Prince gives the finger to his fans
p2pnet news | Music:- “Of course there is a risk to Prince,” Carnes said.
Rick Carnes is the president of the Songwriters Guild of America
“Prince is going to be completely destroyed on the Internet by the system that they got in place to dismantle artists who speak up for their rights. Do a Google search on Lars Ulrich. Look at all of the millions of negative things they wrote about him. It’s all right. We’re used to it.”
Prince is the guy who’s suddenly decided to give his fans the finger because all of a sudden, he’s decided he doesn’t like file sharers after all.
This summer he generated all kinds of priceless, but free, on- and offline publicity when he dumped a track from his then upcoming album Planet Earth on the P2P networks. And then sat back and watched it all happen.
And just to round it off, he later gave the CD away as part of a UK newspaper promotion.
But that was then, and this is now. And now Prince isn’t only going after his fans, but also the guys who run the infamous The Pirate Bay over in Sweden.
Carnes, meanwhile, is quoted in a CNET News article which goes on:
In a matter of months, Prince has achieved the unenviable distinction of being the musician with the most combative stance against file-sharing networks since Lars Ulrich, drummer for heavy-metal band Metallica, waved a list of 335,000 Napster screen names outside that company’s Silicon Valley office in 2000.
But determining exactly why Prince decided to get tough with Internet piracy isn’t easy. A representative for the musician said he wasn’t available to discuss his views. In fact, he very rarely gives interviews. But the people helping his case say Prince has to take a stand, as unpopular as it may be.
“Prince is obliged to come up with the plan because no one else has done anything about this blatant piracy,” says John Giacobbi in the story.
He’s the online scalp hunter who runs Web Sheriff, the parasitical anti-piracy firm Prince hired to “coordinate his copyright fights”.
If the name seems familiar, Web Sheriff and The Pirate Bay have a very long history together, and so far WS has been distinguished by its total lack of success against TPB.
Also, the Arctic Monkeys, another band which owes much of its success to the online crowd, also thought of Giacobbi and his unsavoury crew when they decided it was time to bite the hands that fed them.
“How galling then for the industry that the number-one spot in this week’s chart was taken by Arctic Monkeys, a band from Sheffield whose first professional single owes its existence not to the image-makers but to internet file-sharing,” wrote The Economist.
However, Web Sheriff did about as much good for the Chilly Primates as it’s likely to do for the Purple Horror.
“These guys [TPB] are operating a huge piracy operation, but Prince means business,” waffles Giacobbi bitterly. “The Pirate Bay has had the ballpark to themselves for far too long.”
He should know.
Meanwhile Prince, et al, need to remember one important thing:
What the fans giveth, the fans can taketh away.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
Also See:
watched it all happen – Prince’s Planet Earth CD: FREE!, June 29, 2007
going after his fans – Angry fans may sue Prince, November 7, 2007
CNET News – Prince: The artist who formerly liked the Internet, November 13, 2007
bite the hands that fed them – rctic Monkeys slags file sharers, April 5, 2007
The Economist – Monkey Business, October 27, 2005
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November 17th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Prince is being a douche but I would guess he has to jump through hoops to get back in the music industries good graces after giving away his cd. It’s not an excuse and I certainly an not a Prince fan but I have noticed that all of this happened after the cd giveaway.
November 17th, 2007 at 7:32 am
For people who no one in the mainstream really gives two craps about (who the heck are the “Arctic Monkeys?” I never heard of these fools in the first place!) they owe 95% of their current success to file sharing. After all, a 10-second sample of a song does not a preview make, and in the era of three songs maximum per album being decent to listen to (with a minimum of ZERO), one has to hear a lot of songs before one decides if a band produces ANYTHING worth buying in the first place. Before, people wouldn’t buy; now, people “steal this album” first and give it a once-over before they decide to add it to their CD collection.
What we have for each of these bands is one of two things: either they make crappy songs to begin with, and file sharing is killing their income because they don’t deserve it in the first place, or they’re just idiots who don’t recognize how they’re maintaining success in the first place.
And like I’ve said before, it’s all about giving the customer what they want. If Prince thinks we should purchase his entire album without previewing it, he can go to Hell in a very small and cramped handbasket, because we don’t have to conform to what he thinks we should do–there’s a big difference between what’s written into law and what actually can be done, and even though “online file sharing” can be considered illegal, ten million users and growing can’t be wrong!
It’s not my problem that these morons are stuck with major labels. They can go down with ‘em for all I care. What makes these fools so special that they think they can tell me how I get my music?
And on a personal note…Prince sucks, for the record. Really. He’s not an artist, he’s a Hoover upright vacuum with 15 big powerful amps cranked all the way up on high, so I don’t want to hear him TALKING until he stops SUCKING SO BAD, but that’s just me, isn’t it? What? You’re asking me “who the heck is Prince?”
…I thought so…
November 17th, 2007 at 11:42 am
“I would guess he has to jump through hoops to get back in the music industries good graces after giving away his cd.”
The music industry is irelevant and resistance is futile. Thie only thing that matter is the fan. This Prince is a moron or may be the RIAA kidnaped is wife or his kid or something if he has one?
November 17th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
And a former fan give it four midle fingers back to Prince. Yes! My two dirty feet included!
November 17th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
To get rid of pirates, change copyright laws!
they created the pirates, only they can get rid of the pirates!
Industry WILL adapt, this way the world doesnt have to adapt to a industry! witch is so WRONG its insane, but most seem to be less intelligent then a rock when it comes to it..
November 17th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I’m giving you the finger Prince, and I just downloaded and burned 7 of your Cds!
November 17th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
What is Prince?
November 17th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Every time someone mentions “pirate” I laugh uncontrollably. The term was applied to suggest atrocious crimes (which real pirates used to commit; id est, the sea faring brigands). The copyright and patent law system is the real source of piracy; created for the sole benefit of the wealthy (mostly companies). I have yet to see any evidence where these laws encourage innovation. If anything they are designed to reinforce monopolies. Thus, innovation is stifled and narrow mindedness prevails.
As long as our countries are run by corrupt politicians with vested interests in maintaining the status quo (or put another way, are paid to support the interests of the wealthy), things will never change. The only recourse is to change the system of government.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
ARRRHHHH MOTHERFUCKERS! AVAST! I BE A PIRATE! IM IN UR POOTERZ, STEELIN UR SONGZ, RIPPIN UR TRAX, BURNIN UR MP3Z, GOT ME SKULL-N-XBONZ HAT AN’ ME CITRUS FROOT WIRE SOFWAREZ, GUNNA GET ME SUM RAR FYLZ, BREAK ME SUM COPYSHITS! OH SHIT MP3 POLICE PULLIN A ‘BAY ON ME CABLE MODEM!!!!111
Yeah, uh-huh, music pirates: serious fucking business. What-the-shit-ever. If your fans are pirates, where are their cannons…? Oh wait…
November 17th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Hint: the previous comment was humor. If you didn’t pick up on that, please impale yourself on a turkey baster.