I recently heard thru the grapevine that the only Prince fanzine left, the UPTOWN magazine out of Sweden is considering quiting or possibly cutting production way down to 1 or 2 mags a year, instead of the current 5 per year.

akashic said:

Not surprised. Great as "Uptown" is, it's probably not as commercially viable as it used to be, given the amount of fans Prince has lost over the years. I assume he will have lost a few more after THE Email.

akashic said:

That would be a shame.I've been reading Uptown since 1994 and that's where I get most of my Prince info from.Has there been an official announcement?

That's too bad.

Though they might be better off offering some kind of well-put-together "yearbook", with the same kind of ambition they put into their other books (and LARGER PRINT SIZE - PLEASE!!!).

I think it will become official after issue #60.

Blame the internet on it's demise.

squirrelgrease said:

that, and there just hasn't really been anything worth talkin about that's news-worthy: no newly discovered projects, they've covered every single tour p's ever done...but yeah, i'm figurin uptown is on its last legs, which is a sad thing cuz it wuz the only outlet that provided detailed and plentiful info on prince.

gav, say it ain't so...

If Prince was still doing stuff that interested people, Uptown would keep going. But how many Purple Rain tour reports can one magazine do?

akashic said:

That's not true at all...i know the new July issue is due very soon. And a further large scale project is already underway.

Official confirmation direct from UPTOWN themselves is needed for rumour control.
[This message was edited Sat Jul 26 19:31:28 PDT 2003 by liberation]

If UPTOWN mag does in fact close shop, I would think it's due to all of the above reasons. But the person that blamed the internet I think hit the nail on the head.

Before the internet became so popular UPTOWN magazine was THE source for unknown and rare Prince info. Now, fans talk about unknown/rare info related to Prince everyday. And even when UPTOWN writes about something that no one knew before, that "new" information is istantaneously shared with pretty much anyone in the world who has a desire to know.

So because of the internet, UPTOWN magazine is experiencing the exact same problems that other major magazines and newspapers are experiencing in selling their hard copy products. That coupled with declining demand is almost sure to bring about UPTOWN's demise.

Aside from that, UPTOWN was never really into it for the money, they simply did what they did out of respect and love for one of the greatest musicians of our time. So if that love begins to fade, they would be hard pressed to continue doing what they are doing. It's a scary thought, but the same holds true for the creators of Prince.org

abucah said:

Of course I don't speak for Uptown at all, but I think your assessment of their motivations is correct. In my case, I've always put in effort on the site out of love for the community of fans, WAY more than any love of the musician. Definitely the impetus was for love of the MUSIC, yes, and I still do appreciate and enjoy his music. However, what keeps the site viable in my mind is the people who participate in it, and the many friends I've met through it, directly and indirectly. I do it for the appreciation of these great people and to help others hopefully build similar relationships... if P's music is the catalyst for that, cool, but I'm definitely not expecting too much more than that these days.

akashic said:

Where are you getting this info from akashic ? Is one of the Uptown staff members your source or is this just based on a rumour ?

ben said:

the truth is the truth Ben. And U speak it my man!
(youngca)

Anxiety said:

Hey, I like reading the small print

.

ben said:

& at the same time u can purchase some of the Uptowns from Ebay.com now. back issues that is...

giotto said:

yeah, so do i! i think it may be one of the factors to my poor eyesight, tho'....




squinty edit
[This message was edited Sun Jul 27 9:09:00 PDT 2003 by Handclapsfingasnapz]

freakyfeet said:

hmmm...and no reply ?

methinks this is built on complete rumour rather than fact !

squirrelgrease said:

Good point.When I first started reading Uptown in early 94,I had never even been on the Internet.I relied mainly on Uptown and The Prince Family newsletters for my Prince news and information.But as the 90s dragged on,the Internet became more common and suddenly it was the best source to gather and share info.Still,I would hate for Uptown to close down.

"Subscriptions are declining by the month."
UPTOWN staff.
#60 is the expected last issue.

akashic said:

awright, where's gav...

whilst i still think their music reviews are a bit harsh i'll miss the interviews they manage to scoop. Perhaps it would be better if they did an online version by subscription which could be more uptodate?. Either way they have been a very valuable source for the community and really would be missed.

akashic said:

ok, so subscriptions are declining - hardly takes sherlock holmes to work that one out.

I ask again akashic - where is your source for this info or are you just making assumptions ?!?!

nice to see that the old trick of rumour mongering isn't just confined to NPGMC !

thanks for the backup freakfeet, perhaps Michael could confirm where he'd heard this rumour ?

Thanks for clearing that up,Gav.

akashic said:

WTF???...
[This message was edited Wed Jul 30 9:27:54 PDT 2003 by liberation]

akashic said:

Subscriptions are declining because of the $50 price plus there's fewer fans. Being a Prince fan is not fun or exciting anymore. It's just a case of hanging in and going along for the ride, complaining the whole way.

akashic said:

Well, good for them... The little fucker sued 'em, so it's good to see them realizing that he's just not worth it anymore...

Neversin.
[This message was edited Wed Jul 30 13:20:17 PDT 2003 by Neversin]