Meet the new Lars

pO157.

Posted to Music on Sat Sep 15, 2007 at 12:31:42 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

Lars Ulrich is perhaps one of the more despised individuals in the seedy underbelly of the internet due to his efforts to take down music 'pirates'. While the Napster many of us remember is long gone, Prince is stepping up to halt what he claims is music and video copyright infringement on one of the Web's most popular free services, YouTube.

Fresh off tour with famed singer Sir Elton John, Prince found time to threaten the video site as well as eBay and piracy search engines with a lawsuit, as well as demand the removal of over 2,000 videos from YouTube. He has already had 1,000 copies of concert videos taken down to date.

YouTube has to date avoided media attention about copyrighted music videos and material in its database. It is frequently used as a repository of rare music videos which some groups seem to allow, yet many famous Prince songs are notably absent.

A spokesman for the artist responsible for Purple Rain said "Very few artists have ever taken this kind of action over their rights. Yet Prince has shown time and time again that he is ready to challenge the system in new ways to put artists and music first."

Prince is represented by the European Anti-Piracy group WebSheriff.

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Tags: written by pO157, edited by port1080, copyright, Prince, Metallica, lawsuits (all tags)

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2	Put artists first? nmiguy. Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 12:05:30 PM EST 4.00 (astute)

Yet Prince has shown time and time again that he is ready to challenge the system in new ways to put artists and music first.

So he thinks that by suing YouTube or threatening some website he will force his fans to buy his old stuff and then he can make more money.

What he misses out is the whole concept of making new fans. The freebies that people hear turn them on to acts they don't know. I can see how YouTube can give away for free stuff that Prince would prefer to sell, but you know there is a fine line between putting artists and their music first, and then putting the fans first.

3 2	Re: Put artists first? pO157. Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 01:12:12 PM EST none

Exactly. Any of these independent or garage type music bands would love the publicity he has. You don't see them suing YouTube or collectors to get their videos and music taken down. It's all about publicity and exposure, and this guy apparently does not understand how to make free exposure work for him. I honestly wonder if he consulted with his PR or marketing guy before doing this.

I don't understand why Prince wants the crumbs after he already has the whole pie. Hell, stealing the crumbs is going to keep him from (Smaller) Pie #2.

4 3	Re: Put artists first? nmiguy. Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 08:11:44 AM EST none

And basically his older existing fans have all his old stuff and are somewhat likely to buy some of his new stuff. But he won't make any new hits without the publicity. When was the last time you heard a new Prince song on the radio?

I mean, it isn't wrong to want SOME control over your new stuff. But since teh old stuff has been out there for a while, let it be shown on YouTube to draw in new fans who never heard Little Red Corvette or Rasberry Beret. They may say, "hey this guy was pretty good, let me buy his new stuff."

BTW, Prince's Lovesexy album has some of the best production ever done on an album. I'm not a HUGE fan of the songs on the album, but if you listen to it with a good pair of headphones you'd be amazed at the quality of production and performance on the album. He recorded and mixed it down in his home studio. He spared no expense with the highest quality everything in that home studio. This should be a must hear for all redcording musicians. One of those "raise the bar" type of things.

This is one he should re-release.

5 4	Re: Put artists first? pO157. Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 09:38:09 AM EST none

I'll have to check it out.

It would be interesting to know how you go about reporting copyright violations on YouTube and how they decide what gets removed. I am curious if Prince and his people did request ALL of his videos and material removed or the site just removed everything that hit Prince just to be safe after getting a request to take down his newer material.

1	Ooooh, I am going to have to go ahead and disagree pO157. Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 11:29:57 AM EST none

...with your strategy Prince.

This just seems counterproductive for his interests. See, a lot of the "younger" crowd just doesn't go out and rock to Purple Rain, et al. You aren't going to hear Raspberry Beret on the Total Request Countdown (and I am pretty sure the original Mr. McGee has long been pushing up daisy's - God Bless his Racist cracker ass) anytime soon. The point is most of his customers are probably older folks who are going to buy his records or not despite what is available on YouTube -- that is a given. He's in diminishing returns as far as sales. How could he possibly fix this problem? If only there was some type of free video music distribution system popular with the all important 16-35 age group that allowed artists to have their material displayed for free to potential new fans.

He may be right legally, but from a business sense this is stupid.

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Meet the new Lars

pO157.

Posted to Music on Sat Sep 15, 2007 at 12:31:42 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

Put artists first?

nmiguy.

Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 12:05:30 PM EST

4.00 (astute)

2

Re: Put artists first?

pO157.

Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 01:12:12 PM EST

none

3

Re: Put artists first?

nmiguy.

Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 08:11:44 AM EST

none

4

Re: Put artists first?

pO157.

Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 09:38:09 AM EST

none

Ooooh, I am going to have to go ahead and disagree

pO157.

Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 11:29:57 AM EST

none