has anyone else ever thought that some artist may be letting matterial leak out of studio's so that their fans can get it.
like forinstance, warner brothers didn't like some of their artist to put too much music out.
i wonder how many artist actually allow it secretly so us fans can have it because of this reason.

These theories that Prince is 'behind' the bootlegs keeps cropping up from
time to time. I can say with 100% certainty that it is false. Prince has never
supported any bootlegs or intentionally leaked tracks for the bootleg market.

These theories that Prince is 'behind' the bootlegs keeps cropping up from
time to time. I can say with 100% certainty that it is false. Prince has never
supported any bootlegs or intentionally leaked tracks for the bootleg market.

These theories that Prince is 'behind' the bootlegs keeps cropping up from
time to time. I can say with 100% certainty that it is false. Prince has never
supported any bootlegs or intentionally leaked tracks for the bootleg market.

BorisFishpaw said:

so what was the survey at the celebration about then? wasn't that an acknowledgement that prince knows fans are familiar with his unreleased material? not challenging ya, just wanting your perspective.

These theories that Prince is 'behind' the bootlegs keeps cropping up from
time to time. I can say with 100% certainty that it is false. Prince has never
supported any bootlegs or intentionally leaked tracks for the bootleg market.

BorisFishpaw said:

also, didn't he have a habit for a while of throwing out tapes and cds at shows of stuff he thought was "hot" at the time, then completely lost interest in later? i thought i heard tell of this kinda thing...which doesn't exactly equal "bootleg", but i figured it accounted for a little bit of the better-quality sounding stuff floating around out there.

These theories that Prince is 'behind' the bootlegs keeps cropping up from
time to time. I can say with 100% certainty that it is false. Prince has never
supported any bootlegs or intentionally leaked tracks for the bootleg market.

BorisFishpaw said:

It's no use. No matter how many time you explain how unreleased recordings get it, people will still believe that Prince is behind it because they simply don't understand how many people are involved in the process of making a song and everything else that happens after that.

RepoMan said:

WHat's the big deal. We have 2 schools of thought...the ones that say he never did and the ones that say he probably did.

And your "they simply don't understand how many people are involved in the process of making a song and everything else that happens after that" sorta doesn't hold that much water as most is "written, produced, played, masturbated & arranged" by Prince. The making of a P album is very different than most.

Well, people will believe whatever they wanna believe regardless, so there's
little point in going over how bootlegs happen yet again.

Has Prince deliberately leaked tracks for bootleggers, or been behind any
bootleg releases?....No.

Has Prince been lax with his unreleased music at certain times in his career
resulting in bootleggers getting access to unreleased material?....Yes.

There's an important difference. It's all about intent.

Anxiety said:

He's also the type to put something out there without the hype of "Prince" behind him. Prereleasing music or getting it heard is not a new thing...he's been doing it for most of his career. I think his ego for people to "dig" his music is bigger than that of getting money from boots.

i think the real reason for bootlegs is like the real reason for christmas.

Anxiety said:

ANd Prince is the GRINCH

superspaceboy said:

OWWAH HUMBUG!

i mean, c'mon... who actually listens to the official release of ANY album post-1990 more than a bootleg cd of an aftershow? NOBODY.

With the exception of Rave and NPS - I listen to ALL post 1990 albums more than ANY bootleg.

the real reason for bootlegs of old studio outtakes (read pre-jehovah-larry-graham-influenced material) at this point in time is that prince will likely never open his vault to material that goes against his current religious beliefs.

"wonderful ass" and "vibrator" are 2 songs that come to mind. spectacular songs? no. but we would have never heard them unless someone released them unofficially. all of the songs where he says "shit" and slips in saying "fuck"? never to be released, or released in edited versions like we're children, rather than releasing something with it's original artistic intent.

it's a shame... and it's why many of us have lost respect for the decisions prince makes. we might respect him as an entertainer, for playing guitar the way he does, etc. but we don't respect his decision to not "free the music"... especially when there are so many of us out here who would've made him a billionaire by buying it all.

and it doesn't stop at unreleased music. you have to wonder if his current religious beliefs have affected the remastering and rerelease of his WBR material. most major artists of the 70s, 80s, and 90s have had their material remastered. yet prince has not.

prince is apparently under the belief that his fans are so crazy that when he does eventually decide it's the right time to remaster his body of work, that they'll still want to buy it all again. however, the longer he waits, the more money he loses in the long run because eventually every prince fan learns that there is other music out there besides prince and associated artists.

prince is known for recording his rehearsals and live shows, yet, will we ever get a crystal clear version of the june 26, 1994 show at the glam slam in los angeles? no. well, not unless he edits out phrases like "motherfucker break it down." will we ever get a crystal clear version of the dna after show on april 12, 1993 in san francisco? no. not unless it's heavily edited. no more "when i'm deep inside that... ass." i'm not saying that's what makes those shows great, but i'm saying his sense of humor is missing in the stuff he does release these days. we got to see a glimpse of that during the rehearsals on the ONA tour. but we will never get to hear a crystal clear version of the show at the stars and bars club in monaco in may of 1994. talking throughout the show about "getting up in that ass." which is a shame because it's one of his best live shows because he kills on guitar throughout...

why hasn't there been a crystal ball 2? i'm guessing because most of the material would need to be edited and he knows that there'd be a huge backlash in this community, or we'd get a ton of tracks post-larry-graham-jehovah-influence...

just my on the matter.

---

here's more: the reason i'm still a fan is because of the bootlegs that have come out. unreleased material such as "small club, 2nd show that night" only makes me respect prince more than i would if i'd only heard the official stuff... especially since 1990.

many of us longtime admirers would have moved on without the unreleased material... thankfully at least there is still live material we can enjoy like the performance at hapas in maui. without stuff like that, we'd get bored. there's only so many times you can put yourself through "life o' the party." it's too bad prince doesn't realize this and make a killing by releasing full length concerts/rehearsals UNEDITED on dvd.

no one will ever hear prince say: "here's the tapes from last night's rehearsal, show, and aftershow. make a double dvd and put it on the npgmc site for 2 weeks for $50 a pop."

that would take vision... and guts... and prince hasn't had either in years/decades.

instead, we'll just have to be happy with occasional tracks like "sst" and the once a year album release that we put on a shelf to collect dust after listening to for a month or two. or that LAMEASS hawaiian boxset... ugh.

why are there bootlegs? it's simple really. prince won't release the material himself. prince fans are crazy enough to spend $25 a CD on poor quality sounding studio tracks and even worse sounding concerts because when it comes down to it, poor quality bootlegs are better than what he gives us.

i mean, c'mon... who actually listens to the official release of ANY album post-1990 more than a bootleg cd of an aftershow? NOBODY.

which is why prince's success with the musicology tour made me both happy and sad at the same time. happy that he's having success again, but sad that he won't think of new ways to make money (such as releasing material he is keeping locked in his vault...)

anyways...

---

[Edited 12/8/05 3:22am]

Thats a whole lot of talking about something that is not that complicated.

Thats a whole lot of talking about something that is not that complicated.

sonofblade said:

sorry, i forgot that i was supposed to reply like a smartass with only one sentence to the original poster's question... rather than actually attempt to answer their question.

my bad.