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Prince Sues Devoted Norwegian Fans Who Made Cover Album

by Blake Besharian, posted Jun 26th 2008 at 7:05PM


On June 7th, the artist and sex symbol formerly known as Prince officially turned 50 and apparently someone brought hime the wrong gift. It was a copy of a new five-disc Prince tribute album, which consists of 81 cover songs by Norwegian musicians of every genre including that country's National Symphony Orchestra.

Soon after receiving "Shockadelica-50th Anniversary Tribute to The Artist Known As Prince," the Artist sued C+C Records, the Norwegian music label that put the tribute together. The suit demanded that all copies of the album -- which has been critically acclaimed and peaked at no. 8 on the Norwegian charts -- be destroyed. The label's owner, Christer Falck, is also a well known television actor and a huge Prince fan. Since no one was paid for their participation, Falck didn't think he owed Prince anything more than a free copy of the disc. Especially since the description on the label's Web site features this loving statement:

"This is more than just a Prince-tribute album. This is actually EVERYTHING the Norwegian musical scene has to offer 2008. All is made with love to the world's greatest artist ever, Prince."

Actually, Falck shouldn't be surprised that he was sued, as this isn't the first time Prince has censured his fans. In 2007, he gave legal notice to YouTube, eBay and The Pirate Bay to take down all of his copyrighted content. Then, last October, Prince's record company, Universal, demanded that YouTube remove this home video of a toddler dancing to a barely audible clip of "Lets Go Crazy." Even this past spring, Prince demanded that YouTube remove a fan-recorded video of his cover of Radiohead's "Creep" at Coachella.

The C+C Records page and the "Shockadelica" MySpace page have free samples of the limited edition album. It's sure to be a collectors item. [Source: Wired]

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Prince Comforts Fans with Free MP3 Download

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 12th 2007 at 11:57AM

Prince Has Schizophrenia, We Think
Prince is schizophrenic. Really that's the only excuse we can think of. First he gave away his album for free, then he sued YouTube, eBay, and Pirate Bay for enabling people to share his music. Then the artist formerly known as "the artist formerly known as Prince" decided to sue his biggest fan sites for using images of his likeness... including those created with needle and ink on fans' skin.

Now Prince has had yet another PR seizure. First he tried to play nice with the people he is currently sending cease and desist letters to by offering up a new song, 'PFunk', to Prince Fans United, an organization formed by Prince fan sites being sued by the purple-obsessed musician. Of course, shortly after that, Prince's PR lackeys released a statement claiming the people behind Prince Fans United were "phony."

This story would be confusing enough if it ended here, but the elven funk deity quickly released another statement saying the previous "phony" statement had been released in error and that he was working with Prince Fans United to release a joint statement. Phew... that's a whole lot of statements.

Here's hoping Prince gets his act together soon... we're running out of snarky ways to refer to him.

From TMZ

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Prince Sues His No. 1 Fans

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 7th 2007 at 12:19PM


Two months ago, we told you about Prince suing YouTube, eBay, and BitTorrent site Pirate Bay for enabling the piracy of his music. We suggested, as politely as we possibly could, that perhaps the elfin former superstar should take a lesson from Metallica, salvage some dignity, and try to avoid legal tussles over fans sharing his music.

Well, apparently Prince was listening, but somehow he's found another way to alienate the music aficionados who love him. Instead of suing file sharers, he's now going after his most popular fan sites for posting pictures of him, album art, and lyrics to his songs. Needless to say, this isn't exactly what we had in mind.

Really, this sort of self destructive insanity shouldn't be too shocking, since it comes from a guy whose rider on a recent tour supposedly included dark chocolate, black rooms, an oxygen bar and three sexy girls. Even so, we still can't help but be amazed by the continued audacity of the washed-up funk star.

This time however the fans are fighting back. Prince is already seeing the beginnings of a backlash similar to that which Metallica faced following its decision to sue the users of Napster. Three of the most popular Prince fan sites, Prince.org, Houseqake.com, and Princefams.com have joined forces to create Prince Fans United, an organization dedicated fighting the lawsuits based on the doctrines of fair use and free speech.

These Web sites, along with several others, have "received notices to cease and desist all use of photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to Prince's likeness," and been told to provide "substantive details of the means by which you [the fansites] propose to compensate our clients [Paisley Park Enterprises, NPG Records and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)] for damages..." The demands go as far as mandating that the sites pull down pictures fans have taken of their own tattoos, as well as photos of their Prince-inspired license plates.

Prince Fans United hopes that Prince and his army of lawyers will reconsider, but we figure it's highly unlikely seeing as it's obvious he's lost his damn mind.

See our gallery of Prince's fan sites here.


Gallery: Prince's Fan Sites



From BBC

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Prince Sues Three Sites Over Piracy of His Music

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Sep 14th 2007 at 11:26AM

Prince Sues eBay, YouTube, and Pirate Bay
Prince (The Artist Formerly Known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince), is taking on three sites that he says are primarily responsible for the online piracy of his music. Prince and a company called Web Sheriff are working closely together to get the offending material pulled from both YouTube and eBay. The third site named in the suit is Torrent peer-to-peer file sharing network / repository Pirate Bay.

Web Sheriff announced that it had successfully removed 2,000 YouTube videos and had 300 auctions pulled from eBay. The statement went on to say "Prince strongly believes artists as the creators and owners of their music need to reclaim their art."

We think that perhaps Prince should reclaim his dignity and stop suing outlets where his fans get together to share music, memorabilia, and experiences. Look Prince, baby, you don't want to do this. Have you looked at Metallica recently? That band's crusade against piracy did nothing for its members' careers.

From BetaNews

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New Prince Album Free for the Taking

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 16th 2007 at 11:47AM


The artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince distributed thousands of copies of his new album 'Planet Earth' for free along with the U.K. publication 'The Mail.' It was supposed to be a limited promotion, but given the free nature of the album, people are having no compunctions about going ahead and posting the thing online for anyone to download ... somewhat at odds with the petite rocker's plans to release the album for sale (i.e. not free) in the U.S. and Canada on July 24.

As of this posting, the album is easily found online for downloading, an action that may or may not be illegal. The giveaway was an attempt to drum up interest in Prince in the U.K. where his albums have sold poorly lately. For the record, Prince will also be giving away copies for free to concert goers, so if downloading isn't for you and you don't feel like buying the thing at stores, perhaps a nice show would be in order?

From BBC News

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Verizon Gives Away Prince's New Single

by Tom Conlon, posted May 31st 2007 at 5:02PM

Verizon Gives Away Prince's New Single
Who said nothing in life is free? In a whirlwind of cross-promotional, down-your-throat synergistic marketing, Verizon has teamed with Prince to offer free exclusive downloads, starting today, of the new single 'Guitar,' from the petite rocker's upcoming album, 'Planet Earth,' weeks before its release.

The hoopla is being stirred up to promote Prince's new jams, as well as Verizon's new V CAST Song ID feature. Song ID allows a Verizon customer to hold his or her phone up to any audio source. Song ID identifies the track and lets the user buy either the ringtone, ringback tone or full-track -- right from the phone.

To get 'Guitar' for free, head to Verizon's music site, play the Prince video and hold your Song ID-enabled phone up to your computer speakers. The song is free, but the ringtones will cost you.

Hey, if you're a fan of Prince's patented blend of guitar funk and helium-voiced shrieks, this deal can't be beat.

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