toy4him said:

The people that know he owes money are the ones he owes money to, not some 3rd party reporting it. Pioneer Press' huge article in the 90's called Purple Drain had example after example of it. The guy who shot all the D&P footage was never fully paid for his extensive work. Even the people who made Prince's silly canes he carried around while sucking on a lollipop in public were owed hundreds of dollars that were never paid. Prince used to say "I own Paisley Park. All I have to do is pay the light bill." Apparently he forgot all the other bills. Brownmark was promised, BY PRINCE, that he'd make "a lot of money" if Mark stayed around for the Hit N' Run (Parade) tour. Prince ended up paying him $3000 a week. Sounds like a lot to you and me, but to a musician, it's paltry. Especially not just a touring musician, but an actual member of the band. Mark turned down touring with Stevie Nicks, which offered over twice that much, just as a touring player, to stay with Prince.

As far as Lotus, if you choose to overlook the obvious that Prince's promises weren't fulfilled, then you have your reward. He promised, at minimum, a high quality t-shirt. There are still people, a full year later, who haven't gotten that. The album is there for download, IF you join. So you pay $77 for a 3-disk album? IN WHAT FUCKING UNIVERSE? Then the album is also available in stores for another $12. So now Prince has about $89 of your money, for the SAME product (sans 1 track difference). The site also promises 'members only concert tickets'. What concert tour has he been on lately? Did he dole out member only tickets for Montreaux Jazz Festival? How about those Paris shows? What about the TV show he did later in the year, because the last time I checked, most any TV show in the world is free to attend. People don't PAY to go watch a taping of a TV show. Never have, never will.

If someone cheated you, then told you to just let it go...would you? Are you really that much of a good puppy to just roll over? Thought not.


If all was well, and it was enough, then there'd be nothing to leave alone. Fans have smiled at, stuck with, and endured Prince and his missed sensibilities over the years. Endless aborted projects, half truths, empty promises, and missteps on his part have lent to the justified angst people have with him. It's one thing to be frustrated that The Revolution broke up, or that Roadhouse Garden was never released, but it's another to have reasonable and suitable gripes with a person who is conducting business. "Music and art don't mix", he said. It can work together, when the artist knows how to run a business - namely his own. Fans aren't bitching for the sake of it. They're bitching because despite Prince floating around in his 4" Cuban heels, his fans are still upset that, in the midst of a horrible recession, they are still feeling cheated out of their $77. 10 years ago, $100 didn't seem like too much to spend on a year of promised music, but now to deliver an album for $77 that is now $4.99 in stores? Fans are clever, smart, and keep any real artist in check when it comes to business, and product. We don't need to be in the studio when he makes music, but he needs to remember we ARE in the stores when it's on the shelves.

Being a musical genius, and a once-trend setting artist, doesn't give anyone a free pass to be a total asshole to their fans; the same fans who gave him the lavish and assumptive lifestyle he's become accustomed to. If no one bought his MFing records, he wouldn't have all that 100% Italian silk, and imported Egyptian lace to brag about. Appreciation goes both ways. Iron sharpens iron, but when you're just constantly stabbed, how long will be too long before the wound is healed up?

If Prince is all about "the truth", and the Bible, then let's also remember this. The word "owe" is used once in the King James translation of the Bible. That passage, in Romans 13:8, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." In another translation it says it even simpler: "Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God's law."

Thank you for your very articulate response, but my question was rhetorical.

"IN WHAT FUCKING UNIVERSE?" In his Purple Universe.

It's nice to know I don't have to hold these threads down by myself

Yeah I have because I don't understand why people insult him by calling him "midget" or other name. I have no idea what the reaction was, because I usually don't give a damn about what people think about what I say in this forum.

Vendetta1 said:

Or any other

Isn't it time to put the The $77 issue to rest.

The average CD costs $14-$20 ($14x2=$28)
T-shirt = $15
Additional 3 songs
New and old videos (many of which I've never seen)

You do the math.....the website cost between $3 and $7 depending on adjustments for the T-shirt.

Just because you cannot afford or chose not to afford the fee, why try to make a big deal of it? Those of us who did pay and have a calculator, ain't complaining.

So, $43 bucks out of $77 = $34 for a year's subscription still is nothing.

"Oh you have no idea I've heard he OWES lots of people!"

Tame said:

Music has been many things.


Prince himself has said that music should be free. As I've said before, what he really meant is that music should be free, and for a $100 dollar lifetime subscription, it can absolutely be free. But for another $77 membership, it can be even more free.

Anytime anyone makes an investment on a luxury product, they really have no reason to complain. U can't buy a bottle of perfume, open it and say, "I don't like it, I'm gonna take it back."

Even with a cd...Once it's opened, it's worth a dollar or two in exchange.

ernestsewell said:

Darlin', I'm no one's fool.

RakelRosalita729 said:

I'll be Prince's fool, if he'll let me

ernestsewell said:

be it so it may, at least I know who I love with all my heart 4ever, Do u?

ernestsewell said:

be it so it may, at least I know who I love with all my heart 4ever, Do u?

RakelRosalita729 said:

What do you know about Prince that you love about him with all your heart?

Tame said:

That's nonsense all around, and you know it. Don't side step the truth in lieu of defending Prince's bad business practices.

You CAN take perfume back to the store if you don't like it. It's not like a swim suit or a pair of used panties.

People who buy true luxury products have every right to complain about the quality of them as much as someone buying something from Target. If John Travolta buys a new airplane, you think he has no right to complain about something that is wrong with it? You think luxury means no guarantee or warranty? That's a ridiculous premise for anything. You can take a $10 hair dryer back to Target if you're not satisfied with it just as much as you can get a refund or exchange on something more expensive.

A CD is not a luxury item. That is about copyright, not luxury. Lotusflow3r, the site or the CD, isn't a luxury item. The site is overpriced and under-delivered. That's a FACT. The CD is left to the tastes of the consumer. They can also hock it to a friend or whatever. Any fan of any artist who fails to deliver on their promises has a right to take the artist to task on it. There have been other fan uprisings against artists who pulled this shit and, unlike Prince, they artist usually stood up, took notice, and instead of writing another "Fuck you" song, they ponied up and made up for it somehow on the site. Prince just takes the money and runs, laughing at those fools the whole time.

Darlin', I'm no one's fool.