Dear Prince:

I have been a fan of yours since I came out of the womb. I don't consider myself to be one of the so-called "fans" on this site that complains about anything and everything that you do. Your music has always been a part of my life and will forever be. But, I think it's time for you to consider that perhaps it might be beneficial for you not to be so tyrannical all the time about having your amazing performances online.

No, I am not suggesting that you open your vault and put everything on Youtube, that would be preposterous. I wholeheartedly agree that you deserve to earn a living from your music. I get it.

But, yesterday on Instagram, I saw a video clip of your Essence Festival performance being used as a promo for an entertainment group that I could clearly see was the official promoter of an airing of the Essence Fest on BET. I replayed it a few times and then saved it as a favorite.

Today, I went back into my account to replay it again and it was gone. I checked everywhere to make sure I hadn't moved it or deleted by mistake.

Prince, the clip was only six seconds. You were singing "Cool" and it was amazing.

But, even a six second clip by a promoter can't survive the wrath of the overzealous Purple Censors?

Back in 2007, I think I watched your Super Bowl halftime show an untold number of times online and was sitting around wondering when you would release a DVD so I could continue to do so. Now, all of the clips are gone forever.

This year, I saw an amazing Super Bowl performance and I'm sure you did too. Chances are, Bruno ain't gonna scrub his performances and his fans (including me) will be able to relive that moment for a very long time.

Prince, you're eccentric, a genius and a bit difficult to completely understand. But, help me see why you won't even give us six seconds of you anymore.

Sincerely,

17 Dayze

[Edited 8/8/14 17:16pm]

SeventeenDayze said:

Dear Prince:

I have been a fan of yours since I came out of the womb. I don't consider myself to be one of the so-called "fans" on this site that complains about anything and everything that you do. Your music has always been a part of my life and will forever be. But, I think it's time for you to consider that perhaps it might be beneficial for you not to be so tyrannical all the time about having your amazing performances online.

No, I am not suggesting that you open your vault and put everything on Youtube, that would be preposterous. I wholeheartedly agree that you deserve to earn a living from your music. I get it.

But, yesterday on Instagram, I saw a video clip of your Essence Festival performance being used as a promo for an entertainment group that I could clearly see was the official promoter of an airing of the Essence Fest on BET. I replayed it a few times and then saved it as a favorite.

Today, I went back into my account to replay it again and it was gone. I checked everywhere to make sure I hadn't moved it or deleted by mistake.

Prince, the clip was only six seconds. You were singing "Cool" and it was amazing.

But, even a six second clip by a promoter can't survive the wrath of the overzealous Purple Censors?

Back in 2007, I think I watched your Super Bowl halftime show an untold number of times online and was sitting around wondering when you would release a DVD so I could continue to do so. Now, all of the clips are gone forever.

This year, I saw an amazing Super Bowl performance and I'm sure you did too. Chances are, Bruno ain't gonna scrub his performances and his fans (including me) will be able to relive that moment for a very long time.

Prince, you're eccentric, a genius and a bit difficult to completely understand. But, help me see why you won't even give us six seconds of you anymore.

Sincerely,

17 Dayze

[Edited 8/8/14 17:16pm]

Hehe... Open letters are the first stage of grief for Prince fans. We've all been there. Welcome to the dark side!

funksterr said:

SeventeenDayze said:

Dear Prince:

I have been a fan of yours since I came out of the womb. I don't consider myself to be one of the so-called "fans" on this site that complains about anything and everything that you do. Your music has always been a part of my life and will forever be. But, I think it's time for you to consider that perhaps it might be beneficial for you not to be so tyrannical all the time about having your amazing performances online.

No, I am not suggesting that you open your vault and put everything on Youtube, that would be preposterous. I wholeheartedly agree that you deserve to earn a living from your music. I get it.

But, yesterday on Instagram, I saw a video clip of your Essence Festival performance being used as a promo for an entertainment group that I could clearly see was the official promoter of an airing of the Essence Fest on BET. I replayed it a few times and then saved it as a favorite.

Today, I went back into my account to replay it again and it was gone. I checked everywhere to make sure I hadn't moved it or deleted by mistake.

Prince, the clip was only six seconds. You were singing "Cool" and it was amazing.

But, even a six second clip by a promoter can't survive the wrath of the overzealous Purple Censors?

Back in 2007, I think I watched your Super Bowl halftime show an untold number of times online and was sitting around wondering when you would release a DVD so I could continue to do so. Now, all of the clips are gone forever.

This year, I saw an amazing Super Bowl performance and I'm sure you did too. Chances are, Bruno ain't gonna scrub his performances and his fans (including me) will be able to relive that moment for a very long time.

Prince, you're eccentric, a genius and a bit difficult to completely understand. But, help me see why you won't even give us six seconds of you anymore.

Sincerely,

17 Dayze

[Edited 8/8/14 17:16pm]

Hehe... Open letters are the first stage of grief for Prince fans. We've all been there. Welcome to the dark side!

I called you yesterday, you didn't answer your phone...the main drag was knowing that you probably weren't alone. So here I sit in my lonely room looking for my sunshine,

But all I got is two Instagrams and this censored heart of mine....

Let the rain come down, let the rain come down, let the rain come down, down!

Thanks, Funksterr

"Now all the clips are gone forever"

Naw, he creates his own pain by this behaviour. His performances are readily available.

crpaisleyfan said:

"Now all the clips are gone forever"

Naw, he creates his own pain by this behaviour. His performances are readily available.

That's what happens when folks post the site(s) where the videos are on

I mean, Prince is gonna remove a six second clip that was posted by a promotions company that was promoting the Essence fest? This is mind boggling.

Prince, seriously, you really crushed me with this one! The next time I hear someone say Bruno is the next Prince, I'm gonna agree!

Now, my silent treatment of Prince begins and I actually LIKED the Rainbow Children!

If Prince ever was surfing around and came across this 'open letter' he would stop reading after about the second line and move on. I GUARANTEE you he couldnt care less about what anyone on prince.org thinks. I guarantee it.

friend2001 said:

If Prince ever was surfing around and came across this 'open letter' he would stop reading after about the second line and move on. I GUARANTEE you he couldnt care less about what anyone on prince.org thinks. I guarantee it.

I guarantee that perhaps there's a chance that your guarantee is worthless

Why Prince won't upload his videos (music videos/live stuff) to youtube I will never understand.

dm3857 said:

Why Prince won't upload his videos (music videos/live stuff) to youtube I will never understand.

Tell me about it. I mean, he could have very specific material that he could upload and the rest he could sell. But, he won't do it. After the Super Bowl, man, I'm too embarassed to say how many times I watched that performance (I'm sure some of you have me beat though! LOL!). After that performance I just "knew" he would at least release the stinking DVD......seven years later and nope! I think the last time I saw that full performance was FIVE YEARS AGO! Ridiculous.

But the final straw was him pulling that Instagram video that was all of six seconds. Seriously, I might have to "divorce" Prince at this point This is a struggle!

Prince is just being Prince. As painful it may be to his remaining fanbase, but it's obviously true. He has to be in complete control, and if he can't, then he does away with it. Wendy and Lisa loved Prince like a brother, and he fired them all the same. Warner Bros treated Prince like he was a real Prince, but that relationship went south all the same. I know many will say it was over ownership of his music, but Prince signed a contract renewal (during the 90's) for over a hundred million dollars, and Prince agreed to it by signing. Then we all know how the 90's went with P and Warner Bros. What I'm saying is Prince really don't care what you and I think. He has treated his music like this for decades, which is why we have a generation who don't know, or care who he is. I love Prince's earlier music, and always will, but I'm convinced Prince - The Person, may be a bit of an a-hole. Now having said all of that, I will happily purchase any new remasters of his classic albums, and call it a day. I can understand the open letter. It's very heartfelt, and well written....but sadly it's a wasted effort. Your feelings has been the feelings of many, many Prince fans...only to see them fall on deaf ears. Sadly the only direct interaction Prince has with fans is "cease and desist" notices, and threats of lawsuits for anyone who's silly enough to post any trace of his music online. I still shake my head about that woman who got slapped with a direct cease and desist notice, when she posted a video of her baby dancing to "kiss" on youtube. This is why I never posted a video of my brother Isiah, who has autism, dancing and singing (very loudly) to Let's Work. Basically what I'm saying in a long-winded way, is to just accept the truth, that some people never change. I've long ago accepted, that Prince is one of those people.

Prince has always made it very clear that he's in control of his art and how it's presented. For example, he has never granted Weird Al his blessing to parody him.

But complaining about individual clips is useless. There's people whose job it is to report/remove this material. They aren't going to pick and choose. Simply, if it's not from an official channel it'll get flagged. Much like our rule here at the org! Those people work based on statistics - so at the end of the month they can send a report to Prince's team saying "We've had x amount of videos removed". It doesn't matter if it's a six second clip or an entire bootlegged concert.

This really isn't anything new, and actually, the fact that Prince has official YouTube channels right now, is progress. Before the 3EG stuff, we didn't even have that./

Militant said:

Prince has always made it very clear that he's in control of his art and how it's presented. For example, he has never granted Weird Al his blessing to parody him.

But complaining about individual clips is useless. There's people whose job it is to report/remove this material. They aren't going to pick and choose. Simply, if it's not from an official channel it'll get flagged. Much like our rule here at the org! Those people work based on statistics - so at the end of the month they can send a report to Prince's team saying "We've had x amount of videos removed". It doesn't matter if it's a six second clip or an entire bootlegged concert.

This really isn't anything new, and actually, the fact that Prince has official YouTube channels right now, is progress. Before the 3EG stuff, we didn't even have that./

I thought I made it pretty clear that the clip was not a bootleg but it was part of an official promotional project.

There are tons of things written on the Org that people wish Prince would see (or his staff would see) so in that regard, I know I'm not the first person to do this.

To each his/her own.

Scarfo said:

Prince is just being Prince. As painful it may be to his remaining fanbase, but it's obviously true. He has to be in complete control, and if he can't, then he does away with it. Wendy and Lisa loved Prince like a brother, and he fired them all the same. Warner Bros treated Prince like he was a real Prince, but that relationship went south all the same. I know many will say it was over ownership of his music, but Prince signed a contract renewal (during the 90's) for over a hundred million dollars, and Prince agreed to it by signing. Then we all know how the 90's went with P and Warner Bros. What I'm saying is Prince really don't care what you and I think. He has treated his music like this for decades, which is why we have a generation who don't know, or care who he is. I love Prince's earlier music, and always will, but I'm convinced Prince - The Person, may be a bit of an a-hole. Now having said all of that, I will happily purchase any new remasters of his classic albums, and call it a day. I can understand the open letter. It's very heartfelt, and well written....but sadly it's a wasted effort. Your feelings has been the feelings of many, many Prince fans...only to see them fall on deaf ears. Sadly the only direct interaction Prince has with fans is "cease and desist" notices, and threats of lawsuits for anyone who's silly enough to post any trace of his music online. I still shake my head about that woman who got slapped with a direct cease and desist notice, when she posted a video of her baby dancing to "kiss" on youtube. This is why I never posted a video of my brother Isiah, who has autism, dancing and singing (very loudly) to Let's Work. Basically what I'm saying in a long-winded way, is to just accept the truth, that some people never change. I've long ago accepted, that Prince is one of those people.

Thanks for the sincere reply I guess one thing in the back of my mind was those days long ago with NPGMC. I mean, at least back then you could buy stuff, check out clips that he posted, etc. Nowadays, it's like he's trying to intentionally be forgotten by his own fans or something.

I've always been aware that he's a bit...."difficult"....but taking down a clip that's just a few seconds is the final straw.

Not taking sides, but:

You said it yourself, it was only 6 seconds....

Why would you ever want to watch it again?!?

What could 6 seconds of a performance of Cool do for you that you have to see it again?

There are MANY complete performances of Cool out there.

Did something amazing happen in that 6 seconds that was worth seeing again and again?

Just sayin'...

djThunderfunk said:

Not taking sides, but:

You said it yourself, it was only 6 seconds....

Why would you ever want to watch it again?!?

What could 6 seconds of a performance of Cool do for you that you have to see it again?

There are MANY complete performances of Cool out there.

Did something amazing happen in that 6 seconds that was worth seeing again and again?

Just sayin'...

I don't know if you're a native speaker of English or not but if you're not, then I understand. But, if you are then I am baffled here.

I have never been the type to actively search for bootlegs and never will be. With that said, how much time did YOU invest in finding these alleged "video clips" of Prince? They don't exist in the easily accessible internet world and I seriously doubt that whatever you claim to have found still exists.

Do us all a favor and do not post any links of any kind on this thread whatsoever.

When you have your favorite singer of all time scrub even the SLIGHTEST bit of video that you've seen of him in YEARS, don't you think it's petty and desperate on HIS part and not mine?

Well, that's why I have different download programs on my computer... I need to be able to download stuff quickly before it goes. Let's say Prince can improve your knowing of internet and computers a lot, if you let your passion guide you instead of just being angry at him It's like an internet game of hide and seek, frustrating, but can be rewarding (I have MUCH more material, old and new, now that "back in the day" when yes there were cds and dvds and NPGMC, but I had no money anyway and was basically cut out from all the fun...).

Prince is just like weather, he does what he wants, you can try guessing what he's about to do, but there's no guarantee... There have been clouds of Plectrum in the sky forever now, but will it finally rain? Who knows?

We are learning to live with just little drops here and there like a cactus

coffeebreak said:

Well, that's why I have different download programs on my computer... I need to be able to download stuff quickly before it goes. Let's say Prince can improve your knowing of internet and computers a lot, if you let your passion guide you instead of just being angry at him It's like an internet game of hide and seek, frustrating, but can be rewarding (I have MUCH more material, old and new, now that "back in the day" when yes there were cds and dvds and NPGMC, but I had no money anyway and was basically cut out from all the fun...).

Prince is just like weather, he does what he wants, you can try guessing what he's about to do, but there's no guarantee... There have been clouds of Plectrum in the sky forever now, but will it finally rain? Who knows?

We are learning to live with just little drops here and there like a cactus

Thanks for the laugh, coffeebreak I needed it You're right, I shouldn't be angry at him but I guess the fact that he would remove a clip that was a nanosecond long knowing good and well that he hasn't released any video of himself in ages was the final straw

When it comes to music, I am "married" to Prince but now I'm (happily) creeping with Bruno until the Purple Yoda gets his stuff together! It makes no sense for us to have this drought Yes, you and I are now a cactus together!

It's kind of sad to see someone you have admired for a long time melt down and unravel so spectacularly. Prince's downfall is greed. He's pushing sixty, has no immediate family to leave his fortune to, yet he would rather die than see a non-musician make one red cent off his efforts, even when it's deserving, or profitable for Prince! Naturally he passes all of this off as virtue - lossless reproduction, artist's rights, etc. It's starting to reek of mental illness. LET IT GO, Prince!

[Edited 8/9/14 10:34am]

The thing is this, Prince is a genius artist, that is something I doubt very many people will argue. However, he has to embrace the new mediums which people experience music now. Not putting some of the most iconic and influencial music videos and performances on a platform where the public can enjoy them? No matter what way you slice it, that doesn't make sense... Let's pretend it's the 80's, Prince just finished the videos for 1999 and Little Red Corvette, but then tells MTV they can't play them... It is the same situation. I am a huge Prince fan. I love the man, I love the music. But i have literally only seen about 5 of his music videos because you just can't find them.. Or well, i'm sure you could find them somewhere if you searched like a mad scientist.. And it's even worse when it comes to live shows. At the billboard awards where Prince performed last year, I thought it was funny when Jonalle Monea said "he is the greatest live performer of his generation" and while that may be, how would anyone today know that when they can't see video's of the the man perform. It really just blows my mind...

Militant said:

Prince has always made it very clear that he's in control of his art and how it's presented. For example, he has never granted Weird Al his blessing to parody him.

But complaining about individual clips is useless. There's people whose job it is to report/remove this material. They aren't going to pick and choose. Simply, if it's not from an official channel it'll get flagged. Much like our rule here at the org! Those people work based on statistics - so at the end of the month they can send a report to Prince's team saying "We've had x amount of videos removed". It doesn't matter if it's a six second clip or an entire bootlegged concert.

This really isn't anything new, and actually, the fact that Prince has official YouTube channels right now, is progress. Before the 3EG stuff, we didn't even have that./

The reason everyone is a bit shirty about it, is mainly due to the gaping chasm in official filmed material. P's stance on non official stuff being wiped is completely understandable, until you get to a stage where we are now, where there's virtually feck all to look at. By that, I mean the 3eg channel which has at best 3 or 4 decent clips. I've been to 6 shows this year, but I'd have watched an awful lot more recorded stuff, given half a chance.

Chuck out some decent quality, full lenght recordings, and I for one wouldn't give the twat of a rat, if he pulled down every unofficial recording that every existed.

[Edited 8/9/14 11:38am]

I feel you, SeventeenDayze.

It's a shame that Prince's biggest videos, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain, IWD4U, You've Got the Look etc.. are nowhere to be found on YouTube. And how concerts like Sign o the Times Tour, Livesexy, Nude, Revolution Live are so hard to find. But they're all easily findable if you leave YouTube and search the rest of the internet.

.

The six-second clip thing is different, I don't know how you'll find that haha, but everything else is pretty much findable pretty quickly. It must be weird for the non hardcores though... hearing Kiss on the radio, running home and searching up a Prince song for the memories to come back... only to find no vids on the biggest video platform YouTube

coffeebreak said:

Caption: Instead of this COULD be us, this really IS us Thanks for the laughs coffeebreak

jasminejoey said:

It's kind of sad to see someone you have admired for a long time melt down and unravel so spectacularly. Prince's downfall is greed. He's pushing sixty, has no immediate family to leave his fortune to, yet he would rather die than see a non-musician make one red cent off his efforts, even when it's deserving, or profitable for Prince! Naturally he passes all of this off as virtue - lossless reproduction, artist's rights, etc. It's starting to reek of mental illness. LET IT GO, Prince!

[Edited 8/9/14 10:34am]

Jasmine-those are all good points. What it boils down to is legacy. Prince is a brilliant musician and I am certain if any of his music is around in 100 years, that generation would appreciate him just like Mozart, Louis Armstrong, etc.

jasontate said:

Militant said:

Prince has always made it very clear that he's in control of his art and how it's presented. For example, he has never granted Weird Al his blessing to parody him.

But complaining about individual clips is useless. There's people whose job it is to report/remove this material. They aren't going to pick and choose. Simply, if it's not from an official channel it'll get flagged. Much like our rule here at the org! Those people work based on statistics - so at the end of the month they can send a report to Prince's team saying "We've had x amount of videos removed". It doesn't matter if it's a six second clip or an entire bootlegged concert.

This really isn't anything new, and actually, the fact that Prince has official YouTube channels right now, is progress. Before the 3EG stuff, we didn't even have that./

The reason everyone is a bit shirty about it, is mainly due to the gaping chasm in official filmed material. P's stance on non official stuff being wiped is completely understandable, until you get to a stage where we are now, where there's virtually feck all to look at. By that, I mean the 3eg channel which has at best 3 or 4 decent clips. I've been to 6 shows this year, but I'd have watched an awful lot more recorded stuff, given half a chance.

Chuck out some decent quality, full lenght recordings, and I for one wouldn't give the twat of a rat, if he pulled down every unofficial recording that every existed.

[Edited 8/9/14 11:38am]

Jason--Exactly! That's the point I was getting at is that even the "official" stuff has completely disappeared off the face of the Earth. Back in the old NPGMC days, we at least had the chance to see and experience the official things that he/Manuela was okay with. Now, it's like homeboy does a live perfomance somewhere, someone (not necessarily from the Org) posts it online and then bam, it's removed. I'll give you a real life example. There were videos everywhere of Prince at the Essence Fest that popped up immediately on Youtube. It was getting late that night and I thought, "Well, I can catch it in the morning." But, I was like, maybe they be won't be online in the morning, so I stayed up late and watched all the crappy, shaky cam, noise distorted videos posted by the concert goers. I then emailed some links to another die hard Prince fan who is a friend of mine. He wrote me back at 8 freakin' AM the next morning and said the videos were already removed!

Are you kidding me? Talk about cutting your nose to spite your face!

[Edited 8/9/14 12:11pm]

CharismaDove said:

I feel you, SeventeenDayze.

It's a shame that Prince's biggest videos, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain, IWD4U, You've Got the Look etc.. are nowhere to be found on YouTube. And how concerts like Sign o the Times Tour, Livesexy, Nude, Revolution Live are so hard to find. But they're all easily findable if you leave YouTube and search the rest of the internet.

.

The six-second clip thing is different, I don't know how you'll find that haha, but everything else is pretty much findable pretty quickly. It must be weird for the non hardcores though... hearing Kiss on the radio, running home and searching up a Prince song for the memories to come back... only to find no vids on the biggest video platform YouTube

I remember a few years ago, there was a clip circulating of the Parade tour with America and Anotherloverholeinyohead (re: Prince in the yellow suit). It was the year he turned 28 and the crowd also sang happy birthday to him. I LOVED THAT VIDEO and I'm surprised it stayed up as long as it did but it's heartbreaking knowing that he's basically erasing himself from the history books that he deserves to be in...

Oh well, lemme get back to my side piece now.....

"You make me feel like, I been locked out of heaven...."

morningsong said:

To all of this, especially about the cactus. There needs to be a club of cacti. And 17 you talking divorce, be careful you'll be like you know who chasing after bigger things when you know deep in your heart all you want is to be in the kingdom and find you can't ever let go. Just give up now and accept.

Nope, this divorce is damn near close to being final

The "sidepiece" experience with Bruno has been spectacular, might I add!

I don't know how much longer I can deal with Prince. It's like he just wants to destroy the souls of the remaining fans left! But, I was ahead of the curve and didn't do the whole pay $77 bucks for a subscription or whatever that was. I kept my money and judging from what you guys wrote, I'm glad I did!

Oh well, back to side piece...

"Cause you're amazing, just the way you areeeeeeeeee"