all of the current (and past) bullshit that prince has brought on against his remaining fans/friends/geex/freex/fams/whoever and fansites, whether they had any content about unreleased material or not, has got me thinkin: everytime somethin like this happens, people speak out about it.

...but that's all that seems to happen. we merely speak out about it. nothing else. i'm supposing it's because it seems like there's no way to tell prince & co. what the hell you think without the powers that be shuttin people up. that, or people are simply too afraid to stand up to 'im and let him know what's really goin on.

all of us here need to get together and do somethin to let p know that we're tired of the b.s., the lawsuits, the silencing of those who are still left and actually still give a fuck about him. i know full-well that he knows that without us, he's nothing.

that just may be it--a campaign or something just may be in order, to let others know what's goin on and to let him know that we're not stupid. if there's one thing that i've come to know in my 9 years of bein a prince geeklette, it's that we are a very intelligent bunch of people. if we all put our heads together and think, we could figure out a way to protest/show our disdain to what's goin on.

the question i pose to all of you is: what can we all do in order to let p know we ain't gonna stand for his bratty bullshit any longer? of course there's the obvious: don't buy any new stuff from him or support his "music" club, but what else can we do?

and please keep the "well, stop coming here to the org"-type commentary to yourselves. any and all comments of that type will be deleted. i am extremely serious about this.



with all that said...any ideas?

I think folks should get mad..get mad I tell ya. Go to your windows...go to your windows...open them up and scream, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!"

rdhull said:

i could do that...then again, it's too cold to open my windows.

But seriously away form any Howard Beale references...I odnt think there uis anything anmyone could do or say to make him act differently. If he could have the last standing Prince fan in fornt of him telling him what he feels about bootlegs and websites, prince would still pull the plug on those things. I think he is quite aware at the backlash from the web community etc about what he does and has done. Do you really think he cares what any of yall or me think about his shenengins, be they legit or not?

Anyways..Prince will ALWAYS have his cult core audience regardless..I mean if he shut EVERY site down you (and you in general) would still go to the concert when he is in your town.

Nobody here at least is strong enough to put up or shut up...and if they dio they alwaysss come back.

I happen to know someone very well who's best friends with his wife.

I've passed on our thoughts, whether they get to him or not I don't know

lovebizzare said:

can u tell them to pass along thoughts of namechecks?

rdhull said:

Maybe we should hold our own Celebration.

Bear with me...

Do it in full view of Paisley Park. We could go one of two ways with this. A Celebration or an anti-Celebration.
A peaceful protest. Embrace the good...protest the bad. Celebrate Prince on our terms.

A candle light vigil for every fansite that no longer exists.

A "support" booth for every person who sent in their rare Prince material and have now heard nothing else about it.

Great Prince music to enjoy, or absolutely no Prince music at all.

Have a Prince party and don't invite Prince. Kind of a reverse intervention. "Dude, we dig you, but we're sick of the dumbass, mutherfuckin shit."

If a person says..."You're being so negative." they ain't invited either.

And yes, we should hold around his birthday.

Maybe a taste of his own medicine would be in order. Those people who joined the NPGMC could organize a class-action lawsuit against him for the various product (The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone-Live and, possibly, N.E.W.S.) that were thought to be club exclusive, but were sold to the general public. Plus the fact that the amount of CDs supposedly offered for Year 2 didn't match what was received (sure he could argue that the box set equalled to 3 discs, but in the eyes of any normal person it actually equalled to 1 piece of product).
It sounds crazy, but these kind of lawsuits have happened successfully many times before, and maybe hitting him back, especially by his fans, would open his eyes a little.

Nothinbutjoy said:

and the moment Prince is seen in his parking lot of PP everyone will run over there wonderin of he gonna play etc

rdhull said:

i used to come to the org for prince info and talk. now, its mostly an afterthought. i come for the cool peeps i've met and to chat with the friends that i've introduced to the org (hello purplegypsy, iwishyouheaven and lemonpie!). i've pretty much made the decision to not financially support prince anymore. and i think, in the end, its music and its for enjoyment. once that enjoyment is gone, what's left? i still enjoy the music and i will most likely continue to enjoy the future music. but i will enjoy a burnt copy or a downloaded version. i don't think he is cool to his fans and i don't think he deserves our money. i don't care how great of a musician he is. but, at the end of the day, they are just my opinions and peeps will do as peeps wish.

rdhull said:

You're right of course and he'd prob do it for that very reason, but a Anti-Celebration protest is a nice thought.

rdhull said:

and that'd be the moment i'd drag 'em back and put a foot in their ass. if they're gonna be there for that and not the true cause at hand, then that would be a bit of treason.

Well...things always get done, when you have numbers (large amount of people) behind you. I LOVE Prince, and his music. I bump it all day/night. He does shady stuff, and I try to exercise my empathy (put myself in his shoes.) Sometimes it works, other times it does not. Lots of you (us) have been promised this or that, and not received it, paid top $ and was misled, your website in dedication to the man; closed down. Handsclaps, I don't think we need to organize, I think Prince needs to stand up and organize his business, priorities, finances, music (as far releases and distribution), staff, and last but not least...he needs to exercise his empathy.

We love his music, but not all of us are Jehova Witnesses. I (we) respect the religion/belief so...respect ours as well. Prince has always been a rebel/outkast/different/the "Allen Iverson" of music. Yet, he's rebelling against the very people that support him. THere wouldn't be so many bootlegs, if we had official access to the shit. Which I understand, not even he has access to all of his music, which is unfortunate. But If I'm an artist and I notice tons of bootleggers, the first thing I'm gonna do is (not sue) give my fans tons of the 'real music' at the best possible quality. Then there would be no need for such a black market.

We should continue to voice our frustrations and drown the NPGMC with emails/protests demanding response and/or action.

I feel alot better now, thanks org, and Handsclaps...

Blue

Those who run to Prince in the parking lot...OUT DA PARTY!!!

SassyBritches said:

I kind of see what u are saying ..that you come here for the peoplea nd not prince..but like I said and like u just posted..the moment he has a release u will download it and keep current (if u dont purchase it which u may well do). And thats just thething..folks aint goin anywhere or leavin the music...hell I bet I leave the music then any of yall or any of those who feel such outrage

he can shut down each site and this summer if he has a celebration, dansa gonna be there to represent u betta believe it

sorry D but its true...we aint goin anywhere..including those who all upset...

I mean come on

Nothinbutjoy said:

seriously...i want serious-minded people, not folks who only lay in the cut in order to do some princespotting™.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

stop lyin--if he opened up dem gates and saiod "come on in!' yall would drop that Poo On Prince pamphlet and get up close stage...comwe on now..it's me, rd.

rdhull said:

like fuck i would, rd. i am serious as cancer about what i'm sayin here. if he were to do paisley parties again i would no longer attend them and spend my money over there.


even if folks aren't goin anyplace shit still can be done. stay serious about this, please.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I am serious..I was pissed at him to becauwe of his mods where I was ready to throw shit away etc...I know how one overocmes that feeling etc..yall are upset over the website drama...this too shall pass. I mean having ol boy as your avatatar even if ots old school Prince isnt really that telling chica...

remember this site here is still in essence dealing with the man...sure folks go and stay at other forums but they all came here becaue of prince by and large..come on now. YOu go to a bank or lets say website to try and work with that system and say for your reference that u moderate a prince site..that means you supporet prince period..you can run and tell folks "I dont care for his politic etc but th epeople" but on paper it still says Prince site...not a "fans of prince but they dont really like him 'site

why not start an international petition-type thingy just to let him know all this. send it to him. what if there was a movement against a particular artist from the fans? something that was actively promoted? if he can try and shut sites down why can't the fans try and get on his bad side. make it like an Amnesty International style campaign: a concerted effort from the fans who obviously protest with respect for the talent but are not willing to let freedom of speech go down.
i think Dansa is right; we need to do this.
Rolling Stone would be all over this shit!

DANSA!
DANSA!
DANSA!























maybe we should chill first (and do this secretly) just in case that midget is watching and shuts us down too.
[This message was edited Sun Jan 18 19:56:46 PST 2004 by Milty]

I commend you Dansa...although saying that doesn't really contribute to the suggestion databank. I hope that some good things come from this...maybe even something that could work.

Milty said:

I have a feeling he has had his eye target on th e prg for quite some time now...I odnt much about all tis copyright info etc but it sems only amatter of time..

plus lookit what yall are doing... the same thing that some were saying about pronouncing the Bootleg site..i.e. ANNOUNCING IT..hellooo...and in the long run it wont matter because it was widely on the news organizations each time he takes on these sites etc and still he does what he wants and still yall will clamor for his product..I mean lets be real about this...and why you are upset...because he shut own the bootleg site of info...u didnt see that one coming? I can see the camera thing but yallknow how he feels about boots etc
[This message was edited Sun Jan 18 20:11:45 PST 2004 by rdhull]

Seriously...

I commend Dansa on her passion and desire to bring some focus to this frustration.

The thing that cheeses me off the most about this cease and desist crap is that the people who make these sites - these admirers of Prince's music - put a lot of work and investments into the creation of these projects. Think they didn't? Try to create your own website, on whatever topic - if it's gonna look like anything at all, it ain't a walk in the park. It takes commitment and resources and lots and lots of creativity and motivation, and it's gotta be a huge disappointment for the creators of these sites to have their hard work thumped over like a house of cards.

I would like to propose the creation of a simple web page listing the websites that have been shut down by Prince's people, with maybe a guestbook attached where folks can contribute their thoughts. The idea is not to start a "OMG LOL PRINCE SUCKS!!!" page, but to a) send words of appreciation to the folks who had their sites yanked, and to b) let Prince's people know that, even though we love him as an artist, he's got to treat his fan community with a little bit more regard.

And that may not mean taking a more lax position on bootleg info - it just may mean engaging in a more diplomatic dialog with the fan/fam/whatever community in which we're not treated like naughty children and he's not seen as a condescending schoolyard bully. This is not "Love 4 One Another".

Furthermore, maybe a simple representative HTML banner that people can put on their sites/blogs/sigs/etc. would help show the "numbers" of folks who think NPG's cease-and-desist-ism is at best questionable.

Just some thoughts. Keep up the good work, Dansa.

rdhull said:

so you're against my idea? you'd rather it not happen?

Anxiety said:

exactly. this is just what i'm thinkin. great idea, anx!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Im saying your idea wont mean anything to prince and his actions when it comes to terms of bootlegs information, bootlegs etc...

do u really think he gives a fuck what we or yall think abiyt this part of the purple sickness?

and it is a sickness

If a dissenting presence were channeled into a presence like a website or some kind of press statement or whatnot, and it were to be communicated to the media around, oh, I don't know...March sometime maybe...it could make for some timely lil' entertainment news blurbs...