Prince to Open Up Vaults for New Web Site

Ever wondered what it'd be like to reside in the head of Prince? Well, the Purple One's new Web site, LotusFlow3r.com, gives fans a glimpse and, as you'd imagine, it is mind-blowing. Spinner visited the office of the LotusFlow3r's developer, Scott Addison Clay, for a sneak preview of the intricate site, which was largely inspired by the popular video game Myst.

Like the game, LotusFlow3r offers an intricate maze of worlds to delve into, all with ridiculous 3-D graphics that conjure up some images of the classic animated film 'Heavy Metal.' And once into the Prince galaxy, the riches are numerous. For starters, fans will be able to hear and download all three of his 2009 new albums, 'LotusFlow3r,' 'MPLSound' -- which features online replicas of the Minneapolis skyline and Prince's favorite guitar, Sonny -- and 'Elixir,' a collaboration between Prince and his newest protegée, Bria Valente, prior to any physical release.

But the real treasure for Prince devotees is in the archive. According to Clay, Prince has filmed almost every one of his concerts since the 'Purple Rain' days, and to prove it, he had Spinner click on a video link inside Prince's virtual head, where we discovered a performance of 'Break It Down' from last year's Coachella show.

LotusFlow3r, which will launch sometime this month, will be a paid subscription site (Clay is speculating that the initial cost for a year will be $77), and to give fans their money's worth, Prince will continue to roll out content on a regular basis, including live video clips and possible full-length concerts, as well as unreleased music. According to Clay, Prince has copious amounts of never-issued material, which Clay and his team are in the process now of cataloging.

In essence, it's a true one-stop shop. This is not surprising, following the Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails paradigms of self-released music, which Clay says he talked about with Prince back in September at their first meeting. Clay has already had calls from other artists interested in following the example of LotusFlow3r, and he admits the Purple One is trying to entice some of his big-name friends into his galaxy.