If that's true then that's the best birthday present I could get. My birthday's March 26th so I'm gonna start partying early this year!

It does seem like with this particular project offical news is being left up to Universal to break first. Granted, it would be nice if the npgmc would be more responsive once Universal has spoken, but whatever, there are bigger issues in the world I guess.

Snap said:

oh my...stop the presses! it was posted here a few hours ahead of being posted by a member at npgmc. what does that freaking matter? news, is news, is news...i am a member here, npgmc, as well as housequake, and i dont care where i get my news from.....

the mods aren't acknowledging it because their hands are probably tied, as they have already pointed out that the release information will be coming from universal.....so why does it make this place better simply cause a member here posted it quicker than a member over at npgmc?

don't get me wrong i like it here as well...but that stuff gets old and childish IMO

txladykat said:

As you say, it was a member that posted the news, not an offical announcement from an npgmc moderator. Perhaps it IS a small point, but it's simply a shame that the npgmc doesn't bother (or more likely, is prevented from) communicating with it's members such info directly. It's just another example of the npgmc being a tool that is largely underused in promoting Prince's product.

Dear Dad,

Things didnt turn out the way...



... sometimes I feel like Im gonna explode!



This album had better ROCK!

metalorange said:

Actually, I'm glad it was posted by a member. It was straight forward and to the point. You know good and well if it had come from the PP's it would've been all riddle me this, riddle me that. Who's got time for that?
[Edited 1/18/06 17:10pm]

metalorange said:

thanks, metalorange
you understand
we're not talking members vs members or site vs site
we're talking about getting the info directly from the source
too many times, npgmc plays games -- holding back info
until we find it out ourselves indirectly from another source
usually through a member (not an npgmc administrator) of whatever prince site we visit
npgmc needs to quit saying "you'll hear it here first"
because that is so rarely ever true
we've learned time and time again not to wait on them
[Edited 1/18/06 20:47pm]

nayroo2002 said:

Where? I couldn't find it.

ImYours said:

as stated above, you have to close the pop-up ad that swoops to the middle of the page.
then, there's "posters" that fly onto the wall of new releases, 3121 is in the middle of the top row.
plus, you can view the video to "Te' Amo Corazo'n" in the little media screen at the bottom right

Snap said:

To be fair, especially with 3121, they've actually gone out of their way to say "you may not hear it here first".

metalorange said:

I do agree with you on this point. I do think the potential of the club is under utilized. They could do so much more with it, but for whatever reason, they choose not to. My only point above was that I get tired of the "we posted it first, yada yada" argument. Its childish IMO. That sounds like a conversation I would had in 3rd grade "I though of it first. No you didn't, I did. No you didn't I did"....and back and forth it goes

purplecam said:

Mine too.

March 21st? First day of Spring, right?

Here's hoping there's better stuff on this record than that dreadful first single.

Universaluv said:

This is true. They have intenionally said that the release date will be announced by universal. Also, they don't usually say "you will hear it here first" they usually say (except in the case of 3121) "any official announcement will come from npgmc". And, they did say that in the case of 3121, the official announcement would come from universal. in light of that, I am inclined to believe that the agreement Prince made with Universal is that Universal gets the right to announce it first. It only makes sense from a business stand point of Universal. If they are putting the money into promoting, they should have that exclusive right. If I were Universal, I would have asked for the same thing (from a business stand point that is).

txladykat said:

It still doesn't make any business sense to me for Universal to keep the release date info and other promotion completely seperate from the npgmc. Who are they going to be selling this album to? Prince fans. Where is a Prince fan more likely to look for information about the new album? The Universal web page? Hell no, they'll look on the official Prince site for info, and when they don't see anything, not even a link to Universal, they'll go away thinking there's no info about a new album! How does that help Universal sell albums? It is entirely to Universal's benefit to work hand-in-hand with the npgmc, not take them largely out of the picture.

Besides which, I can't understand how we've gone from an independent website where Prince could put up Musicology for download before it was in stores, to a website where Prince isn't allowed to even announce information about his own album!

Hmmm. The new Covenant will be available two weeks earlier, and as I am on my no more than one full-price CD per month policy that means Prince will have to wait. Sorry, buster.

metalorange said:

How high a priority is the NPGMC to Universal for selling this release? I think it's fair to say that at this point most members of the club are probably gonna buy the album regardless of how much it's promoted there. My guess is that Universal is more interested in selling the album to the general public than to the hardcore Prince fans.

That said, the NPGMC should at the very least be able to release new info. simultaneously with Universal.
[Edited 1/19/06 7:51am]

Universaluv said:

I think this is one of the fundamental problems with the npgmc - it sells to only hard-core fans and basically alienates the general public. It is Prince's official site and advertised as such usually whenever his name is discussed. But you can only get to the entry page unless you pay $25 to be a member. It's not much, but say you're a very casual fan, you got dragged by someone to the Musicology tour and quite liked what you heard, so you go on the web to find out more about Prince and any new material and tours, you go to the seemingly obvious place, his own website, and... nothing. Pretty much no useful info unless you join, and if you're just casually looking for info, why would you bother? As a space for spreading information to the general public, it's useless.

The site should have a free section with stuff people casually looking for information want to know, such as a discography, new album and tour details. Or a free sister official site perhaps.

At the end of the day, I suppose Universal and even the npgmc will start promoting the album properly when it is nearer the release date... hopefully! But at the moment it seems like almost a secret between hard-core fans, I don't know what they gain by holding back.

metalorange said:

I agree completely with everything you just said.

metalorange said:

This subject came up over there recently when the club was getting scooped all over the place during the press conference/single release.

http://www.npgmusicclub.c...&start=160

Anxiety suggested that, similar to the org, they put more news on the front page and not hide it behind a $25 membership.

They replied " Plans are in motion 2 add a lot more dynamic in4mation 2 the site, including RSS feeds and more XML generated sections."


We'll see...
[Edited 1/19/06 9:32am]

metalorange said:

i definately agree with you here (see we agree more than you realize ), yes, they need to provide that information to the general public, and not members only. Believe it or not, I have followed Prince since 1980, but wasn't even aware the npgmc existed until the musicology tour! How is that for promotion! I had already bought tix to one of the musicology concerts (through the general public), and then when reading a news article i saw about the club website, and that is when i joined. Yes, I think there needs to be more promotion of the club, i think universal should work hand in hand with the club to release music, and i think information should be made available to non-members...maybe not chat and forums, but at least the news/discogrophy, etc....