Legendary entertainer Prince is taking a firm stand against music piracy and failure to properly and legally buy or download his music.
Since the rise of popular online music sharing filing systems and other technological and new media advances, artists have been in a constant battle to protect their music. Some artists have compromised by releasing authorized free material to benefit both themselves and their fans. Prince on the other hand, with almost 38 years in the industry, isn’t so used to this new school stuff and refuses to infuse himself in this new era of digital music.
The “Purple Rain” singer filed a 21-page lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court of San Francisco against 22 internet users for $1 million each. They are accused of “massive infringement and bootlegging” according to Prince and his attorneys.
Along with bootlegging actual songs, these users, where 20 out of 22 are anonymous, are accused of operating and participating in a bootlegging Facebook fan site and sharing a 1983 Chicago live set via worldofbootleg.blogspot.com. Prince is seeking profits generated from the material plus interest, legal fees, and a $22 million pay-out. Yikes!
Slightly caving in from his anti-internet ways, in which he says computers “can’t be good for you,” Prince did create a Twitter page last year. Will he cave in and give some internet users, not to mention his FANS, some slack?
In the meantime, you can legally catch some of Prince’s material when he plays for London on Feb. 3 on SPIN.
UPDATED (5:20 p.m. EST): According to TMZ, Prince has dropped the $22 million lawsuit against the bootleggers.
His lawyer issued the following statement: “Because of the recent pressure, the bootleggers have now taken down the illegal downloads and are no longer engaging in piracy,” said the lawyer. “We recognize the fans craving for as much material as possible, but we’d prefer they get it from us directly than from third parties who are scalpers rather than real fans of our work.
To hold fans over, the “Black Sweat” artist released a teaser of a new song called “PRETZELBODYLOGIC.”
Listen below.
(Source)
