After Suing Fans Sharing Bootlegs, Prince Says No One Sues Fans, Bootlegs Are Great & People Should Share Music
from the say-what-now? dept
You may recall that just a couple weeks ago Prince sued 22 fans for using Facebook to link to bootleg live recordings of Prince shows. This was not the first time that Prince has sued or threatened his fans over things. There were all sorts of problems with the lawsuit, many of which we detailed, but apparently none of it mattered, because a couple days later, he dropped the lawsuit.The BBC has a wide-ranging interview with Prince in which he talks about a bunch of things. The responses are all paraphrased because apparently Prince refuses to be recorded during interviews, but when asked about the lawsuit, this is his almost nonsensical response:
There was a story last week saying he was taking a $22m ... legal action against 22 internet users who allegedly posted copies of his live performances online. In response to that he simply said "Nobody sues their fans", before adding: "I have some bootlegs of Lianne [La Havas] but I wouldn't sell them. But fans sharing music with each other, that's cool."Except, of course, he did sue his fans, and they weren't selling his music, but sharing it with each other. So, either his lawyers are just running off and doing their own thing or Prince has no idea what the lawsuit was about. Or both. Either way, the lawsuit was based on his copyrights, and he should take responsibility for it. If it was filed mistakenly, he should own up to it.
Separately, one cool thing that Prince is apparently trying to do is shows with very cheap tickets: around $10 each. We'll see if that actually happens, but it does remind me of when Louis CK worked to make his live shows more fan friendly, so it should be interesting to watch.
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Filed Under: bootlegs, copyright, fans, lawsuits, links, prince
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Psychiatric issue...
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So I'll say this instead.
Whether $10 tickets are cheap depends on what you are buying tickets for.
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1) You tell us give you our music for free and make up for it at live shows
2) You tell us we should charge a little as possible at live shows to be and be'fan friendly.'
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1) You tell us give you our music for free and make up for it at live shows
2) You tell us we should charge a little as possible at live shows to be and be'fan friendly.'
Mr. Prince? Is that you???
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Both the recording and movie industries combined amount to no more than 100 billion dollars while the tech industry is a multi-trillion dollar industry.
The relatively small recording and movie industry wants control and veto power over the tech industry.
That is why there is animosity.
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We don't hate all musicians. Just the crazy ones. And 'hate' might be the wrong word. Pity? Laugh at? Facepalm?
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If peeps are sharing your music, you should feel good about that. Serious. If they are sharing you, they like you. Rejoice. The money will follow.
Hell did you know the peeps that do the Halftime Show at th Superbowl play for FREE?!
Think about this won't you? Thank you.
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Much as you love to spread this lie, nobody here hates musicians. Many of us here are musicians. Techdirt wants them to actually be successful - and fighting against your fans won't make you successful.
1) You tell us give you our music for free and make up for it at live shows
Giving people our music for free, and making up for it at live shows, is how performing musicians have always made money. Musicians don't, and have never, made anything more than a sliver of their income from royalties. Nine out of ten musicians on a major label never make a single dime from artists royalties; they sign to a label because it provides promotion, which leads to things like endorsements, selling merch, or live performance revenues - and those are the ways musicians make money.
The difference is that now we can give away our music to fans for free, rather than give away our music to labels for free. And those fans will end up paying us more than a label ever would.
Plus, Techdirt has never said it is a requirement that you give away music for free. They have always advocated for crowdfunding models like Kickstarter or Sellaband, and have advocated for subscription models like Pandora or Spotify. It is not necessary that musicians give away their music; what's necessary is that fans (potential and actual) are able to experience it in the way that they want. They are, after all, your customers.
2) You tell us we should charge a little as possible at live shows to be and be'fan friendly.'
First of all, that will net good will with the fans, which can be leveraged in other ways.
Second of all, cheaper tickets do not translate to less money. It translates to many, many more people who can afford to see your live shows. If the balance is right, the increase in concert goers will more than make up for the difference in price. And if those concert goers could afford to pay more for a ticket, then they have more money to spend on your merchandise - and artists usually get a greater cut of the merch than they do of the ticket money.
Lowering prices will often result in greater overall profits. That's basic economics.
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It sometimes bugs me how little people understand a basic concept like price elasticity...
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To understand this concept requires some flexibility in your thinking.
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Logic
He sued 22 people.
He is somebody.
Applying simple logic to these statements, the obvious conclusion is:
These 22 people are not his fans.
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Alternatively...
He's admitting that he's become a nobody.
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[citation needed]
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was it here ? ? ?
watched it, and smith pretty much calls out prince as being a world class whack job from heel to head...
gee, who would have guessed that...
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Everytime I hear this "artist's" name...
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Obama school of lies?
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The Effect Formely Known as Prince
I had totally forgotten about Prince until he sued 22 fans and suddenly there are all these stories about him.....
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Microsoft and Garry Larson...great examples
Then there is Garry Larson's "The Far Side" cartoon that has a female chimp grooming her mate finding a blonde hair with the caption "So, you've been hanging around that Jane Goodall tramp again haven't you?"...She subsequently fired her PR officer for suing Garry Larson...
So I'm inclined to believe the his lawyers were acting autonomously. Prince has always been quite anti-RIAA which is why he has a big reputation for protecting his works.
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Prince's 1999 lawsuit debacle
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