Prince: “You can’t party like it’s 1999″
Prince doesn’t want filesharers using the Pirate Bay to party like it’s 1999, at least not when they’re downloading his tracks, that is. He has hired a web guru to admonish youtube, ebay and The Pirate Bay for profiting from his work in violation of the copyright that he owns.The diminutive star, formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince (or ’symbol’, or whatever publicity stunt it is that has become flavour of the moment) has hired UK-based Web Sherriff, a company specialising in ‘policing’ the internet and bring those responsible for copyright injustices to rightful justice. Top on his list is P2P file sharing community The Pirate Bay.
He also criticised youTube, saying:
In the past couple of weeks, we have removed about 2,000 infringing clips from YouTube. We get them down and the next day, there are 100 or 200 more. Their business model is built on making money off other people’s creative work,
He is also going after items sold on eBay, which include items containing Prince’s likeness — items such as mugs and pens. It is clear that Web Sheriff is aiming very high indeed.
Apparently Prince thinks that it is high time that artists began to “reclaim their art”. Prince has been ’savvy’ over protecting his own rights since he changed his name for the 28th time, recently. He and his team are “very firmly in the digital age”, and their changed focus demonstrates this. But, as zeropaid points out, these are exactly the sites, the fan base, and the types of items that help to build a brand. An artist like Prince will rely on this brand greatly — he’s not all about the music, it’s about the showman behind the tunes; and that’s not to diminish what he’s done.
Once again it appears, to us, to be a case of fighting the wrong battles entirely.
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