I started buying vinyl through Goldmine. Picked up a boxed set called "The Royal Jewels". Still have it to this day. Was a great, but lousy sounding, collection of outtakes.

After that, I bought whatever titles looked cool by looking at Goldmine Magazine. Picked up quite a few. Wish I still had them.

MIInsane said:

I started buying vinyl through Goldmine. Picked up a boxed set called "The Royal Jewels". Still have it to this day. Was a great, but lousy sounding, collection of outtakes.

After that, I bought whatever titles looked cool by looking at Goldmine Magazine. Picked up quite a few. Wish I still had them.

Same here.

Until I found out that Prince REALLY, REALLY didn't approve. Then I stopped buying them and found them via certain newsgroups -- and it would take a week to download on 56.6 dialup lol -- and shared between friends in person since there was no high speed internet at that time. I mean, someone sent me tGE months before it came out. It wasn't the best quality, but I still had it.

My best bootleg memory was in 1997 or 1998. There was this company that sold them for $25 each, or $40 for 2-CDs. City Lights, Glam Slam box were $100 each.

I sent them a fax with a list of about 50 titles that I wanted. We agreed on an absolutely STUPID price, plus 2-day shipping from NYC to Hawaii. I asked them if I could send them a fax of a copy of the money orders that I would be sending them as proof of purchase. They said yes.

So I went and bought two money orders (the price was too big to fit on one money order). I made a copy of the blank money orders -- then on the 5 cent 8"x11" copy of paper -- not the money orders themselves -- I wrote out the info and faxed it to them.

After I received the huge box of CDs, I filled out the still unused money orders to myself -- and cashed them. Then I sent the box of CDs (all of which I already had bought previously) to a friend on the mainland who had bought me my first copy of The Black Album years earlier, at no charge to them.

"Nobody sues their fans... I have some bootlegs, but I wouldn't sell them. But fans sharing music with each other, that's cool." -- Prince

An extreme version of what Prince said, but lols.

my mate had a few tapes from camden market, diamonds n pearls tour @ earls court was one. Was terrible quality.

.

so a few weeks after wembley in 93, i went to camden and got the Act 2 tour on CD, it was holland a couple of weeks either after my wembley show.. was great quality, think i still have it in my prince box (which is in auckland as the wife's family home, while I'm in Melbourne - boo!)

.

[Edited 6/8/16 19:24pm]

I started collecting P audio and video bootlegs in 1989 at record shows...My first audio boots were cassette copies of the "Black Album" and some early 80's demo outtakes , rehearsals and concerts. My first video bootleg was a 3 volume VHS compilation of TV footage and concerts (79 to 88)...They were $25 a pop back then..(a lot of $ for a school student)..then I became friends with a fellow fan and he's been my "go to" guy from 1992 to the present. Have also traded with some cool friends and fans.

wonderboy said:

I'm curious how others got started. What were your thoughts when you heard your first recordings? Who helped you get started? My story: About 15-17 years ago, I came across a website that was run by a Canadian girl who went by seductivegirl747 I think or something similar. She had ripped some of the original City Lights discs and had MP3s of them posted. I recall hearing the Dirty Mind tour sets thinking oh my gosh! Prince must be releasing these to special people (boy was I way off). Little did I know that this little sampling would renue my Prince passion and get my back involved with everything Prince in a big way. Joined all the clubs, bought all the official materials and filled in the gaps with great boots. What a journey. My horizons where expanded thanks to some great fans out there.

The year was 1984. St. Louis Park, MN. Video store. I am given the VHS of the legendary First Ave. show and then a cassette filled with unreleased Prince. Then Black Album purchase, Nightclubbing CD, etc. etc. etc.

The day I was standing in line 4 my tickets 4 my 1st ever concert, LoveSexy 88 at Reunion Arena in Dallas, the topic of The Black Album came up among the people in line. Somebody mentioned the name of a local wrecka stow and I was off 2 the races. Now, my digital collection of boots is about 50 gigs strong and counting.

jodznsez said:

Preston market in the UK 1987. Prince Charade album on cassette tape, remember cassettes Now i have boxes of boots on CD , i don't even know what i have anymore i can't keep up and i have even bought boots i forgot i already had

ChadNPG69 said:

I ran into a record store in Tulsa that sold bootlegs. That visit started a very expensive and rewarding hobby.

kapo74 said:

Sort of by coincidence. In the early nineties, a friend introduced me to Prince. I asked him for the song Purple Rain, cause that's the only song I really liked back then. Long story short, he gave me a tape of the entire album and the Love Sexy live show. I was hooked.

It took me about 15 seconds before I realized that you hadn't actually met Prince and asked him for a copy of PR and LiveSexy, lol.

BanishedBrian said:

I was roaming around the internet one day in the early and somehow I found myself in an enchanted realm called The Royal Hub. It was a wonderful, fantastic place filled with beautiful sh...uh...caring people that I enjoyed spending hours and hours and hours with. Then one dreaded day in November 2007, it was gone. Vanquished in the precursor of what soon would become known to world over as the dark days of PFU.

Late 80s/early 90s, I began making contacts from the classifieds in Rolling Stone magazine... Doors kept opening. Bought some cassettes & VHS from Linda Everett... Bought vinyl from Wynnco. Some stores in NC where I used to live sold bootleg CDs. Traded via snail mail. Very cool time. The internet makes it all so easy now.

wonderboy said:

I'm curious how others got started. What were your thoughts when you heard your first recordings? Who helped you get started? My story: About 15-17 years ago, I came across a website that was run by a Canadian girl who went by seductivegirl747 I think or something similar. She had ripped some of the original City Lights discs and had MP3s of them posted. I recall hearing the Dirty Mind tour sets thinking oh my gosh! Prince must be releasing these to special people (boy was I way off). Little did I know that this little sampling would renue my Prince passion and get my back involved with everything Prince in a big way. Joined all the clubs, bought all the official materials and filled in the gaps with great boots. What a journey. My horizons where expanded thanks to some great fans out there.

At the right wrecka stows and record conventions, back in the 80's and 90's. It was so much fun - tracking down the right people and the right stuff; trading what you had with what someone else had; hearing about stuff and finding someone that had it; etc.

You really had to WORK to get stuff. You had to create trust, too. No one would deal with you if your name was bad. And if you screwed a fellow trader, believe me - your name went bad in a HURRY.

I wasted a lot of fucking money.

Wouldnt this thread be locked or deleted before Prince died?

FUNKYNESS said:

Wouldnt this thread be locked or deleted before Prince died?

No, we could talk about them. But we couldn't ask where to get them (online). And we're not doing that here, now.

I bought everything that was good that I could afford since 1991. I never stopped even though I wholeheartedly supported Prince in his fights against bootleggers. Prince never lost any money to bootleggers on me because I also bought everything official since 1981 - back when you had to hunt down 12" singles in record stores and save up to get merchandise when and if the tour came to your town. I bought the cassettes and the records for all releases back before CDs were widely available. If Prince released the same material that a bootlegger was offering, I bought it and not the bootleg - I was first in line to order Crystal Ball when many others were bitching about the logistical problems and the price.

1988, Liverpool record fair. Started with I'm pretty sure a cassette copy of the Black album. Then a couple a vinyls, LiveSexy double LP - I think from Rotterdam '88, vinyl copy of the Black album (good quality, but a bootleg nevertheless) and Chocolate Box, oh and the Small Club gig, can't remember what the vinyl was called. Most of the rest I got (bought) for the next 10 years or so were taped copies of outtakes and concerts from various record fairs and stores.

With the abundance of free, hi-quality material there is available now (if you know where to find it, and believe me, I know the tip of the iceberg only I am sure of that), we should realize how much of a ride we were taken for back in the day...

Went into a store called BILLS in Dallas Texas back in 80s

That guy make a shit load of money off of prince bootlegs ( my money )... He kept them behind the counter and had some flock of seaguls workers watching you the whole time !! He had records ,cds ,imports, pic dis,movie posters anything you ever wanted and it was like a flea market with stuff !!

Good Days !!

[Edited 6/9/16 13:32pm]

ChadNPG69 said:

The day I was standing in line 4 my tickets 4 my 1st ever concert, LoveSexy 88 at Reunion Arena in Dallas, the topic of The Black Album came up among the people in line. Somebody mentioned the name of a local wrecka stow and I was off 2 the races. Now, my digital collection of boots is about 50 gigs strong and counting.

record store was called bills !!

I was at that concert with my girlfriend ... seniors in high school !!!

[Edited 6/9/16 13:34pm]

wonderboy said:

I'm curious how others got started. What were your thoughts when you heard your first recordings? Who helped you get started? My story: About 15-17 years ago, I came across a website that was run by a Canadian girl who went by seductivegirl747 I think or something similar. She had ripped some of the original City Lights discs and had MP3s of them posted. I recall hearing the Dirty Mind tour sets thinking oh my gosh! Prince must be releasing these to special people (boy was I way off). Little did I know that this little sampling would renue my Prince passion and get my back involved with everything Prince in a big way. Joined all the clubs, bought all the official materials and filled in the gaps with great boots. What a journey. My horizons where expanded thanks to some great fans out there.

Wrecka stow owner suggestion saying at the time there was more than "official" releases.... 1990.. and there goes my first bootlegs amazing aftershow paard van troje 1988 and nude tour tokyo 1990.

i was 16 and ti went on and on since... )))

My 1st was of course the Black Album. However there is a record in ATL that used to have a gang of bootlegs ( won't say the name because they are sill open. I would go there get them weekly I found this ebay page with a bunch of them I can't recall the name but I got a bunch of bootlegs from them

Record fairs in the late 80s in the UK.