Hello,

You may or may not recognize my "org" handle, but I post here on the org pretty often. I am a musician who was invited to perform at the first Prince celebration at Paisley Park in 2000. I have been (and continue to be) an ardent and staunch supporter of Prince and his work. I have enjoyed, danced to, cried to, and grown up with the music of Prince and his Minneapolis compatriots.

I also, it just so happens, am a frequent visitor to your website, freemyheart.com. I have enjoyed many of your downloads, as well as the other features you have shared with visitors in the past. I consider myself a supporter of Meshell's music as well, and I've found your site to be informative, reverent and a lot of fun to visit.

Having said all of this, I wished to write you to let you know just how shocked, outraged, and downright insulted I was to learn of the recent threats of litigation you have received from Paisley Park. As a musician, I find myself somewhat obligated (in a strange way) to support Prince's position regarding "bootlegging for profit". However, as a logical, sensible, business-minded person, with a great deal of experience in these areas, Prince and his constituents MUST realize the futility of threats against those who do not wish harm against his ability to profit from his art. Rather, most "fams", if you will, who maintain websites of freemyheart.com's kind only wish to service fans like myself, who may be unable to afford the luxuries of purchasing tickets to the week-long celebration and shelling out hard earned cash for expensive poor quality bootlegs.

Prince and his advisors should take note: as a result of visiting various fan/fam websites in the last 24 months who offer links to free downloads of pirate recordings, I have not purchased a single bootleg...not ONE, even though hundreds have found their way onto the market in the last few months alone. In the past, I might have been inclined to pick up several dozen or so, at anywhere from $50.00 to $500.00 each.

Prince and his advisors fail to realize that many of the websites he is attempting to dissolve not only provide him with thousands of dollars worth of free publicity and promotional services, but also discourage the practice of bootleging for profit by servicing, without charge, "fams" with materials that these bandits would undoubtedly be marketing for hundreds.

Prince, it is said, has maintained a relationship with Meshell N'Degeocello for a number of years, and since your site is at heart devoted to her music (not Prince's), I wonder if she has the same issues with your form promotion and publicity. Far be it from me to speculate, but I would suspect that an artist such as she, with little radio/video play and a limited fan base, would appreciate any and all support for her work, particularly when that support comes in the form of media exposure free of charge.

I have been firm in my support of Prince's efforts to maintain a certain level of artistic independence. While some complain of his questionable viewpoints and manner of expression, I have chosen time and again to focus solely on Prince, the musician, Prince, the producer, Prince, the songwriter, Prince, the entrepreneur. Prince, the person, is not a matter of my concern, or at least, hasn't been...until now.

In closing, I wish to offer you my support and "best of luck" in your endeavor to continue to support music you believe in. Feel free to offer any part(s) of this letter you deem fit for use as a part of your defense in this ludacris undertaking on the part of NPG. For my part, I am hoping and indeed praying that this unfortunate matter does not put the "nail in the coffin" where my devotion as a Prince "fam" is concerned.

Peace to you and Peace to Prince and the NPG,

SWANGlovesPrince

I whole-heartedly agree. I'm not even going to elaborate. You said it better than I could.

Good luck Matthew!

Amen 2 the a4mentioned, we R all here 4 U Matt!

'dre

www.drezone.ukf.net

.
[This message was edited Wed Oct 2 3:01:35 PDT 2002 by suomynona]

Now who's giving this topic so many stars?

prince just proves once again that he's not the sharpest knife in the kitchen.
actually he makes a complete ass of himself, and the worst thing is that he probably never even finds out because he's always surrounded by gutless ass-kissers and prince-worshipping 'sheep'.
[This message was edited Mon Sep 30 1:39:02 PDT 2002 by jalokin]

Jesus H Christ, Holy mother of God, stop the presses, and where is my Tylenol??? m and SWANG I have to tell you that I couldn`t have written it any better. You have just "put to paper" exactly what is running around in my head. SWANG mentioned the phrase "logical and sensible" in his arguement. Its obvious that Prince hasn`t acted logical and sensible for a very long time. I suppose that the control freak in him is again on the rampage. They say that being a control freak is an underlying symptom of being insecure with ones self. I wonder if Prince actually realizes how phoney he comes across at times. Furthermore suomynona; I agree 10,000,000,000% with your MJ anaolgy. Then again I guess it is just some of Prince`s brainwashed "fams" following in thier phoney leaders footsteps. SWANG this is the first post of yours that I have read but it was brillant and right on the money; I will look forward to more posts from you. And to suomynona; keep up the fight bro. Some of us can see thru the purple bullshit and realize the real truth (and not Prince`s version of HIS truth).

SWANG suomynona : worship: m Prince

well said...
SUPPORT www.freemyheart.com
[This message was edited Mon Sep 30 5:16:36 PDT 2002 by Vashti]

I would have to co-sign on alll the words on this page thus far.

violett said:

quadruple co-sign.

great post/thread, SWANG.

I agree with everything here.

I haven't bought a bootleg in 3 years (since I got a computer) - I used to buy at least one a month.

Swag...please send this open-letter to npgmc...please!! please!!!

Very well said, Swang

i think we all should email this to the npgmc..anybody got an email them?

lets all protest!!! up in arms!! up in arms!!!




IT WILL BE ANARCHY!!!

SkletonKee said:

an-ar-chy!!! an-ar-chy!!!

(singin 2 the tune of "anarchy in the u.k.")anarchy fooor paaais-ley...it's comin sometime, mayyy-be...

PlastikLuvAffair said:

WUP WUP!! REVEREND!!!


somebody has to have the npgmc email...give it up!!!

.
[This message was edited Wed Oct 2 2:58:18 PDT 2002 by suomynona]

1005 votes?!!!



I smell a rat.

bkk1981 said:

I smell it, feel it, and see it.

SWANG said:

Ummm... well... I think I understand where you're coming from. But shouldn't the true measure of your level of support for an artist include respecting his or desire for how their art should be handled? I think it's more than a little presumptuous to assume YOU know what is best for someone else's art.

If I hear one more person say "but think of all the 'free' promotion he's getting..." Did it ever occur you SWANG and others that there may be times where Prince doesn't want the promotion even if it's free? Everything can't be equated to monetary value. Example, Xenophobia Celebration 2002, a lot of fans think there were some fascinating and very historic moments in Prince's performances at the Park. While some of those performances may be officially released, Prince may intentionally decide to leave certain performances out. Why? Because there's probably certain things that Prince only wants people to be able to experience in person "live at the Park". By excluding certain performances in a CD or video release, it makes the experience of those who were fortunate enough to attend the Celebration that much more special. It's something that a fan can cherish because you know that in order to have heard Prince play "Empty Room", for example, you actually had to be there. There may also be cases where Prince simply doesn't want to release certain songs/performances to the public... just because.

Now, with all that being said. I want to leave you with this one thought. If you considered me to be a friend of yours, and as your friend, you asked me not to do a certain thing. And for whatever the reason, I have it in my mind that this thing I'm doing is a good thing for you. But you still keep asking me nicely not to do it and finally I just say "screw you! I know this is actually your property, but I know what's best for you and if you don't like it, go get a lawyer and we can settle this in court!"

Now I ask you, if I responded to you in that way, would you really think of me as your friend?

abucah said:

This is not about art.



Interesting you say that, 'cause he's seeking damages in the amount of $150.000 per song.



I doubt it does, because no CD or DVD can approach the live experience. It will never be the same.



First of all m is not Prince's friend and secondly the reason why put those links up was not because he wanted to help Prince. What he is saying is that the mp3's and bootleg material in general do not harm sales figures. If anything, they actually keep people interested and introduce his music to other people. So suing him and seeking damages in the amount of millions of dollars is ridiculous. This will have a much more serious effect on m's life than on Prince's, in fact, it could ruin him.

That brings me to saying, once again, that just because Prince has the legal right, it doesn't necessarily mean he should exercise this right. Where's the "love 4 oneanother" in all this? But if you want to be naive and believe this is about artistic control and principles be my guest.
[This message was edited Tue Oct 1 1:40:24 PDT 2002 by joeycoco]

great post, SWANG.

.
[This message was edited Wed Oct 2 2:53:31 PDT 2002 by suomynona]

.
[This message was edited Wed Oct 2 2:53:09 PDT 2002 by suomynona]

So man,how are you coping with this lawsuit? Are you gonna fight this in court?

suomynona said:

my thoughts exactly!

SWANG said:

I too, could not have put it into better words...great summing up of the whole thing.

It is sad for me to admit, but from what I have seen over the years - when Prince makes up his mind about something - common sense seems to be the furthest thing from his mind. I don't know him personally. I don't know what he is really thinking. I don't know what prompts him to do such things.

Everytime he does something that confuses me... I remember how in different times in my life, I too made decisions that I was 100% sure of at the time, then later lived to regret it, or to put it clearer, realized that I really should have acted, not REACTED.

I think it often takes many, many years for individuals to gain enough experiences in life to know how to make decisions based on many factors... not just the me, me, me type of thinking.

Perhaps Prince thinks it is impossible for anyone to actually "feel" for him, who doesn't "know" him personally. Perhaps he too has been hurt by those closest to him, and fails to be able to trust - therefore everyone is guilty until proven innocent.

m - you are cool, I know it - and so does anyone who has ever conversed with you - one on one.

SWANG - I don't know you... but you took the words right out of the mouth of many of those who feel the same about Prince as you do. I feel I fit into your way of thinking.

What now? Prince is human, just like the rest of us. He will continue to do what his mind deems as correct, or fair. Unfortunately...IMHO...people who close their minds to the opinions of others, tend to have little balance in their lives. The things they do tend to affect others negatively - because their plan only includes their feelings, not the feeling of others - often times...the very ones who have an impact on it - like so called "fans" have on their "idol" (sorry, couldn't think of a better word).

Sorry for writing so much, but it is hard to put feelings into words.

.
[This message was edited Wed Oct 2 2:51:29 PDT 2002 by suomynona]

suomynona said:

Are you sure you should be responding to matters that pertain to the lawsuit in an open forum? I mean, for your sake, if this proceeds to court, what's to stop Prince's legal team from combing threads like this one to see how you might respond legally? They obviously have been watching the Org (that much was clear in the press stories I read on the suit).

Maybe -- again, for your sake -- you ought to stop responding to these posts, man. And maybe folks who support you should stop creating threads about the suit or, at least, trying to engage you on them. I'm not a lawyer, but I can't see your counsel being cool with you responding to threads that deal expressly with the suit.