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Thread started 04/15/19 2:51pm

lurker316

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Chocolate Invasion promotional copies?

I've seen copies of the Chocolate Invasion CDs on eBay. The Vault says this album was online-only and no copies were every produced for sale, so I assume these are promotional copies? Does anyone know the exact origin of them?
.

I've actually seen two different versions. One has the original NPG Music Club artwork and original track list (e.g. The Dance instead of Medallion) and is in a jewel case. It has an ad for the NPG Music Club, which it also calls the Musicology download store. I know he gave the Musicology disc to people who bought concert tickts -- did he give this out as well?
.
The second version has the Tidal artwork and Tidal tracklist and is in digipack. It says "Promotional Copy Not for Sale -- Limited to 250 Copies". I realize that's self-explanatory, but I'm still wondering if anyone knows the exact origin. Did Tidal or Sony produce these? Who were the intended recipients? Radio stations? Critics? Contest winners?

.

I know fans sometimes burn their own CDs and add their own artwork and offer for sale, but these look like legit professional CDs.

[Edited 4/15/19 17:57pm]

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Reply #1 posted 04/15/19 2:59pm

Kares

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lurker316 said:

I've seen copies of the Chocolate Invasion CDs on eBay. The Vault says this album was online-only and no copies were every produced for sale, so I assume these are promotional copies? Does anyone know the exact origin of them?
.

I've actually seen two different versions. One has the original NPG Music Club artwork and original track list (e.g. The Dance instead of Medallion) and is in a jewel case. It has an ad for the NPG Music Club, which it also calls the Musicology download store. I know he gave the Musicology disc to people who bought concert tickts -- did he give this out as well?
.
The second version has the Tidal artwork and Tidal tracklist and is in cardboard sleve (like The Art Official Age packaging, so not a typical digipack). It says "Promotional Copy Not for Sale -- Limited to 250 Copies". I realize that's self-explanatory, but I'm still wondering if anyone knows the exact origin. Did Tidal or Sony produce these? Who were the intended recipients? Radio stations? Critics? Contest winners?

.

I know fans sometimes burn their own CDs and add their own artwork and offer for sale, but these look like legit professional CDs.

.
ALL CDs of Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse, C-Note and Xpectation are pirate. Don't buy them. There weren't any official promos for these.

Friends don't let friends clap on 1 and 3.

The Paisley Park Vault spreadsheet: https://goo.gl/zzWHrU
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Reply #2 posted 04/15/19 3:56pm

TrivialPursuit

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Kares said:

lurker316 said:

I've seen copies of the Chocolate Invasion CDs on eBay. The Vault says this album was online-only and no copies were every produced for sale, so I assume these are promotional copies? Does anyone know the exact origin of them?

.
ALL CDs of Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse, C-Note and Xpectation are pirate. Don't buy them. There weren't any official promos for these.


KARES is right. Someone's piggybacking on the Versace cassette thing, probably. These were digital single releases, later compiled into albums.

It'd sorta be nice to have these in physical form, and some better source than an MP3. I enjoy Xpectation here and there.

Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking.
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Reply #3 posted 04/15/19 3:57pm

Doozer

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Lossless versions of The Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse, C-NOTE and Xpectation are for sale on the Tidal store.

Check out The Mountains and the Sea, a Prince podcast by yours truly and my wife. More info at https://www.facebook.com/TMATSPodcast/
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Reply #4 posted 04/15/19 4:04pm

TrivialPursuit

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Doozer said:

Lossless versions of The Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse, C-NOTE and Xpectation are for sale on the Tidal store.


Not in physical form, though, correct? But yeah "lossless". I'd still like to know if they're truly lossless or just re-encoded that way. Has anyone ever found out for sure either way?

Edit: Well, let me restate that. Some were physical because there were a handful of single releases like "U Make My Sun Shine", etc. But no - no cassettes specifically.

[Edited 4/15/19 16:10pm]

Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking.
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Reply #5 posted 04/15/19 5:29pm

coldcoffeeandc
ocacola

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lurker316 said:

I've seen copies of the Chocolate Invasion CDs on eBay. The Vault says this album was online-only and no copies were every produced for sale, so I assume these are promotional copies? Does anyone know the exact origin of them?
.


I've actually seen two different versions. One has the original NPG Music Club artwork and original track list (e.g. The Dance instead of Medallion) and is in a jewel case. It has an ad for the NPG Music Club, which it also calls the Musicology download store. I know he gave the Musicology disc to people who bought concert tickts -- did he give this out as well?
.
The second version has the Tidal artwork and Tidal tracklist and is in cardboard sleve (like The Art Official Age packaging, so not a typical digipack). It says "Promotional Copy Not for Sale -- Limited to 250 Copies". I realize that's self-explanatory, but I'm still wondering if anyone knows the exact origin. Did Tidal or Sony produce these? Who were the intended recipients? Radio stations? Critics? Contest winners?


.


I know fans sometimes burn their own CDs and add their own artwork and offer for sale, but these look like legit professional CDs.



No physical releases all online. At the time I wished for physical!
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Reply #6 posted 04/15/19 5:56pm

lurker316

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.
I totally understand that all the crap on eBay is bootleg and normally I'd never fall for it.
.
However, in this case I though there was a very small chance the product could be legit. I know Prince didn't produce any CDs of the Chocolate Invasion for retail sale, but I figured it's possible he pressed a few promotional discs for DJs or give-aways to guests at Paisley Park.
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Plus, I've seen multiple sellers on eBay and other sites selling the same exact Chocolate Invasion CD with the same exact artwork. What are the odds of a bunch of bootleggers working independently would produce the same exact artwork right down to the smallest detial? In particular, the ad for the NPG Music Store gives is some authenticity.
.
Bottom line, I'm sure you're right and it's fake. But I just wanted to explain why I thought that there was a small possibility it was real.

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Reply #7 posted 04/15/19 6:03pm

luv4u

Moderator

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moderator

Kares said:

lurker316 said:

I've seen copies of the Chocolate Invasion CDs on eBay. The Vault says this album was online-only and no copies were every produced for sale, so I assume these are promotional copies? Does anyone know the exact origin of them?
.

I've actually seen two different versions. One has the original NPG Music Club artwork and original track list (e.g. The Dance instead of Medallion) and is in a jewel case. It has an ad for the NPG Music Club, which it also calls the Musicology download store. I know he gave the Musicology disc to people who bought concert tickts -- did he give this out as well?
.
The second version has the Tidal artwork and Tidal tracklist and is in cardboard sleve (like The Art Official Age packaging, so not a typical digipack). It says "Promotional Copy Not for Sale -- Limited to 250 Copies". I realize that's self-explanatory, but I'm still wondering if anyone knows the exact origin. Did Tidal or Sony produce these? Who were the intended recipients? Radio stations? Critics? Contest winners?

.

I know fans sometimes burn their own CDs and add their own artwork and offer for sale, but these look like legit professional CDs.

.
ALL CDs of Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse, C-Note and Xpectation are pirate. Don't buy them. There weren't any official promos for these.


Only available for purchase from the the NPGMC.

canada

Ohh purple joy oh purple bliss oh purple rapture!
REAL MUSIC by REAL MUSICIANS - Prince
"I kind of wish there was a reason for Prince to make the site crash more" ~~ Ben
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Reply #8 posted 04/15/19 9:44pm

databank

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Doozer said:

Lossless versions of The Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse, C-NOTE and Xpectation are for sale on the Tidal store.


But not the original TCI.
A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/
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Reply #9 posted 04/15/19 11:00pm

embmmusic

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Doozer said:

Lossless versions of The Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse, C-NOTE and Xpectation are for sale on the Tidal store.

Not sure if they still do, but they also had One Nite Alone on there as well, which is another one that gets pirated a lot.

Check out The Collector's Guide to Prince on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/p...4ldzxwlEuy
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Reply #10 posted 04/16/19 4:50am

lurker316

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I took another look at some of the ads. One was honest and admitts the CD is homemade. I emailed that seller. He explained that he got the FLAC files from Tidal and burned the CD. I asked why I would pay for that when I could just as easily get the FLAC files from Tidal myself. He argued he's adding value by creating the professional looking case and printed CD. I suppose there is a small bit of truth to that, and at least he was honest about what he'd doing and didn't try to trick me into thinking it was a promo copy, so I hold no grudge against him.

[Edited 4/16/19 10:45am]

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Reply #11 posted 04/16/19 6:06am

fabriziovenera
ndi

TrivialPursuit said:

Not in physical form, though, correct? But yeah "lossless". I'd still like to know if they're truly lossless or just re-encoded that way. Has anyone ever found out for sure either way?

[Edited 4/15/19 16:10pm]

I compares hz and Tidal ones have more information than the oldest windows media player files

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Reply #12 posted 04/16/19 8:08am

luv4u

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moderator

lurker316 said:

I took another look at some of the ads. One was honest and admitts the CD is homemade. I emailed that seller. He explained that he got the FLAC files from Tidal and burned the CD. I asked why I would pay for that when I could just as easily get the FLAC files from Tidal myself. He argued he's adding value by creating the professional looking case and printed CD. I suppose there is a small bit of truth to that, and at least he was honest about what he'd doing and didn't try to trick me into thinking it was a promo copy, so I hold no grudge against me.



Basically pirating fakers for their acres.

canada

Ohh purple joy oh purple bliss oh purple rapture!
REAL MUSIC by REAL MUSICIANS - Prince
"I kind of wish there was a reason for Prince to make the site crash more" ~~ Ben
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Reply #13 posted 04/16/19 8:17am

feeluupp

The redline records digipack versions of The Chocolate Invasion and The Slaughterhouse were selling for over $200 each when he passed.

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Reply #14 posted 04/16/19 9:53am

sulls

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Since it seems any new releases are in a hold pattern, it'd be awesome if the Estate would release official physical copies of these in the meantime...

"I like to watch."
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Reply #15 posted 04/16/19 9:55am

darkroman

sulls said:

Since it seems any new releases are in a hold pattern, it'd be awesome if the Estate would release official physical copies of these in the meantime...


I totally agree!

There isn't much left in the post Warner era that is interesting to re-issue but the NPGMC releases on physical formats would be exceptional!


lol lol

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Reply #16 posted 04/20/19 4:16pm

herb4

Yeah, my understanding is that these were straight downloads and only legit copies of CD's were singles (Supercute, Underneath the Cream). I know those are legit cause I bought them from his merch table at a show.

If I remember right, even the art was a downloadable file from NPGMC is u wanted to make your own CD case.

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