Pick On Someone Your Own Size
Published October 01, 2002
Here is another threat from early 2001:
- January 23, 2001
Dear Sir/Madam:
Please be advised that I am legal counsel to NPG Records, Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc., Prince Rogers Nelson ("Prince"), and the related companies of Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc. (all collectively referred to herein as "Paisley Park"). You are hereby placed on notice that Paisley Park retains proprietary rights in the names, images, likenesses and performances of Prince.
It recently has come to our attention that you have been proliferating material through the Internet and otherwise that contains copyrighted material owned by Prince including, but not limited to, Prince's name, likeness or recordings (the "Unauthorized Material") without any authorization from Paisley Park to do so. You are further put on notice that the dissemination of any such Unauthorized Material without the prior express authorization from Paisley Park will cause immediate and irreparable harm to Paisley Park's reputation and to Prince's valuable and proprietary rights in his name, image and likeness and would also constitute a willful violation of both federal and state unfair competition laws.
Accordingly, we hereby demand the following of you and any person or entity with which you are affiliated: (1) that you immediately cease and desist from the dissemination, copying, or commercial exploitation of the Unauthorized Material, including but not limited to, e-mail dissemination; and (2) that you remove all Unauthorized Material from your web pages or websites, and refrain from posting such Unauthorized Material on any other sites. We further demand that you advise us immediately of what steps you will take to prevent the dissemination or further distribution or exploitation of the Unauthorized Material by you, any affiliates or related entities.
You are further placed on notice that its possession and dissemination, or other exploitation of the Unauthorized Material at issue is unlawful and a serious violation of Paisley Park's legal and equitable rights for which they will hold you and any person or entity acting in concert with you, fully accountable. This letter is without prejudice to Paisley Park's legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved.
I look forward to hearing from you immediately.
Very truly yours,
Traci V. Bransford, Esq.
General Counsel for
Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc.
The Career
To prove I am not out to get Prince, just come to terms with his lurching hypocrisy, here is a very favorable career overview written by Dawn Olsen and myself:
The Minneapolis Sound of the early-80s was a spirited blend of funk, disco, synth-pop, R&B, soul and rock played by a multi-racial, gender-blending group of musicians under the tutelage of the child prodigy Prince (self-renamed in the '90s with an unpronounceable hieroglyph, followed by "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince," then simply "The Artist" in rapid succession, then back to Prince - do we see a pattern?). Though obviously inspired by Sly and the Family Stone, the Artist found his voice in the apparent duality of sex and God, rather than through Sly's peace, love and drugs.
- Pick On Someone Your Own Size
- Published: October 01, 2002
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: News, Music: Pop, Music: Hip-hop, Music: Rock
- Writer: Eric Olsen
- Eric Olsen's BC Writer page
- Eric Olsen's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Good point, Chris, thanks.
And this after Island Records sued Negativland into the ground 'on behalf' of U2, based on Negativland's use of mateiral related to that bunch of Irish 'rockers'. Another duality.
interesting... might also find this interesting as well... thanks...
Thanks Matthew (?), looks very interesting indeed, will follow up.
No, just a visitor of his site. Matthew also linked to this site yesterday too (but for some reason the links and quote are no longer there.)
Prince: "Regardless of industry spin, eye love my fams and thank them 4 ALL their support, even the bootleggers! Peace and Love Christ." - Prince, 6/8/00
Also listed temporarily here:
(In prince's own words on page 6 of the liner notes of his official 5cd "Crystal Ball" boxset)
"9. Movie Star - D'Angelo's favorite bootleg. His love 4 this track inspired its inclusion..."
Prince has an interesting way of expressing to his fans how he feels about bootlegging. From accepting it in interviews & liner notes, to sueing one of the folks that bought the 5CD set simply because of what was mentioned in the article above. Not exactly what they teach in business school. Is the lawsuit just a way to drum up publicity for Prince's own upcoming 3CD live album coming out this fall? Seems like a pretty cheap way of getting it in the short run, but quite expensive in the long run based on just a few of the responses here.
As posted here by Prince on his official website less than 2 months ago:
What is 4 sure, however, is that, in spite of its many claims 2 the contrary, the recording industry has yet 2 provide evidence that P2P is actually detrimental 2 music making as an artistic endeavor, and even as a commercial venture. It is worth remembering, 4 xample, that sales of music CDs actually increased when Napster was at its peak, and declined after Napster was abruptly shut down. Even economists who thought that file sharing "should b" hurting the recording industry r now xpressing their doubts, based on what they say is simply not happening.
More importantly, many well-respected artists have sided with Internet users against corporate greed and actually use the Internet 2 promote alternative ways 2 distribute their music and reach out 2 a non-captive, legitimate audience of authentic music lovers.
This does not mean, of course, that all 4ms of file sharing r equally innocuous. There is little doubt that, when people use the Internet as a substitute 4 radio, i.e. as a way 2 discover new music, it can help promote the work of artists. But when a young junior high school student downloads tracks off the Internet and makes CD-R copies of them that he then sells 4 $5 in the schoolyard, it hurts sales of the original CD and it's disrespectful of the artist - regardless of how small a cut of the actual CD price the artist actually gets after all the xecutives and the middlemen in the recording industry have taken their piece of the pie.
Still, can we really go as far as 2 say that digital technology is creating a "nation of thieves" who no longer recognize the just value of art?
Contradiction anyone?
Hi,
Just read your dialog regardingPrince copyright issue. I have just been suspended from eBay for 1 year for selling an official Prince DVD which is available on many online shops like amazon, hmv etc... as well as retail shops. Obviously these people who are in charge of that holy mission are targeting independent music sellers who can not fight back easily. I make my living on Ebay and the only way i could resume is for Prince's people to withdraw their complaint which i guess not going to happen. The DVD Prince Glory Years has even an authentic EAN number but these things do not mean anything unless you are HMV or some other big company that can defend itself. They do not even bother to provide a contact to discuss the subject with. Do you have any idea what i can do about this? Best Regards...
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What's interesting is it seems like artists whose careers are in decline are the only ones upset by all this new fangled internet music sharing. Run "U2 Live" through a Google search and you find a ton of sites offering "pirated" CD's or downloads. Heck, one site even has almost every U2 show ever done available for download.