I cant help but think (or maybe hope) that something positive is going to come out of all this. I know suing fans is never a good idea, and Prince is going to be 'the bad guy' for a while but I just hope that by taking from us with one hand, Prince is going to give with the other.

I cant help but think all this copyright business and control over his image and vidoes is part of some masterplan to regulate whats out there, and maybe concentrate everything in his own website. There has been a flury of activity over at 3121.com and I pray to god that this is some kind attempt to regulate hiw own stuff, so that it can be used for better good on his website, maybe even with more fan participation in a forum or something.

Please let me be right, otherwise Prince is going to have no fans left

he'll be the bad guy until he puts out another cd. a particularly mind blowing one too.



i'm almost tempted to think that maybe he's trying to revert (his) music back to what it was before internet.

I do hope that something good comes out of this.

I mean, in life, I believe, everything has a reason and there's a certain balance that's always maintained. It's just how the world works.

Prince has given and given us so much through all the years with his music and his concerts and what have you.
Now he's taking a stand and taking some of the things away that he seems to be extra protective over.

Sooner or later, he'll start giving again to persuade the masses to find him in favor again.

I haven't turned on him like many of the people here. So even if this site goes poof, I'll still consider myself a supporter because I still have the music.

You are raising a very interesting question here, and we all know Prince´s career has always been like a rollercoaster, with all its ups and downs.Looking back , even the symbol era and his battle against WB and record companies made sense.
In retrospect, he predicted very precisely the current state of the music industry, and he did this way back in 94/95.
Even underrated gems like that Beautiful Experience TV special just go to show you that he´s always been one step ahead, with all those plots and themes he had going on in that TV special. It was very contemporary yet also looking back at the same time ( a bit like SOTT ) , and a predecessor of things to come ( interactive music and other experiences, loneliness, people cocooning at home and not going out, depression, freaky fantasies, online sex etc.etc. )
What I´m saying is ,what seems weird at first sight often makes perfect sense later on, this is how it goes in Prince´s purple universe.

Still, I wonder how he´s going to get out of this mess. I mean, he never really compensated for the whole Crystal Ball fiasco where a lot of people either paid twice or never really received anything but okay, that was probably because they were not that experienced yet with the whole online transaction thing but there´s also the Uptown lawsuit and his anti-fansite actions in the late 90s, when he shut down wonderful sites such as Princefamily etc. , so, not all his actions make sense in the long run, and not everything is easiyl forgotten or forgiven, though I must admit that the Celebration 2002, as stressful as it was to get there, kind of made up for a lot of negative stuff that preceded it.

Then again, I almost coulndt make it there because NPGMC fucked up big time even though I bought my ticket in time. If it wasnt for the help and support of some great Dutch fans, I wouldn´t have been able to enter Paisley Park because people in Prince´s camp were too stupid to handle the situation properly.
And also keep in mind his brainwashing tactics during all the celebrations...but other than these factors, I must say he somehow always made up for his mistakes.

But this time things seem to be a bit more complicated.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Everything in life does not have a reason. Didn't you see Match Point?

lspear76 said:

I don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Besides, I'm a believer in "fate"... I ended up here for a reason, to support Prince... Prince has his reasons for doing what he's doing and I respect that.

And that's I'll need. I don't care about what everyone else thinks about him. My thoughts might change about them, but my loyalty/support/thoughts for Prince aren't going to change. I don't have any problem with what he's doing. Because he feels its right for him. That's all I need to know.

Besides, life is too short to hold grudges and waste time being angry about something I really can't do anything about if I wanted to.

Sorry but it is what it is!

"Nothing comes to dreamers but dreams..."

if he did emancipations over and over hed loose me as a fan but with all this shit i became a bigger fan

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

you might want to hold on your un-dieing support till you've been a fan for over 4 months,(pay a little more respect to the fans that have been there since b4 you were born and have probably spent hundreds of dollars/pounds/whatever in support), as it come of as a little naive,

Patrick1985 said:

9 months ...is clearly more than 4.

The time I've been around Prince doesn't change my part in the Prince community. He needs supporters no matter what goes array on his side. And I'll always be one of them.

And I don't care who knows it or has a problem with it. You guys can't change my opinions about Prince... and you're doing a heck of a job of changing my opinions about the rest of you. It's not pretty.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

hey dreamy, keep it up!

at least ur less stupid than those that spent more than u

Pandora's box

Prince hasn't sued anyone yet. He's certainly not said he's going to sue anyone that posts on these websites.

He - or 3121.com - went out of his way to thank Housequake for pulling the "SHOE" video snippet.

Maybe it's not as bad as it's being made out to be.

Just a thought.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

ah,Americans with your date format, it's only 5 months more, not enough time for such nativity

Patrick1985 said:

A little patronising perhaps?

bex23 said:

It's not really any different to the creepy "collective" garbage from all those years back - Prince doesn't like what he sees as competition, and he knows he can bully unofficial fansites because they don't have the financial and legal resources he has at his disposal.

The last time this happened, sites closed down left right and centre, and it didn't make the official site some great central hub for fans - there was just as much confusion come tour time, it was still a scant resource for release information.

The official message board was loaded with quasi-religious and new age psychobabble doublespeak, and full of sycophants who would gladly police anyone who dared to express anything close to a balanced or analytical opinion.

Prince isn't the kind of artist who would offer the kind of open discussion board that unofficial sites can give - which is why it's important we support prince.org and the others.

I fully expect Prince to announce something like a new song as a free download from 3121.com to try and pursuade fans that if they flock to 3121.com then the Vault doors will be flung wide open and they'll forget all about the unofficial sites.


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[Edited 11/7/07 4:10am]