This was inspired by the "if Prince dies, what happens to this vault" thread.

I'm not asking for bootlegs. My question is, how do they get out there? I know hip-hop artists release "mixtapes" which are sort of like bootlegs, but I doubt Prince was up to that in the 90s, was he? Also, I understand songs and whole albums from major artists leaking because they have a bunch of assholes working for them. But with Prince...didn't he have tighter control over stuff. Or is the case that he got tighter control as the years went on (thus, you never really hear about Prince bootlegs anymore...or am I out of the loop). If Prince truly did have all of those bootlegs released because he works with assholes, then I almost understand his paranoia over his work (OK, I don't totally understand suing fans, but maybe he has a bit of a right to be jumpy). I expect a few joke responses but does anyone have any real theories about this (or is there already common knowledge on this answer). Thanks in advance.

Yeah I would probably say people at Paisley Park probably leak them

Unless prince sends samples to friends and stuff

But I can't really imagine that
[Edited 1/27/10 14:41pm]

I got a Facebook notification about one recently.

Prince would lend out tapes, I'm sure they would either get copied or kept. He has many ex-employees who are angry at him. I'd guess they stole some of the stuff, leaked them..lol

Prince is so secretive I'm as surprised as anybody that so many songs got out. Obviously the live stuff is recorded by secret recorders or dats. Sound board recordings, taped or stolen..lol. Good on em, actually.

There's even rumours that he leaks some of the stuff himself.

2freaky4church1 said:

Thanks for these quick responses with the same theories I believed. There haven't been recently bootlegs, have there? I imagine he does have better control of everything now.

Prior to the explosion of the bootleg market in the late 80s and early 90s, Prince didn't really seem to bother with tight security on unreleased material. According to the recent Q&A with Prince's engineer ChronicFreeze, P just misplaces rough mix CDs, which would help explain some later bootlegged tracks even though he clamped down on leaks. Prince also keeps a close eye on soundboard recordings - the reason why live boots these days are audience sourced.

A lot of the stuff out in the 90's that circulated was from Prince. He'd give tapes to PP employees or whoever, of new stuff, and that eventually made its rounds. Engineers also make copies of stuff and leak them out. Same with a mastering company, etc. There's a lot of ways stuff leaks out. Self-made groups like Sabotage or Thunderball compile shit and put it out. The live stuff comes from either sneaking in a recorder, or a soundboard guy recording something, or some tape that Prince has made of the show (video) gets in the wrong hands, etc.

But the question is :

Did he hand out this stuff with the intention of it getting out ?

You have two scenarios here -

1) He gave discs to friends and workers to listen to and expected it to go no further or...

2) He handed them out knowing that they would eventually get free and add to the Prince mystique....

I still don't know which one I believe....

Because if he wanted to find out who was leaking stuff it would have been easily done by giving slightly different mixes to different people - but it wasn't (that we know of)

So I lean towards the side that he knew said tracks would get out and that could only be a good thing for him in the long run.

How many of us would still be following Prince in 2009 based SOLELY on his officially released studio albums ?

yeah think about that

I think the whole bootleg scene of Prince has contributed alot..
[Edited 1/27/10 20:00pm]

the easter bunny!

Practically every song he has given to another artist has leaked out, so there's no real mystery with how those particular one's leaked out.

Best,

Erik

erik319 said:

Except most of the songs that are out were not given to other artists. It's his own stuff, not a random song for Kenny Rogers, or Nona Hendryx.

FunkyStrange said:

Well, I have been into the cat since 1978, so I will always enjoy his music whether he does a major release or not. But, I was just speaking to a friend about the Prince bootlegs and I do believe that Prince has had a hand in some releases. I just love his live shows via the bootlegs. Whether you are into Prince or not, you just can't take from Prince's musical genius.

ernestsewell said:

oh yeah I know, I was just pointing out that pretty much everything he gave to another artist ended up getting out into the public domain. Rodgers & Sheena Easton seems to be the only ones who kept these close.

There were people at Paisley recording what they could as well, I'm sure.
And I for one am glad they did!

Defenitely. I still think he was behind all or at least some of them Moonraker or Sabotage releases. I mean, this would be a 100% profit. If I was in his shoes, besides having a hard time to walk, I would do it. Tax free money, low production cost and you know they will sell. He'd be a fool not to do it.

David1974 said:

I worked with sab on some releases... Prince is not involved!

PS, this was back in the day, and I did art design...so I didn't steal the cd's or pay of the Japanese soundboards guys... and I had no direct names or addresses...

David1974 said:

When will this myth stop being perpetuated?

I often wonder how much of this stuff P himself is responsible for leaking. We are talking thousands of songs. Was he hiring new people every time something leaked? Did he not care until later on when he came to care more about money than music?

I heard that he would go for a drive listening to a tape and if it didnt pass muster he would throw it out into a lake.

i think prince leaks them i think he knows only his real fans will appreciate them and he knows they will go the extra mile to get them.

why are people thinking Prince leaks them when they are told he does not by people that actually make the bootlegs or know the stories behind how they came about or even accounts by people that actually worked for Prince?

People are stubborn animals.

ufoclub said:

why so frustrated? calm down. i didnt hear that. do you have links to stories?
[Edited 1/28/10 23:51pm]
[Edited 1/28/10 23:52pm]

oldpurple said:

I think he only did that with one song ...Splash.

VinnyM27 said:

Do we need to have this question every. frikking. month? How about doing a search first?

David1974 said:

For fuck's sake, if you don't know what you're talking about, DON'T TALK.

This has been explained again and again and again and yet you guys continue to spout your DISPROVEN nonsense using words like "Defenitely" (it's spelled "Definitely", by the way).

angelface22 said:

Sheesh... You're really interested, but can't be arsed to do a search first? This topic has been debated TO DEATH.

Now listen to the grownups and DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

BartVanHemelen said:

I've always believed Prince was behind the release bootlegs of the black album

ufoclub said:

i'm sorry, what? I never saw or heard a bootlegger say anything.

David1974 said:

I've always wondered about this,too.I know it may sound far-fetched to some fans,but stranger things have happened.

FunkyStrange said:

Me. And I'm still a huge fam.
[Edited 1/29/10 5:26am]