How do they get away with openly making and selling bootlegs every few months? Why haven't the Paisley Police shut them down yet - and why is Prince shutting down bootleg information sites like Guide2Prince, but doing nothing about the people that make them?

They're nicely tucked away n a secret location n Europe. That can relocate within a moments notice. don't even know where they R n Europe. This is the same 4 Moonraker and all the others.
[This message was edited Sun May 16 23:04:12 2004 by ThePurplePeopleEater]

ThePurplePeopleEater said:

Moonraker bit the dust after releasing The Work series.

Sabotage might be next if they're not more careful.

.

And, I'll go ahead and post the obligatory follow-up question:
If Prince doesn't want these people to make money off of him, then WHY wont HE go ahead and release those songs on bootlegs? Look at Pearl Jam - they made TONS off of those 25 bootlegs they sold, all at once.

and today I just picked up a copy of the double CD "Past, Present & Future", compliments of Sabotage Records. Thankfully there are outlets such as this where we can access quality unreleased tracks. Very nice!

MrSquiggle said:

They have been in Sweeden for a while. I've heard copywrite laws are not as strict there, I do not know the legalities of it though....

otan said:

Maybe he already is. Who says he isn't involved when it comes to Sabotage? It would be making money from which he wouldn't have to give a dime to the IRS (well, he should, but wouldn't). Maybe that's why they have all the best stuff out and why they can't find them. Or am I waaaay off on this?

ThePurplePeopleEater said:

Actually they exist at Paisley Park Studios.

David1974 said:

No not at all. There is MUCH speculation regarding where Boots come from. From Bobby Z demo tapes to P doing it himself. Many contridictions. I've seen boots that have pictures with the originating code on the side of the print. Now since we know P owns all pictures...where did these come from and WHY were the serial numbers included? Maybe it is that he controls one of these distribution labels while trying to compete with the others.

And then the question that gets asked over and over again is why does P not just release this stuff and take it to the bank?

Wish I had a dollar for everytime they say "wish Prince would release the boots he made, back in the day"

superspaceboy said:

If it were just about $$$ then that would be a good question.

But it's also about art. If you are an artist and you create a work of art that you decide, for whatever reason, not to release to the public, should you be forced into releasing it just because it's been stolen and sold by someone else?

It would make sense for an artist signed to a major label to be involved in some sideline bootleging. As it is, Prince could bootleg himself without fear of retribution and not pay taxes. I doubt he pays proper taxes on his tours (aftershows etc.)


moonbeamlevels.com


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Universaluv said:

Good Point. And Prince has proved this many times over with releases and pull backs and even stating something will never be released (TGE). Only to release it.

But what about the point that there is SO MUCH. He wouldn't have to compromise on the ones he didn't want to. And Certainly there is enough LIVE material to pad his retirement home.

Personally I think he doesn't do half the stuff he says is cuz either it costs too much (The Chocolate Invasion), or can't get the right players (Roadhouse Garden), it's too ambitious (rerecording the entire back catalog), or he just plain changes his mind. I don't think he realizes just how busy he is...and THAT'S a factor too. He needs a mini P to do his work.

superspaceboy said:

If you were illegally bootleging music would you be all that concerned about respecting the copyright of the pictures/images? And Prince doesn't own all the pictures.

Sabotage is actually based out of[Snip. Removed.]

squirrelgrease said:

Uhuh.....

I used to get Moonraker/ Sabotage stuff directly from a rep there - a few years ago when I had a record store.
Made pretty good friends with the guy and he did hint that Prince himself was involved - the only way he could put out as much stuff as he wanted.
When you consider the quality of those bootlegs it makes sense.
I think he pulled out recently though to do the NPG site thing....

trickflippy said:

I have heard this before, and it makes sense. But I was told by a Sabotage "concert recorder" on the June 15th, 2000 MPLS show, that this is not true. He said Prince was really pissed off when Thunderball released Dream Factory in 2000.

He also told me that Thunderball & Sabotage make enough money to break even and are run by "really big Prince fans".

Take it for what it's worth....

I know of one of the 'recorders' too, and he's winging his way over to the U.S. just now for the next leg of the tour.
Prince isn't involved, never has been, and would squash 'em like a bug if he could.....but thank fuck he can't.

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Universaluv said:

No. But it seemed like the serial numbers were included on purpose...like to make a point or something. Of course, It could have easily have been a the label doing the same thing.

David1974 said:

David,I feel the same way! It wouldn't surprise me one bit to find out that Prince is actually the owner of Sabotage Records.Stranger things have happened.

MrSquiggle said:

You are making the impression that you are upset about the existence of boots.
I hope sab etc will exist forever.....they have released more interesting stuff than Prince himself ever did.