coketa77 said:

It's time Prince to do this thing right. Get in touch with Sam Jennings or some young creative mind for next venture. Please put in the time and effort to support this project. We as fans and supporters deserve this.....your music does also. I could go on a long rant, but its time man....its time! Peace and love!

There's a new one? Whats the url or something??

ecstasy said:

coketa77 said:

It's time Prince to do this thing right. Get in touch with Sam Jennings or some young creative mind for next venture. Please put in the time and effort to support this project. We as fans and supporters deserve this.....your music does also. I could go on a long rant, but its time man....its time! Peace and love!

There's a new one? Whats the url or something??

There is not a new site, wishful thinking on the OP's part.

kenkamken said:

There's a huge trust issue to address after the last venture

Yes, but it's a simple choice. As a fan, you either give your money (which is a risk), or you don't.

forget the clubs, the subscriptions, the ahdio shows, the member chatroom. register a domain name and put your music up there to buy on a per-track or per-album basis. what is so damn hard about that?

errant said:

forget the clubs, the subscriptions, the ahdio shows, the member chatroom. register a domain name and put your music up there to buy on a per-track or per-album basis. what is so damn hard about that?

I agree, and as well as mp3, offer a lossless alternative.

And hi-res artwork.

[Edited 1/15/11 7:43am]

Forget the spinning orbs, woooshing galaxies and cumbersome web site navigating!! Just provide music downloads and concert video and I would be thrilled. But even if I have to rotate about an orb again, I would probably sign up:)

skywalker said:

Yes, but it's a simple choice. As a fan, you either give your money (which is a risk), or you don't.

Exactly. I definitely would. I signed up for Lotusflow3r with zero expectations just because Prince's music has given me more enjoyment than I can ever put a price tag on, and I'll always support him financially in new endeavors. Therefore unlike others, I very much enjoyed the site. Hell, I'm wearing my lotusflow3r t-shirt right now

I hope Prince does make another site, and if it's another subscription based model I'll certainly pay for it again.

If there's one thing Prince does right, it's internet.

squirrelgrease said:

If there's one thing Prince does right, it's internet.

squirrelgrease said:

If there's one thing Prince does right, it's internet.

I know people put "LOL" when they really mean "I like this comment," but I actually laughed out loud!

The guy's websites had so much potential, but man, they all just crashed and burned.

No. No more music clubs. I don't know if it is that the clubs don't live up to Prince's expectations or he gets bored or if it's a combination of both.

My personal opinion is that it does not make enough money for him so he kills them. I loved the NPGMC and feel as if Prince sometimes "punishes" all of his fans for the misbehavior of a few (many?).

The last endeavor was a complete disaster and navigating the site was a nightmare. The video quality of some of the clips was downright shitty.

Yeah, it's all well and good to join a site with no expectations but if I'm giving you my hard-earned money I should get my money's worth.

Vendetta1 said:

Yeah, it's all well and good to join a site with no expectations but if I'm giving you my hard-earned money I should get my money's worth.

See, I don't really see it that way. It's not tit-for-tat for me. If I would have had to pay for all the Prince bootlegs that I have, it would be a GREAT deal more than he's ever charged for any site.

Hell, some artists charge money just so their fans can meet them and say hello. I met Prince and it didn't cost me a dime. I've even MADE money from Prince, in the sense that some items I purchased went up considerably in value and I then sold them. There's just no way to put a price on all the enjoyment I get from being a fan. It all works itself out in the end. Plus, the Lotusflow3r site introduced me to Anthony Malzone and his work and he's now a friend of mine, so it's all good.

Vendetta1 said:

No. No more music clubs. I don't know if it is that the clubs don't live up to Prince's expectations or he gets bored or if it's a combination of both.

My personal opinion is that it does not make enough money for him so he kills them. I loved the NPGMC and feel as if Prince sometimes "punishes" all of his fans for the misbehavior of a few (many?).

The last endeavor was a complete disaster and navigating the site was a nightmare. The video quality of some of the clips was downright shitty.

Yeah, it's all well and good to join a site with no expectations but if I'm giving you my hard-earned money I should get my money's worth.

Forget the shitty videos, lack of downloads and bad navigating....DID YOU GET YOUR T-SHIRT ???

I think Prince should keep it simple and offer downloads of live concerts or outtakes or rehearsals or whatever as long as there are still a few old school fans left who are still willing to pay, whether it is out of fandom and support and loyalty, or because they can´t be bothered to hunt down bootlegs.

At least he could offer that stuff that is already circulating anyway if he feels he´s too much of a perfectionist to release other vault material. Now is the time where he could still make a few bucks with downloadable classic concerts and rehearsals and some of the better known outtakes already in circulation but, with the last internet fiasco I doubt that it´s a good idea to wait any longer.

He could still release some stuff again in the future in a better format, maybe on CD or DVD with nice artwork.

KoolEaze said:

Vendetta1 said:

No. No more music clubs. I don't know if it is that the clubs don't live up to Prince's expectations or he gets bored or if it's a combination of both.

My personal opinion is that it does not make enough money for him so he kills them. I loved the NPGMC and feel as if Prince sometimes "punishes" all of his fans for the misbehavior of a few (many?).

The last endeavor was a complete disaster and navigating the site was a nightmare. The video quality of some of the clips was downright shitty.

Yeah, it's all well and good to join a site with no expectations but if I'm giving you my hard-earned money I should get my money's worth.

Forget the shitty videos, lack of downloads and bad navigating....DID YOU GET YOUR T-SHIRT ???

I think Prince should keep it simple and offer downloads of live concerts or outtakes or rehearsals or whatever as long as there are still a few old school fans left who are still willing to pay, whether it is out of fandom and support and loyalty, or because they can´t be bothered to hunt down bootlegs.

At least he could offer that stuff that is already circulating anyway if he feels he´s too much of a perfectionist to release other vault material. Now is the time where he could still make a few bucks with downloadable classic concerts and rehearsals and some of the better known outtakes already in circulation but, with the last internet fiasco I doubt that it´s a good idea to wait any longer.

He could still release some stuff again in the future in a better format, maybe on CD or DVD with nice artwork.

Yeah I got that piece of shit which I promptly gave away.

I'd be happy to pay for a website where I got to buy presale tickets. Selling the good seats to his hardcore fans works out for him, cuz we're more likely to buy his trinkets, and pay a premium for good seats. Plus, I'm sure when he's playing he wants to see people appreciating all his music and his playing, not just the hits.

I'm worried that when he comes to the ATL this year, I'm gonna be sitting in the back of the house with the guy who forced his kids to come and they spend the concert texting. Or the lady who just wants to hear "Diamonds and Pearls" and feels the need to yell it out before every song. Cuz really, Prince can hear you from all the way in the back, and would love to play the song that YOU want to hear. He frequently does that. Or I'll be stuck 3 inches from the guy who asks me if I think Prince is gonna sing "Oh Sheila," cuz he likes the song and heard it on the radio yesterday.

sigh.

Rant over,

Chas

Militant said:

Vendetta1 said:

Yeah, it's all well and good to join a site with no expectations but if I'm giving you my hard-earned money I should get my money's worth.

See, I don't really see it that way. It's not tit-for-tat for me. If I would have had to pay for all the Prince bootlegs that I have, it would be a GREAT deal more than he's ever charged for any site.

Hell, some artists charge money just so their fans can meet them and say hello. I met Prince and it didn't cost me a dime. I've even MADE money from Prince, in the sense that some items I purchased went up considerably in value and I then sold them. There's just no way to put a price on all the enjoyment I get from being a fan. It all works itself out in the end. Plus, the Lotusflow3r site introduced me to Anthony Malzone and his work and he's now a friend of mine, so it's all good.

I'm glad some of you guys feel that way. I just can't.

I'd gladly give Prince money for all the boots I have in CD quality.

Bait...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/189242

No promises were made. But it was a very opportunistic piece of red-herring marketing, considering it came to light just before the site went live. I think the majority of us knew that there would be no such music made available.

Prince has always wanted to be your everything. On his first hit single, back in 1979, the R&B Romeo declared his intention to become not only your lover, but "your mother and your sister, too." The public compromised by letting him become pop's polyamorous changeling. During his "Purple Rain" guitar solos, Prince could be our Jimi. When funking it up with "Kiss," he was a falsetto-voiced James Brown. He even showed an affinity for Joni Mitchell–style lyricism, giving her a shout-out on "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker." So when Prince ditched his record company in favor of self-distribution during the '90s, anticipation ran high. Since he had been battling over the right to release as many albums as he wished—instead of a measly one per year—the upside was implicit: Prince was going to tear it up on the Web. There were rumors of unreleased, would-be hits, deliciously out-there funk sessions and hundreds of other Princely experiments that could finally hit the marketplace. That treasure trove never fully materialized. His online "music clubs" came and went with each new Prince recording, but they were frustratingly uneven. Worse, the best new tracks came saddled with antipiracy technology that didn't play nice with your iPod. Prince's last site went dark mere months after charging for "lifetime" memberships.

Now Prince—the first marquee musician to flirt with the Web—wants to go on another virtual date. While he is partnering with Target to sell a new three-CD set for the recession-proof price of $11.98, Prince will also offer subscriptions to his new site, Lotusflow3r.com, for a not-so-recession-proof $77 per year. With the physical albums available so cheaply at a bigbox retailer, you'd be forgiven for wondering whether the site could possibly be worth that much. More important than the economic rationale, perhaps, is whether Prince can use the Web to advance any artistic payoff.

Prince's counterintuitive move to charge top dollar for a digital home that duplicates music available on CDs is a new strategy for inducing hard-core fans to pay more. Nine Inch Nails tried the reverse in 2008 by offering multiple MP3 downloads for virtually nothing, and then enticing fans to pony up as much as $300 for deluxe, fetish-object box sets. While Radiohead's own pay-what-you-wish MP3 gambit is cited as a revolution, it's often forgotten that their site also sold a premium box-set version of "In Rainbows" for $81. Even smaller acts are getting creative. Cult country wit Robbie Fulks recently released 50 new songs—a Prince-like deluge—exclusively via his Web site for $35. Fulks isn't sure whether he'll release the music on CD, but says this is not just an eco-nomic experiment. By writing many more songs than could fit on a standard disc, Fulks says he was trying to discover new musical ideas that might not have occurred "under more stringent self-censorship." (His plan worked.)

As other artists learn to harness the Web for creative reasons as well as financial ones, Prince can no longer skate on his reputation for being pop's first online mover. Scott Addison Clay, the artist's latest Web developer, gave NEWSWEEK AN advance tour of the Web site, and it seems better designed than Prince's past efforts. The music, by the way, sounds exciting. "Boom" mixes psychedelia with funk rhythms and orgiastic guitar. When Prince deigns to adopt modern fads, such as Auto Tune–like pitch-bending in the song "Chocolate Box," he innovates by harmonizing with the digital sounds in a way T-Pain could never accomplish. But all that mere music can be had at Target for less than $12 starting March 29. Ultimately, the site, which is set to debut before the Target street date, will have to thrive apart from those first three albums. Clay says future plans for Lotus flow3r.com include a hybrid documentary-music video. But the deal-sealer, he concedes, is the potential for streaming live, VIP-only concerts from Prince's Los Angeles mansion. "There could be a live chat going on with members watching a concert, and Prince could actually play requests," Clay says. He also claims a colleague has organized 10 albums of old Prince music never released in any form. Should there exist an all-tuba record Prince recorded half out of his mind back in 1988, now he's got a place to let it toot—if only he can commit to digitizing all his diamonds and pearls.

And switch...

http://blogs.wsj.com/spea...th-prince/

Last year, a Los Angeleno named Scott Addison Clay was invited into Prince’s inner sanctum –literally. Clay recalls the pop singer leading him through “the catacombs of his insanely gargantuan basement.” The tour led into a cavernous room, where a man sat at a drum set. A woman picked up a bass, Prince strapped on a guitar and a private concert ensued. Clay said, “It was the most bizarre thing. I remember thinking, do we clap?”

These and other scenes that resemble a Dave Chappelle sketch come to life, including 2 a.m. pancakes and deafening listening sessions in a room lined with thick white fur (“It was like polar bears had laid down for him”), were all part of a run-up to the launch of Prince’s latest, greatest Web portal.

Clay and his team were from the marketing firm Cimarron Group, which develops interactive games and such for Hollywood films like “Twilight.” Prince had recruited them to build a platform for his upcoming three-album release. The result, LotusFlow3r.com, resembled a galactic aquarium, featuring doodads like a rotating orb that played videos. The promise: fans who ponied up $77 for a year-long membership would receive the three new albums, plus an ensuing flow of exclusive content, like unreleased tracks and archival videos.

A year later, LotusFlow3r has gone dark, thousands of Prince’s fans are very annoyed and Clay has been dismissed from Prince’s kingdom almost as abruptly as he was invited in.

A representative for Prince did not respond to request for comment.

The episode should serve as a warning to the growing number of artists experimenting with newfangled fan clubs and members-only content sites: feed the beast — feed it often and well — or suffer blowback from your most vocal fans.

Things in LotusFlow3r land boiled over last week when some members noticed that their credit cards had been charged an additional $77 — an automatic renewal of their memberships. Making matters worse, many of these members had previously contacted the site’s administrators to say they hadn’t gotten their money’s worth, and they wanted out when their year was up.

Prince fan sites lit up.

“So far I have paid another $77 for a floating jellyfish which vanishes when you click on it. Well done Prince. Nothing like treating your fans like royalty,” wrote OperatingThetan. Desire2006 added, “It looks like the [Better Business Bureau] will have 2 re-open its ‘Prince’ case file again!!!!!”

To his credit, the singer was a Web pioneer, having released an album online back in 1997 following his ugly contract dispute with Warner Bros. But his track record with online fan clubs has been spotty. In 2006, he abruptly shuttered his New Power Generation Music Club with the message, “In its current 4m there is a feeling that the NPGMC gone as far as it can go.”

Last week, some fans seemed to blame themselves for getting roped in. “I signed up again, knowing full well what happened to his past Web sites,” wrote IstenSzek.

Prince fan Steven Anthony, who was erroneously charged and then refunded, called attention to the fracas — and got a lot of hate from diehard Prince fans — with a scathing open letter to the singer on his blog. Anthony says he was “lucky” to get what he did out of his membership, including a T-shirt and access to tickets for a concert at Paisley Park in Minnesota. But Anthony still feels burned by the LotusFlow3r experience. He says, “I don’t really like Prince that much as a person right now, but I still support his work.”

After the hyped launch of LotusFlow3r.com, Prince became an absentee landlord, Clay said. “We only got stuff in dribs and drabs.” Clay declined to say how many paying members the site did attract, but he speculated that the number was a disappointment to Prince.

As for the unauthorized credit card charges, Clay said that he didn’t realize that their billing service had activated the automatic renewals. When he and his team saw the charges adding up -– and heard from irate members — they halted the process. He said “a few hundred” members had to be refunded.

Once wooed by the Purple One, Clay found himself frozen out not long after the LotusFlow3r launch. He says at one point he was peppering Prince with so many e-mails about the site and its future that the singer called Clay and told him to cut it out. About a month ago, Prince relayed the order for the site to be shut down. Now Clay is in the process of handing over LotusFlow3r.com files to a new Prince representative who Clay describes as “me 2.0.”

He and his team were paid for their work, he said, but they never had a written contract. Looking back on an experience for which Prince fans “praised and reviled me, in equal measure,” Clay said, “it was a wild year.”

Whatever business model Prince undertakes, I don't think it should not be managed by Prince. He sucks.

His websites were awful--all of them. Even npgmc.com, thought that one did have more features and material.

lotusflow3r is possibly the gayest, and I mean GAYEST name a rockstar could give a website, and expect actual subscriptions. Then charging $77 bucks for subscriptions, requiring the user answer a riddle to gain access, and then writing the entire page in Flash?!?!?!? FLASH???? That just eliminated all users of iPhones, which if nobody has

been keeping track, is huge and growing.

I think running a simple website with actual CONTENT, even it's nothing more than

a store that actually sells music would suffice. If you want to get fancy, offer an

iPhone/iPad application that allows users (especially from non-USA/European countries)

to access the content as well. Make every menu standard, model it after websites

that are intuitive and actually work, and avoid making it look like a 1990's Flash

experiment.

And of course, have a customer service hotline that actually works....Ergo, hire

a manager to figure this shit out, and get your ass back in the studio.

[Edited 1/15/11 10:30am]

Never mind all the otherworldly crap. Just have a simple site like many, many other artists. Put the download to buy new music and leave it at that. No spinning orbs that leave one feeling like they have maniere's disease!

Follow Lisa and Wendy's site. Just listen, like the music, buy it, download it. No flibbitty flab! I don't need to see a flower with Prince's face in it! Just simple. Have a section where you can watch vid's if you want. Follow Norah Jones' site... simple................ and free unless you want to buy the music or t shirts if so inclined. Period.

Other than that... continue to give away in magazines, newspapers and ebay left overs.

LazarusHeart said:

Whatever business model Prince undertakes, I don't think it should not be managed by Prince. He sucks.

His websites were awful--all of them. Even npgmc.com, thought that one did have more features and material.

lotusflow3r is possibly the gayest, and I mean GAYEST name a rockstar could give a website, and expect actual subscriptions. Then charging $77 bucks for subscriptions, requiring the user answer a riddle to gain access, and then writing the entire page in Flash?!?!?!? FLASH???? That just eliminated all users of iPhones, which if nobody has

been keeping track, is huge and growing.

I think running a simple website with actual CONTENT, even it's nothing more than

a store that actually sells music would suffice. If you want to get fancy, offer an

iPhone/iPad application that allows users (especially from non-USA/European countries)

to access the content as well. Make every menu standard, model it after websites

that are intuitive and actually work, and avoid making it look like a 1990's Flash

experiment.

And of course, have a customer service hotline that actually works....Ergo, hire

a manager to figure this shit out, and get your ass back in the studio.

[Edited 1/15/11 10:30am]

Oh, and also, regardless if Prince actually does the stuff I mentioned above and

actually impresses me, I still won't be spending my money on future Prince

offerings. lotusflow3r was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Eh, Android supports Flash and is better than iPhone anyway.

squirrel, I remember reading both those articles when they came out. Here's what I took from that first article from day one.

Clay says future plans

the potential for streaming live

There could be a

Prince could actually

He also claims

I don't spend money based on potential or promises, or "there could be this" or "maybe we could do that". If you do, you're a sucker.

I spent the money for what was there, not what might be there in the future. Was it worth it? That's totally subjective. For me, yes. It was worth it just for the excitement it gave me as a fan, the fact that I was able to get the album straight away (it took me a month or so to get a physical copy being as I'm not in the US), the shirt, the possibility of ticket access, the additional downloads that showed up at various points, whatever. I enjoyed all of it and was sad when it all went black.

What I hate is people saying it sucked or wasn't worth the money or whatever, preaching their opinion like it's a fucking fact. That's not my opinion and I know others that enjoyed it too. Figuring the riddles and where stuff was hidden was part of the fun. It was immersive and enjoyable. At least for me.

At the end of the day.... nobody put a gun to anybodys head and forced them to sign up. If you didn't sign up straight away, then within 48 hours (maybe less) of the site going live, you could come right here and read a full on description of everything that was there. If you chose to sign up, live with that choice and perhaps even TRY to enjoy yourself without getting caught up in expectations and things that were never even promised or guaranteed in the first place.

[Edited 1/15/11 10:49am]

I just want one more crack at it! Redeem yourself Prince!

Militant said:

Eh, Android supports Flash and is better than iPhone anyway.

[Edited 1/15/11 10:49am]

But his flash based sites are atrocious and embarrassingly outdated feeling.

This is neither here nor there, but Flash on any device drains the power

considerably, and is quite clunky. Many will refute it, but Flash is going

the way of Sony Walkmen--it'll take a while but it's going to diminish

considerably in use.

And, as matter of opinion, the iPhone is simply unbeaten. It's more elegant,

and just cooler than any Android with an unbeaten App Store. But, again, opinion.

What's not opinion is that the potential reach of the App Store could

be a cash cow for Prince--It's insanely successful. There's simply no competition

out there to compare. Prince distributes his music at concerts, at Target, and

through Newspapers, so he should be accustomed to trying new methods.

Launching another interactive, flash-based crapsperiance ala lotusfailure is just the same old crap.

Militant said:

Vendetta1 said:

Yeah, it's all well and good to join a site with no expectations but if I'm giving you my hard-earned money I should get my money's worth.

See, I don't really see it that way. It's not tit-for-tat for me. If I would have had to pay for all the Prince bootlegs that I have, it would be a GREAT deal more than he's ever charged for any site.

Yes, but you'd have all those bootlegs to show for it.

Militant said:

Eh, Android supports Flash and is better than iPhone anyway.

squirrel, I remember reading both those articles when they came out. Here's what I took from that first article from day one.

Clay says future plans

the potential for streaming live

There could be a

Prince could actually

He also claims

I don't spend money based on potential or promises, or "there could be this" or "maybe we could do that". If you do, you're a sucker.

I spent the money for what was there, not what might be there in the future. Was it worth it? That's totally subjective. For me, yes. It was worth it just for the excitement it gave me as a fan, the fact that I was able to get the album straight away (it took me a month or so to get a physical copy being as I'm not in the US), the shirt, the possibility of ticket access, the additional downloads that showed up at various points, whatever. I enjoyed all of it and was sad when it all went black.

What I hate is people saying it sucked or wasn't worth the money or whatever, preaching their opinion like it's a fucking fact. That's not my opinion and I know others that enjoyed it too. Figuring the riddles and where stuff was hidden was part of the fun. It was immersive and enjoyable. At least for me.

At the end of the day.... nobody put a gun to anybodys head and forced them to sign up. If you didn't sign up straight away, then within 48 hours (maybe less) of the site going live, you could come right here and read a full on description of everything that was there. If you chose to sign up, live with that choice and perhaps even TRY to enjoy yourself without getting caught up in expectations and things that were never even promised or guaranteed in the first place.

[Edited 1/15/11 10:49am]

People's opinions are facts to them. Lotus sucked. i'm not gonna run around the internet qualifying my opinion.

LazarusHeart said:

But his flash based sites are atrocious and embarrassingly outdated feeling.

This is neither here nor there, but Flash on any device drains the power

considerably, and is quite clunky. Many will refute it, but Flash is going

the way of Sony Walkmen--it'll take a while but it's going to diminish

considerably in use.

And, as matter of opinion, the iPhone is simply unbeaten. It's more elegant,

and just cooler than any Android with an unbeaten App Store. But, again, opinion.

What's not opinion is that the potential reach of the App Store could

be a cash cow for Prince--It's insanely successful. There's simply no competition

out there to compare. Prince distributes his music at concerts, at Target, and

through Newspapers, so he should be accustomed to trying new methods.

Launching another interactive, flash-based crapsperiance ala lotusfailure is just the same old crap.

No way in hell is the iPhone cooler than the Droid-X or Nexus S. Even the G2 with it's brushed aluminium is way more awesome. Still, if you enjoy having to jailbreak in order to get functionality that either should have been there from the start, or Steve Jobs decided you shouldn't have, then by all means enjoy iOS.

Prince will embrace new tech and make a mobile app sooner or later, I'm almost positive.

Flash will eventually concede to the new WebM open video format that Google, Mozilla and Opera are all supporting. Too bad Apple seem to want to stick with lame ass proprietary H.264.

And in all my years of tech support, the ONLY people that have EVER had problems with flash are using OSX... .never had a single issue with Flash on Windows or Linux. go figure.

Militant said:

Eh, Android supports Flash and is better than iPhone anyway.

squirrel, I remember reading both those articles when they came out. Here's what I took from that first article from day one.

Clay says future plans

the potential for streaming live

There could be a

Prince could actually

He also claims

I don't spend money based on potential or promises, or "there could be this" or "maybe we could do that". If you do, you're a sucker.

I spent the money for what was there, not what might be there in the future. Was it worth it? That's totally subjective. For me, yes. It was worth it just for the excitement it gave me as a fan, the fact that I was able to get the album straight away (it took me a month or so to get a physical copy being as I'm not in the US), the shirt, the possibility of ticket access, the additional downloads that showed up at various points, whatever. I enjoyed all of it and was sad when it all went black.

What I hate is people saying it sucked or wasn't worth the money or whatever, preaching their opinion like it's a fucking fact. That's not my opinion and I know others that enjoyed it too. Figuring the riddles and where stuff was hidden was part of the fun. It was immersive and enjoyable. At least for me.

At the end of the day.... nobody put a gun to anybodys head and forced them to sign up. If you didn't sign up straight away, then within 48 hours (maybe less) of the site going live, you could come right here and read a full on description of everything that was there. If you chose to sign up, live with that choice and perhaps even TRY to enjoy yourself without getting caught up in expectations and things that were never even promised or guaranteed in the first place.

Hey, you know and I know that in Princeworld "could happen" means never. Hell, "is going to happen" usually means never. But this was not some casual off-the-cuff set of remarks in the final paragraph of what amounted to an official press release in the guise of a news story. It was planted there to create some buzz and site traffic as were the fake album titles placed in the One Nite Alone tour book during the NPGMC days. Prince learned in Bait And Switch Marketing 101 that fans and especially Fams™ will go from A to C while bypassing B through their wallets. Only this time around the herd had been thinned by a larger number than Prince anticipated and he took his ball and Vault combination and went home.

I didn't join lotusflow3r.con, but I sure as shit tried to dissuade people by showing his years-long Better Business Bureau F-rating and reminding folks how fucking terrible Prince's track record was.

If those that joined feel they got their money's worth and not raw-dogged by a syphilitic donkey, then more power to them.