The Two Faces of Prince

September 25th, 2007 by writetilt
A couple of weeks ago, news came out that Prince was suing eBay, YouTube, and a few other sites for massive copyright infringement of his catalog of work. Prince is the latest plaintiff hopping on the lawsuit bandwagon of industries (Viacom) and artists suing online sites for copyright violations; however, what makes this case interesting is that this lawsuit is coming from someone who gave the middle finger to record stores and the record labels by giving away a copy of his newest CD…for free.
I find Prince’s decision to file a copyright infringement lawsuit odd considering past events. After his big blow up with the Warner Brothers label in the 90s, Prince started releasing his music exclusively online. He was among the first (if not the first) of mainstream artists to embrace the use of the Internet to distribute music to the masses. He even won a Webby award for his accomplishments in online music distribution. Of course, fans had to pay for the albums he released online back then, but considering Prince’s early adoption of the Internet to distribute music, I thought that he would get the Web 2.0 era more than many. In a time where the Internet is the new MTV – because we all know that MTV doesn’t play videos anymore – I would think Prince would embrace the new social media. A whole new generation of fans is discovering Prince’s work, more than likely on the very sites he filed suit against. While I can understand some artists – and lest we forget the lawsuit-happy record and movie industry – having an issue with Bit Torrent sites (the Pirate Bay) and sites like YouTube, they’ve got to come to terms that the current industry and business model is broken. The digital medium is alive and well, and it’s not going anywhere. People are going to pirate movies, video, and music, so instead of trying to sue kids and grandmothers for illegal downloads, they should adopt a new [DRM-free] business model. I thought Prince was one of the few mainstream artists that got that, the idea of free music distribution by giving away his new CD and touring to make money. Obviously, he doesn’t quite subscribe to Trent Reznor’s theories when it comes to the music industry.
Granted, I get that Prince distributing his latest CD free to the masses is different because he voluntarily decided to do so, but it’s a matter of apples and oranges; fruit is fruit, even though it comes from a different tree. Instead of working to become the new Metallica – whom lost tons of cool points for going after Napster – Prince should drop the lawsuit and just worry about kicking ass and taking names (as usual) at his live shows. Yes, I understand that he feels his work is being infringed on, but he needs to take the red pill on this issue and stop thinking like the masses – the music industry, which ironically enough is the very same industry that he felt like he was a slave to for a number of years. Whether Prince likes it or not, his music is out there on the tubes forever. He can sue YouTube and eBay and other sites all he wants, but he can’t stop the information highway…unless he wants to sue the Internet.
Well, I suppose if a man can sue God, I guess Prince could sue the Internet.

http://www.writetilt.com/2007/09/25/the-two-faces-of-prince/