>From a business perspective that $25 "lifetime" membership was a horrible
financial model from the very start--in order for the club to make money it
depended on a constant addition of NEW members, while the existing members
probably wore out their profitability in terms of bandwidth, etc. after the
first year.
Plus the download store also presented a horrible financial model--because
of its highly restrictive digital rights management, licenses/files were
always available for the member to redownload. That's increased bandwidth
without any additional purchase.
In 2004 they probably didn't care because they assumedly got a slew of "new
members" for the tour (the $25 was rollin in!). But 2005 was a dry year,
and for the most part 2006 has been pretty low profile too. No new members
= no new money. Old members are spending any either, except for the few
buying overpriced merchandise "exclusives."
There were signs of money problems (to me) back when they made that NAACP
Vanguard performance available... they probably had to pay a hefty licensing
fee in order to sell it on the site; and when they did make it available,
there was an EXTREMELY aggressive push for people to download it "as a sign
of interest" in things like that. They seemed desperate not only (1) to
make back the cost of providing the performance for sale, but also (2)
demonstrate the vitality and utility of the site (presumably to Prince) at a
time when he himself was providing minimum news/content.
By the end of the day, NPGMC basically was a message board, with a few
regulars (relative to the hundreds? of thousands of members).
It makes sense that they revamp. Of course, I don't buy the "we are
contemplating what to do next" line... My guess is that they ALREADY KNOW
what they're going to do next and are putting it into place.
As much as people complained, I think the $100 fee structure was the best
one, both in terms of site content (downloads etc.) and concert perqs.
On 7/4/06, Amil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> This means it's going to be a bit harder to find out about
> concerts... for now. And it must suck for people who just recently
> joined. But Prince will definitely be back soon. I can't imagine him
> without a web presence. And my guess is that he ended the Club
> suddenly, but will be back with a "normal" web site. There will be no
> more Club - but I think he will have a new Artist website designed
> and on line - he will surely sell merchandise there and maybe
> continue to offer pre-sale concert tix like other artists do.
>
> I'm glad he's changing things. Personally, I was hardly ever using
> Club site anymore (except for concert info). It's strange that he
> wouldnt have another website designed and ready to go, but hey, thats
> Prince! He probably just told his people a couple of weeks ago to
> shut it down.
>
> Amil
>
> <Moderator: Shit! There was a ton of other sources that did better at
> providing Prince related that NPGMC so I say good riddance. Hopefully a
> more
> function site will come out of the ashes of that horrible site -Derek>
>
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: TA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Date: Jul 4, 2006 9:04 AM
> > Subject: NPNY: Happy 4th? - Re: Music Club Hiatus
> > To: npny@lists.panix.com
> >
> > 2159fd1e41f690756f36dc87813833b2866e14058d4cf7af7dc3cedf14da50d33765d7
> > 1ddb4f
> > c9ed350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c
> > X-Originating-IP: 209.86.224.32
> > Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Precedence: bulk
> > Reply-To: npny@lists.panix.com
> >
> > Good Lord, now what? What's this hiatus stuff? No more club? They
> > didn't
> > even bother to send an email. Does anyone think this is serious or
> > just some
> > stupid new stunt? I had to go to Prince.org to find out about it. I
> > bet it
> > does come back but with a yearly membership. There's going to be a
> > lot of
> > pissed off people, especially the ones who just joined.
> >
> > Of course it doesn't help that I was already having a crappy
> > holiday. Last
> > night I was horribly betrayed by someone who supposedly loves me, I
> > have
> > this sinking feeling that I may never again see someone else that I
> > really
> > wanted to "get to know", and today I get to look forward to the family
> > barbeque where I get to be insulted and berated my brother tries to
> > drown me
> > in the pool like he does every year.
> >
> > Fine, Prince. Do whatever the hell you want. Go play with your
> > celebrity
> > friends instead at 3121 and ignore people like me who have stuck
> > with you
> > for over 20 years. To show how much I don't care, I'm going to break
> > tradition and not play the extended version of America like I do
> > every July
> > 4th. I have more important things to worry about now.
> >
> > Despite the above rant, I really do wish all the NPNY'ers a happy
> > and safe
> > holiday.
> >
> > Tom
> >
> > <Moderator: We all kind of saw this coming. We speculated on it a
> > few weeks
> > ago when they stop taking membership. -Derek>
> >
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