who knows for sure whether that is true for NPGMC years as well, afterall time is just an illusion ) and there was a mentioning of minimum 4 CD's ppl make up every 3 (you even speak of every 2 months...) months a CD is coming their way. I don't see the logic in that thinking.


Well he hasn't been to Europe yet. Last year neither. So as far as the concert deal is concerned... some people are better off than others. Such is life (it sucks if you only look at what has not happened or what is not possible).



Though I am not keen on a "Best OF O)->" since I do not have it yet I cannot say it is a RIPOFF. I will judge when it is in my CD player. Patience is a great virtue...



Only you can make that decision. Whatever my feelings are is irrelevant to whether you can and want to spend $100 for waiting for the CD's or concert deal ... I could and wanted to pay that money, so I did. And I do miss the monthly downloads, still am happily waiting for whatever will come my way.

And you must realize you sign up and pay for something which you do not know what it will be. 4 CD's and more (concert arrangements, stuff in the retail shop) but the contents...well you just don't know.
Look at it from another point: suppose Prince released a CD in May in the shops. The media is not informed and nobody has heard any track of it, there are no reviews about it so you have no idea what to expect.
Would you buy it and run home or would you listen to the CD in the shop before spending your money?
In the latter case...I suggest you better not join NPGMC.

Haystack-

Kamasutra's not that great. As long as you have "The Truth" then you're good.

I haven't listened to Kamasutra in about 3 years.

BombJack said:

I don't believe UR correct with this information. If you read the ONA booklet, inside it states the following 4 CD's that we'll B getting:

Last December
One Night Alone
The Best of
Xenophobia



Y'all stay funky....

It would have been nice if the NPGMC had something to send out at the beginning of the second year. We would have talked about the cd on the org. Perhaps, memberships would have increased. Personally, I can wait awhile for my cd. I have been to a show, so I have used a portion of my membership benefits. We are not even three months into the new year. If after 5 months we still don't have a cd, then let's complain.

i had no prob gettin my crystal ball..in fact i got two sets....and i love kamasutra

NPGMC with year 2 will come thru one way or another. I have a life outside and I do really like Prince music, tho I have found many other artists I love just as well so it does not rule ME! I must say the Best Of discs I look forward to hearing very much.
If your able to see him live the club is really worth it, tho I think NPGMC has to give those who are not able to see shows something, and I guess that is the cds. For now if they gave an mp3 of a few new songs, or some new merchandise in the form of music that would be cool, or would it?? haha.. if Prince released a live show thru the members merchandise right now the org'ers would be going! Where is One night alone? the best of cd? xenophobia? etc..

I'll let ya know after the Celebration

I'm sure the cds will show up eventually. After the LA Concert experience, I'm totally satisfied.

I personally don't have a problem if the CDs are all released during the second half of the year. Prince is using the current tour in part to get more members, and it certainly makes sense from a logistical standpoint to not start sending CDs until people who are going to join have done so. Can you imagine NPGMC trying to deal with sending "new" members the CDs that have already been shipped? It will be a pain in the ass keeping track of who's already gotten what... the whole process would be easier if they just picked a date (like July 1) and said that you can't join after that date... then send out all the CDs at once during August. That will save them a lot of difficulty with shipping and handling, etc. The money they save can be given back to us by making it 5 or 6 CDs instead of 4, or perhaps by adding some downloads (like a 256k quality mp3 of an aftershow) on their site.

I've notified my attorney and the Better Business bureau. Look out you skinny mothafucka with the high voice!

DMSR said:

Good idea! They've clearly violated the contract with us. They promised to give us at least 4 CDs during a 12-month period and pre-sale access to concerts for $100. Considering MN Code § 500... which states that all 12-month contractual obligations must be met within 3 months, I think you've got a great claim!

I'll say this much: I added up the hours of music I got from Prince during 2 nights in Atlanta, not counting the opportunity to speak with him, and it came out to $25/hour. Now, I charge more than that as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, and I definitey aint Prince. This excluded the $100 membership fee, for which I currently have "Silicon" and 2 nights of 2nd row seats that probably would've cost me an extra $100 a night from a scalper.

I'm waiting to fully pass judgement, but have to admit that at least some INFORMATION would be nice, and definitely more professional than "how much would you pay for a Celebration ticket".