In a quest to “reclaim his art on the Internet,” singer and musician Prince is going to sue sites like YouTube and eBay over unauthorized use of his work. Fans (and haters?) upload his videos and auction copies of his CDs and other merchandise in violation of his copyright, he claims. (Source)
In a post titled The Long Tail of Independence, I said that Prince was wasting his time and money. I advised him to embrace technology and use it to his advantage. How?
Make a “content agreement” with YouTube, and share the wealth. YouTube’s content is “created” by users. Part of what makes the YouTube model successful is that users have the run of the place, sort of like the blogosphere. They have a “stake” in the business. In a Web 2.0 universe, we create the content, and that content connects us to one another in ways no one even imagined 10 years ago. Just short of shutting down the Internet, there’s no way to stop these connections from forming. That’s what Prince is trying to do. Instead, he should create his own official channel on YouTube (like others) and profit from it.
As the video “Web 2.0…The Machine is Us/ing Us” showed us, we’ll need to rethink issues in the Web 2.0 universe like copyright and authorship. After all, no one should be allowed to use your work product without your permission, let alone profit from it. But how can YouTube police millions of users? This sounds cliche, but Prince needs to go with the flow and work with developing technology instead of trying to stop it. The dam is broken, baby.
While I can understand why Prince is suing YouTube and eBay, I can’t believe he’s threatening to sue his fans. From the Guardian:
[Prince's] lawyers have forced his three biggest internet fansites to remove all photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to the artist’s likeness. A legal letter asks the fansites to provide “substantive details of the means by which you propose to compensate our clients [Paisley Park Entertainment Group, NPG Records and AEG] for damages”.
…
A coalition named Prince Fans United, representing Housequake.com, Princefans.com and Prince.org, has been formed by the website organisers to fight back. They said they would contest the action on the basis that it was an attempt “to stifle all critical commentary about Prince”. They added that the “cease and desist” notices went as far as calling for the removal of pictures taken by fans of their Prince tattoos and their vehicles carrying Prince-inspired licence plates.
Prince, dude, how could you sue your fans? Do you know how difficult it is to build a loyal fanbase? Bad form, even if you’re a big enough star not to need a loyal fanbase to sell out concerts.
I’m not a Prince fan anymore, but what he’s doing is worth mentioning. I’m certain there are other artists thinking about suing YouTube and eBay. They’re just waiting and watching to see what happens.
By the way, “La Shawn Barber’s Corner” officially is no longer a political blog, although I’ll continue to follow topics like illegal “immigration” and government policy as it affects free speech on the Internet and the like. Adjust your blogrolls (add, delete, or change category) and RSS feeds (subscribe or unsubscribe) accordingly.
So what is LBC, exactly? Evolving. Yeah, that works. Four years of complaining about politicians and nitpicking every word they say or write has gotten old. Until I figure out this blog’s theme – if I figure it out – I’ll cover topics like faith, culture, digital technology (how it affects music sales, books, blogs, the long tail, etc.), and, occasionally, how these three things intersect.
This changing of the guards is also an experiment. I expect to lose the readership of people who followed my political ranting. As it is, my traffic stats are half what they were this time last year, and I expect lower numbers in the coming months. Will I be able to gain a new audience while blogging about faith, culture, and digital technology? Of course, but it will take time. Writing about what excites me, and not necessarily what’s popular, is the goal.
Comments are open. What’s on your mind?
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{ 17 comments }
I agree with you, LaShawn. Prince should be trying to work with sites like YouTube not against them. And suing fans? That’s ridiculous.
I look at it this way, Prince could profit off of people posting his work as long as they give proper attribution. It’s like free advertisement.
I think the fact that Prince is doing all this is a testament to his age. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Isn’t he in his fifties?
Hey kiddo, you just keep on writing, I’ll keep on reading.
You can’t fight technology….and that’s coming from someone who absolutely loathes cell phones !
What’s coming out of YouTube, these days is actually far more creative than mainstream media. You can always place in informal copyright around anything you publish.
Although many believe that “copyright” as we know it is dead.
We are actually going back to basics, I think—where money and profits are taken out of the equation, –back to a time when it was all about who was most creative, and the artistry….as opposed to the bottom line.
Or, will greed overtake YouTube and MySpace, eventually, also, someday ????
I agree with you, LaShawn. Prince should be trying to work with sites like YouTube not against them. And suing fans? That’s ridiculous.
I look at it this way, Prince could profit off of people posting his work as long as they give proper attribution. It’s like free advertisement.
I think the fact that Prince is doing all this is a testament to his age. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Isn’t he in his fifties?
(Getting into the spirit of Web 2.0, and this post. Too tired to come up with something orignal. My parenthetical statement is a value-add and makes this a unique creation, no attribution necessary)
La Shawn,
It’s interesting to witness firsthand your blog’s evolution. Sounds exciting. I’ll continue to read nonetheless.
Eddie
i just started reading here a couple of weeks ago and i love what you have to say. this post http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2007/11/04/theopneustos/ in particular.
i love how honest you are. i’m going to keep reading no matter which direction you decide to take.
Actually Prince was one of the first artist to move to the internet. This tactic is some form of a legal maneuver to gain some control of content on fan sites. Sorta like the rules the NFL has adopted this years regarding their content.
We will have to wait and see what the Purple one is really trying to achieve. On the surface he could be just trying to drive more traffic to his own site.
Thanks for commenting, everyone!
You know, I remember when Prince starting selling music through his web site several years ago. This suing business could be a tactic to generate traffic and interest.
Looking forward to the evolution of this blog. Faith, culture, digital technology, music. Some of my personal favorite subjects!!
Evolving is fine, so long as you’re not Emerging.
I love reading your comments. Good luck and take it one day at a time.
In my humble opinion, your readership dropped in part because you stopped allowing commenting on a regular basis.
Your blog is well written, edifying and provocative but it was your comment section that took it over the top. In fact, I suspect you spent an enormous amount of time monitoring and cultivating the comments. (probably one of the reasons you stopped taking comments so often, eh?) As a result, you had the highest quality blog on the net.
Your monitoring filtered out the crass, vulgar and thoughtless comments and allowed quality, well thought out yet still diverse comments that gave your readers a better understanding of your positions on current issues. Further, your comments to the comments enhanced your view points and likely converted some liberals to a more conservative point of view. (Not me, though.)
Reading commenters like Heliotrope, Tiffany, Shade and JohnD…and your interaction with them helped me to see and understand different perspectives/sides on issues about which you wrote.
I will continue to read your blog on whatever topic you write because you’re a good writer, but I miss reading your commenters and your iteraction with them.
Politics or not, I think what attracts us is the effort you put into what interests you.
As for me, topics on faith, culture, digital technology (how it affects music sales, books, blogs, the long tail, etc.), and, occasionally, how these three things intersect, will be followed with interest.
I’ve often thought that the most prolific, high quality bloggers must have paid (or very generous) assistants because there is no way one person can research, write and monitor by oneself unless you’re glued to the monitor and keyboard 24/7. I know how much time I spend just reading and commenting on a half dozen blogs that I frequent. Thanks for all the time you spent making your readers lives more interesting. Now, onward!
Prince put out some pretty good music in the day. I haven’t paid much attention to this recent stuff except to see some of his performances at awards shows, etc. which were knock outs. I don’t know how I feel about his quest to claim his copyright. I haven’t followed the story much, but in general if you let people abuse your bought and paid for, earned legal protections, then they eventually become worthless. But, then again, what does the law really mean these days? Ask 12-20 million illegal aliens.
Have fun in Vegas!
Prince is out of his mind. He gives away free his most recent album in the UK and he wants to attempt to reel-in fans from using his “protected image” on the Internet? The man’s done some pretty whacky things in the past 30 years, none the least of which was to create some compelling and outright-classic music. And he pulls this mess? He had a pretty big comeback three years ago with Musicology, but I’m afraid he could be heading in the same direction he did in the mid-90s by pulling these shenanigans. Or perhaps intentional irrelevance is what this mysterious man is seeking?
He may as well bring back the darn symbol.
BTW, how you been, La Shawn?
Has Prince ever been reasonable? Ever?
At least this is in keeping with his image (which may have been the intent). I remember a few years ago Garth Brooks made a big stink trying to prevent people from selling used CDs.
Maybe you have to be a little bit pixilated to work in show business.
Shall we refer to him now as his royal irrelevancy? I don’t think he nor his music has been relevant in years and he’s been living off his reputation while limiting whatever creativity he has left. It’s sad because he created some outstanding work but it looks more like he’s pitching a hissy fit and lashing out at any easy target on which he can sic his lawyers.
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