[Edited 10/3/09 12:57pm]

The prince.org circle of life.

Prince releases an album.

Reviews claim its the best thing he's done in years.

Orgers split into "it sucks", "it's amazing", and "it's ok"

Prince does a few TV appearances and live shows to promote the album.

An underwhelming official website is created.

Three to four months pass.

Orgers begin asking about Prince's next album.

"Prince should open the vault" threads begin.

"Prince should release a DVD of _____ performance" threads soon follow.

Repeat.

Some let only a week or 2 pass before asking when is the next album coming out.

You make a good, undisputable point Bart, but you would get it across much, much better with less emotion and much less cursing.

The answer to your question "Are the bootleggers ripping Prince off? Or is Prince screwing himself?" is both.

No matter how you view it, the fact is and will always remain that bootleggers make and sell unauthorised copies without paying him a dime. That's ripping off for sure.

At the same time nonetheless you are absolutely right in my opinion that Prince is in fact screwing himself, and his fans too. It's true that he could have had a web platform 10 years ago already where he could have sold all his post WB stuff.

He could have pleased his fans and at the same time make loads of money.

If only, if only... If only he didn't do this and if only he had done that.
Yes it's a damn shame things didn't turn out like they could and should have but it's also a tired debate about the past and a waste of time and energy.

Let's debate on how that platform should look like and what it should offer, at what price and on what conditions, service etc. What it would really take to get good and running. And whether he should also do business with sites as youtrube and itunes next to his own platform.I think it's much more productive to debate on that sort of stuff than on the past.

Here's an idea:

Just a simple website, no shiny flashy stuff, where you can download or order CD's and dvd/videos of individual, post WB songs and albums, live shows and rare 'bootleg' stuff. All in the best sound quality there is.

A sort of membership construction to get the music should still be required but the membership should be free. Only when you choose to download or order you pay with a simple to use, proven to be safe payment system, also no credit card required so as not alienate those without and make everybody happy.

A user friendly download system is required, similar in use to itunes for example. That platform should offer a steadily growing library of Prince music, preferably adding new stuff each month, but at Prince's courtesy.

Downloads should not be DRM protected and should be fit to burn on a CD. Any license should simply be for personal, private use, reserving all other rights.

To avoid new crystal ball fiascos with CD's taking more than a year to arrive, not all music should be available on CD. The orderering system should be able to guarantee delivery within a month, maximum two, worldwide and have an excellent customer service. If he can't, then he shouldn't offer it either.

Prices should be reasonable, reflecting the fact that 'the middlemen' have been cut out. I would say 5-10 $ per album of about 10 songs and 50 cts - 1$ per song. Probably not what Prince would want, but nonetheless what he should accept if he wants it to become really popular and succesful. On the long term he would make more money then too.

It should be a serious, yet low investment long term project. He don't need much to make it work. A safe and excellently operated website and payment/ordering system with strong servers, no nonsense and a steady stream of music is all it takes.

Perhabs there could be some news and artwork added every now and then, or he could try and have a section for fans to show their art for example. But no debating forums or other bullshit. He should leave that to the org and other fan sites which he preferably should just leave alone as long as they are not damaging him financially.

The problem is of course that he feels nobody should take his work and run with it without permission or fuck him over in any other way, which is absolutely his right. However, as you correctly stated, many times it's also pointless and a waste of time, money and energy. Better to focus on what you can do to make your fans happy and make your money. Better to be smarter than the bootleggers.

That doesn't mean he should let anything go, on the contrary, but he really does need to stop threatening and sueing for any tidbit. On the other hand I don't think he needs to stop taking action against massive or blatant infringement, such as bootleggers. Especially not when he starts to provide the fans with the bootleg stuff himself.

That would be of course the smartest and wisest thing to do. He would be completely in his right to go after them, but he would also morally be right because he would be competing with them too. In any case it is and remains his right and he can and should be able protect it. Fans have to respect that and not bitch as long as he provides them too with that stuff and remains reasonable in excercising his rights.

But come on, if you were the artist, would you want people broadcasting your videos and music without you getting paid for it?

As for Prince releasing DVDs. I, too, would love to see tours and shows on DVD, but do people really buy that many music dvds? I cannot locate the figures on how much Live at the Aladdin sold, but I know it didn't go gold.

No more candy 4 U spoilt brats! LOL!!!

Aaaaaargh! You people and the stupid lust for hits! It's about NICHE MARKETING. It's about your product being just one revenue stream. It's about PLEASING THE FANS. So what if it doesn't sell a million copies!

Don't do fancy shit -- hell, why not let your fans edit the video: give them access to RAW material, set up a competition where they can edit the video for one song (or a choice of songs), look through the entries and let your users vote on them and then contact the winners and/or most competent ones and ask if they want a shot at the full thing. Maybe you could feature both versions on dvd: a PRO edit and a FAN edit?

Stop thinking in this "must have a hit" scenario: that model is DEAD. Charts mean ZILCH.

It ain't hard. It ain't rocket science. All it takes is that you abandon the ideas that worked until a decade ago -- and they only worked because the consumer didn't have power.

that person would become a god around here