I've been looking closely at notes and letters handwritten by Prince. In so doing, I ran across this note that he wrote explaining that bootleggers were a threat to his livelihood. Many of you have probably already seen it, but I had not. His statement is not dated, but it is still relevant today, even after his passing. Plus, his beautiful handwriting, along with the picture of his hand holding his cane make the note worthy of framing.

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[Edited 1/10/17 15:51pm]

EmmaMcG said:

Well, I think it stands to reason that people shouldn't be paying money for bootlegs. But does it really have much, if any, impact on Prince's livelihood? I mean, i agree with his stance on bootleggers to a degree. But a lot of the stuff that's being bought and sold and traded are live shows that Prince never released on CD or DVD. So, that doesn't really impact his bank balance one way or another.

I do think his estate is losing money to bootleggers, though. And if they don't hurry and begin releasing music, both remastered studio albums and live concerts, they are going to totally miss the boat on posthumous sales. Thoughts?

FlyOnTheWall said:

I'd take a guess & date this sometime around 1997, could be a year earlier or later though

[Edited 1/10/17 16:33pm]

EmmaMcG said:

laytonian said:

Did anyone else notice the (purposeful) misspelling "livelyhood"? P didn't make many spelling errors. I've seen that before but without the image.

I did notice that. He always had to put his own spin on words. I'm still amazed at his gorgeous handwriting.

He was small but had some strong hands. No wonder he bent those strings so sweetly.

laytonian said:

EmmaMcG said:

Well, I think it stands to reason that people shouldn't be paying money for bootlegs. But does it really have much, if any, impact on Prince's livelihood? I mean, i agree with his stance on bootleggers to a degree. But a lot of the stuff that's being bought and sold and traded are live shows that Prince never released on CD or DVD. So, that doesn't really impact his bank balance one way or another.

If people spend money on unauthorized items, do they have the funds to buy what P put out? Is that note to one specific person? Sounds like he may have identified who was behind many leaks.

I had not considered that it might be addressed to one friend. Hmmm.

2freaky4church1 said:

He was small but had some strong hands. No wonder he bent those strings so sweetly.

His hands were strong. I'll never forget Nik West saying how huge his hands were. She said she thought he was going to break the strings on her bass.

exactly...he never said we shouldnt trade , give or listen to them

FlyOnTheWall said:

Never buy bootlegs. Bootlegs are always FREE

luv4u said:

luv4u said:

Never buy bootlegs. Bootlegs are always FREE

Only P's reasoning was wrong: any of us who used to purchase bootlegs back in the 90's were purchasing every possible official release, and if he'd release a bootleg officially later, we'd purchase it again anyway. So there was ZERO loss of income for him from bootlegs even when we had no choice but to pay for them.

databank said:

Only P's reasoning was wrong: any of us who used to purchase bootlegs back in the 90's were purchasing every possible official release, and if he'd release a bootleg officially later, we'd purchase it again anyway. So there was ZERO loss of income for him from bootlegs even when we had no choice but to pay for them.

Great point, databank. I hope that is also the case when the estate begins releasing music that has already been booted.

FlyOnTheWall said:

databank said:

Only P's reasoning was wrong: any of us who used to purchase bootlegs back in the 90's were purchasing every possible official release, and if he'd release a bootleg officially later, we'd purchase it again anyway. So there was ZERO loss of income for him from bootlegs even when we had no choice but to pay for them.

Great point, databank. I hope that is also the case when the estate begins releasing music that has already been booted.

The danger today lies in illegal downloading. But not in boots. People will want the official release no matter what.

laytonian said:

EmmaMcG said:

laytonian said:

If people spend money on unauthorized items, do they have the funds to buy what P put out? Is that note to one specific person? Sounds like he may have identified who was behind many leaks.

Well if people are spending so much on bootlegs that they can't afford to buy official releases, that could, in theory, have an impact on Prince's bank balance. However, I'd say that it would be a very very small percentage of people who would leave themselves so short on cash by buying bootlegs that they can't afford the official stuff so perhaps the impact on Prince's livelihood would be barely noticeable. Illegal downloads of his officially released albums would be far more detrimental to him than paid bootlegs. So, in short, I don't think people buying bootlegs impacts Prince's coffers but seeing as it would take a complete idiot to BUY bootlegs in the first place, I'd say that they only ones whose bank balance are affected by purchasing bootlegs are they people who are doing the purchasing themselves.

This note is from the mid 90's: at that time we had no choice but to BUY bootlegs, unless we had a friend who had them and would make us tapes for free.

But as you say, who would be nuts enough to buy bootlegs of an artist and NOT buy their official releases? It makes no sense. Only die hard fans buy boots. That's why most artists don't really care about boots.

+ you need to remember that at that time ALL outtakes had the most awful sound quality, and there were very few soundboard shows making the rounds (basically those from the official videos, Small Club and maybe 2 or 3 others).

I understand the battle Prince had against those who wanted to make money on his music. On the other hand, it´s sad that HE didnt release it

Correct me if I am wrong, but Metallica had all that battle with Napster, but after that, they made the concerts available at the band´s site.

We, fans, are always craving for outtakes and concerts from Prince. Specially from a guy who released so much music.

NorthC said:

I've read that text. In the booklet of a bootleg CD.

NorthC said:

I've read that text. In the booklet of a bootleg CD.

Yeah, looks familiar to me too.

Also, it's not like it was true that if you contacted 1-800-New-Funk with a wishlist they would make it available. There were some previously bootlegged tracks on Crystal Ball, sure, but the only live recordings they released, IIRC, was the NYC Live cassette single with only 2 tracks and maybe The War.

djThunderfunk said:

NorthC said:

I've read that text. In the booklet of a bootleg CD.

Yeah, looks familiar to me too.

Also, it's not like it was true that if you contacted 1-800-New-Funk with a wishlist they would make it available. There were some previously bootlegged tracks on Crystal Ball, sure, but the only live recordings they released, IIRC, was the NYC Live cassette single with only 2 tracks and maybe The War.

There is so much we need to learn about those years. Did WB block further WB years vault releases or not? If not why did Prince suddenly close the doors to the vault in 2002? Did he ever speak to anyone about what his plans were back then? What happened with Roadhouse Garden, CBII, Mdhouse 24, the 2000 Rosie Gaines record, M2C, the sampling set, Montreux 2013, Welcome 2 America, 20ten Deluxe, the rerecorded albums series and the ballads compilation and so on...

.

It's true that there was a LOT of material released between 1996 and 2016 but somehow we all expected much, much more after all the fuss Prince made about WB preventing him to release his music. Still, next thing you know, Universal drops Milk & Honey and instead of releasing it with an indie or online, he just shrugs and shelves it. It seems from 2011 to 2013 drops in record sales made him want to blackmail the world (no sales, no album), but what about before that?

I saw Prince live 3 times in 1997. That year, in concert and online, he was spreading the message that if you liked the show you attended and wanted a copy to call 1-800-New-Funk. I did that.

Still waiting on those 3 shows.

I my case bootlegs led me to becoming more of a fan and buying everything he put out (old and new), so they actually supported his cash flow. I was buying bootlegs from 1988 up until 2003 or so when it all started becoming free.

ufoclub said:

I my case bootlegs led me to becoming more of a fan and buying everything he put out (old and new), so they actually supported his cash flow. I was buying bootlegs from 1988 up until 2003 or so when it all started becoming free.

Similar for me. I bought boots from '88-'98. I wasn't downloading them by '98 but I purchased my first CD burner that year and at that point had collected over 100 boots, so, I switched to trading copies from my collection for copies of new boots with newer fans that were still buying. For about 5 years trading physical CDRs, via snail mail, was the best way to stay up to date, especially if you had plenty to offer. Once downloading boots took over, all bets were off and it became difficult to even find physical copies of boots.

Contact 1-800 if you want something made available?... yeah right Prince.

I spent a small fortune on physical bootlegs back in the days before I learned about downloading, and had absolutely no qualms about making a small fortune back when I decided to sell them after ripping.

Similar to what ufo said too, buying bootlegs led me to buying everything official I could get my hands on. There was plenty space and money in my life for bootlegs and all things official.