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Prince suing YouTube, others over use of music


Jeff da Weasel

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LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. pop star Prince plans to sue YouTube and other major Web sites for unauthorized use of his music in a bid to "reclaim his art on the Internet."

 

The man behind hit songs "Purple Rain," "1999" and "When Doves Cry" said on Thursday that YouTube could not argue that it had no control over which videos users posted on its site.

 

"YouTube ... are clearly able (to) filter porn and pedophile material but appear to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content which is core to their business success," a statement released on his behalf said.

 

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I can't help but feel this is the wrong direction for His Purpleness to take. I'll let the rest of you expound with your thoughts, but YouTube (and all the other sites that offer user-uploadable content) is the proverbial can of worms that's hard to close once the lid is removed.

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I'm actually amazed that there haven't been more lawsuits against YouTube. I love it, but there's no denying that they are blatently disregarding copyright laws. As much as I understand why Prince is upset I don't necessarilly agree with this lawsuit. Just because a free video is online doesn't mean that people won't go see an artist in concert or buy their CD/DVD.

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There actually might be less than meets the eye here.

 

The Guardian also had the story.

 

It seems the purple one is in Europe. The news story is based on the PR releases of a rather self-serving lawyer/"Web Sheriff", John Giacobbi. Who by day is also an "artist manager".

 

Universal Music, Prince's publisher sent stern letters earlier this year. That was real. This seems like opportunistic noise.

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In addition to losing control of your music, you also lose control over the quality in which it is presented. Some of the Prince videos posted sound worse than crap.Above royalty issues, I would want to sue for that fact alone.

 

 

The ultimate end to that line of thinking is control of the consumer's listening environment at every level. It's never been done.

 

"You can only buy my CD if you promise not to play it on a Goldstar whatchamathingy... and absolutely no 20-year-old Radio Shack speakers with blown tweeters. You are also prohibited from watching my videos on MTV and VH1 with a 13" portable TV with only one speaker." :eek:

 

Youtube puts people like Prince on the radar of listeners that would otherwise have no idea who the hell he is.

 

If the culture values music, youtube should inspire the audience to go out and buy hi-fi CDs and/or DVDs of what they

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I don't think it's about money. Sure, there will be some opportunity profits lost from people who hear a Prince song in a YouTube video and decide not to buy the CD or $0.99 download, but I don't think that's the point.

 

According to copyright law, if you don't enforce your copyright, you lose the opportunity to claim it. By not exercising some control over YouTube, he's relinquishing the right to control the use of his work. He doesn't necessarily need (or want) a royalty payment for every download or viewing- just a notification that a copy of his work exists and a request to let it stand. If he really doesn't approve of a particular usasge, he can exercise his control and disapprove it. Or he can choose to approve it. Or he can ask for money as a condition for approval and let YouTube make the decision to keep it or dump it.

 

He could, of course, police the site himself, but his point seems to be that it doesn't seem to be something that YouTube couldn't do using their current "porn filter" technolgy. I don't know if it would really be that easy. But I think he's well within his rights, as established by copyright law, to do what he can to assure that in the future someone doesn't challenge his copyright of a song on the basis that he didn't control its usage on a YouTube video.

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Angelo, do you party with these folks?

 

 

We, my wife and I, very seldom socialize with lower rank aristocrats! That much for fun.

 

However, I am "Master of King's Music" (court composer), appointee to the court of a German aristocrat. To his terms I compose annually one work. This year it was a work of 45m56s titled "Augenblicke" (engl. "Moments"), it was a reputable success, and there where compact discs pressed for the noble guests. The German president commented on my music: "I haven't heard such nice music since my state visit in Nepal"

 

.

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Prince is great and talented and all that, yes. I don't think we need to base our thoughts on a matter like this on our personal perceived quality of the artist.

 

I agree with Mike Rivers' point about maintaining your copyrights.

 

I also agree that fighting something like YouTube or MySpace or whatever is not in the best interests of artists in this brave new world. It's an anachronistic line of thought, when used properly, it can be one of the best promotional tools out there. I am much more likely to buy music that I've been exposed to, and I don't listen to a lot of "new music" radio, but I sure DO spend a lot of time on the Internet. To reach a guy like me, YouTube is a great way to do it. Pulling your content is, IMHO, similar to not allowing your songs to be played on the radio because someone could record the signal. It's counterproductive to your goals, and short-sighted.

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It's not ignorant, just a preference. But certainly one I don't agree with. Prince is awesome.

 

 

"Nobody has cared about you for 20 years."

 

Not even close to true, thus ignorant. It's opinion to say "I haven't cared about you..." - but lots of people do care, else he wouldn't have a career.

 

And yeah, Prince is an awesome talent. Whether you like his albums or not, his musicianship is incredible.

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Prince is great and talented and all that, yes. I don't think we need to base our thoughts on a matter like this on our personal perceived quality of the artist.


I agree with Mike Rivers' point about maintaining your copyrights.


I also agree that fighting something like YouTube or MySpace or whatever is not in the best interests of artists in this brave new world. It's an anachronistic line of thought, when used properly, it can be one of the best promotional tools out there. I am much more likely to buy music that I've been exposed to, and I don't listen to a lot of "new music" radio, but I sure DO spend a lot of time on the Internet. To reach a guy like me, YouTube is a great way to do it. Pulling your content is, IMHO, similar to not allowing your songs to be played on the radio because someone could record the signal. It's counterproductive to your goals, and short-sighted.

 

True - and his next move is to post it there himself. Maintain quality control, but don't fight the rising tide.

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What would you know? Nobody has cared about your posts
ever
.
:wave:

Prince has been a non-entity, commercially speaking, for quite a while.

 

 

The 20,000 people who filled the Staples Center when I was there seemed to like Prince's music. His new videos get played regularly. It'd be different if you said "I don't care about Prince" instead of "NO ONE cares about Prince,", as we're all entitled to our opinions. But now someone points that out, and then you have to go attack THAT person. Makes you look really petty and infantile in a public forum. I point this out only because I'm here to help.

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The 20,000 people who filled the Staples Center when I was there seemed to like Prince's music. His new videos get played regularly. It'd be different if you said "I don't care about Prince" instead of "NO ONE cares about Prince,", as we're all entitled to our opinions. But now someone points that out, and then you have to go attack THAT person. Makes you look really petty and infantile in a public forum. I point this out only because I'm here to help.

 

 

So....it's OK for franknputer to say attack, but not to reply? :rolleyes:

 

Originally Posted by franknputer

Ignorant post of the day!

 

It's pretty easy for the second largest metropolitan area in the country to sell 20,000 seats for somebody that had one hit record 24 years ago.

 

Now, let's see that happen the next year with no hit album.

And BTW, when have they played a NEW Prince song on the radio?

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