npggirl77 said:

That C&D looks photoshopped to me.

I'm calling fake. Funkenberry would not be posting about this if this was a true bootleg leak.

Also - they would have first filed a C&D with YouTube and the videos would have been pulled.

I've filed takedown requests myself on YouTube, when people have posted low-quality rips of my own band's material, and the stuff gets pulled very very quickly.

[Edited 1/8/13 15:08pm]

finky said:

The C&D order could be fake. Look at the address "1999" Avenue of the Stars. Is this too much of a coincidence?

The address is legit.

http://www.kayescholer.co...ices/index

[Edited 1/8/13 15:32pm]

I think it's fake. 2 days to respond???

TikiColadas said:

I called the office and spoke with Rhonfa Trotters receptionist...

Wow, you've really fallen hard for this mischievous hoax.

I don't think it's a hoax. When have we ever heard of Prince releasing something in which he wasn't all over that release, so that we knew, without a doubt, that he was involved in its release? When have we ever known him to do something for the fans? The only direct link to Prince that this 3rdEye seems to have is Dr. Funkenberry, and iirc, he once posted something he thought was official, only to have to remove it later. If I'm not recalling correctly, I apologize Dr. Funkenberry.

This is yet another pathetic fail by Prince and his minions to be controversial and dangerous and getting hype started. The reality is that Bowie just kicked their arses by releasing the video for just one song, whilst Prince's pathetic campaign isn't reaching anyone beyond the usual suspects.

BartVanHemelen said:

This is yet another pathetic fail by Prince and his minions to be controversial and dangerous and getting hype started. The reality is that Bowie just kicked their arses by releasing the video for just one song, whilst Prince's pathetic campaign isn't reaching anyone beyond the usual suspects.

To be fair, NOBODY was expecting Bowie's return out of the blue yesterday. Bad timing only in retrospect for P camp. It happens. Plus: New album in a decade. Prince just came out with a single about 2 months ago. The heart grows fonder with distance.

Besides, this so far only reached the P fanbase. And they've enjoyed it. I consider that a success since they'll be the vanguard dependent upon to buy the new album if it comes out this year.

RRA said:

BartVanHemelen said:

This is yet another pathetic fail by Prince and his minions to be controversial and dangerous and getting hype started. The reality is that Bowie just kicked their arses by releasing the video for just one song, whilst Prince's pathetic campaign isn't reaching anyone beyond the usual suspects.

To be fair, NOBODY was expecting Bowie's return out of the blue yesterday. Bad timing only in retrospect for P camp. It happens. Plus: New album in a decade. Prince just came out with a single about 2 months ago. The heart grows fonder with distance.

Besides, this so far only reached the P fanbase. And they've enjoyed it. I consider that a success since they'll be the vanguard dependent upon to buy the new album if it comes out this year.

Actually, it's been picked up by some news sources and reported on. If you google 3rdEyeGirl, the articles will come up. It's reached more than just the fanbase.

This is just too weird. It was weird from the get go WTF, but now it has gone over the cliff weird with the C&D

Only Prince.

We can always count on Prince to up the weird to unhealthy levels.

RRA said:

BartVanHemelen said:

This is yet another pathetic fail by Prince and his minions to be controversial and dangerous and getting hype started. The reality is that Bowie just kicked their arses by releasing the video for just one song, whilst Prince's pathetic campaign isn't reaching anyone beyond the usual suspects.

To be fair, NOBODY was expecting Bowie's return out of the blue yesterday. Bad timing only in retrospect for P camp. It happens. Plus: New album in a decade. Prince just came out with a single about 2 months ago. The heart grows fonder with distance.

Besides, this so far only reached the P fanbase. And they've enjoyed it. I consider that a success since they'll be the vanguard dependent upon to buy the new album if it comes out this year.

plus Bowie's announcement is a lot more conventional, not at all cryptic like Prince's

prittypriss said:

prittypriss said:

Actually, it's been picked up by some news sources and reported on. If you google 3rdEyeGirl, the articles will come up. It's reached more than just the fanbase.

Well that's even better. This was a success after all.

I hate that his timing collided with Bowie, but hey it happens.

I wonder after that C&D letter sent by him, will Prince then do an interview and whine about bootleggers who broke into his vault and trying to undermine his upcoming album?

That would be awesome.

Looks like the vids are down: "This video no longer available due to a copyright claim by Controversy Music."

dustoff said:

Looks like the vids are down: "This video no longer available due to a copyright claim by Controversy Music."

Well at least he's trying to make this hoax look legit.

Of course I did tell "3rdeyegirl" not to flight or fight Prince, but "funk" him.

2ucio said:

Not good. No more music, the twitter account will be terminated, Dr Funkenberry will be sidelined for letting Prince down and we won't have any sources of information. Come on, if Prince - the best way to plug a leak is let out some water then mend the pipe. A legitimate new release ASAP will take people's minds away from 3rd Eye girl and your lawyers can do their thing while you do your thing, speak through releasing and performing music. Release new material that you enjoy performing so you can have a new album tour . Would that be cool?

Nah. I still think this is a publicity stunt.

NDRU said:

RRA said:

To be fair, NOBODY was expecting Bowie's return out of the blue yesterday. Bad timing only in retrospect for P camp. It happens. Plus: New album in a decade. Prince just came out with a single about 2 months ago. The heart grows fonder with distance.

Besides, this so far only reached the P fanbase. And they've enjoyed it. I consider that a success since they'll be the vanguard dependent upon to buy the new album if it comes out this year.

plus Bowie's announcement is a lot more conventional, not at all cryptic like Prince's

THAT IS THE POINT.

Prince is going to be 55 in a couple of months. FIFTY-FIVE. Yet his campaign plan seems to be devised by a 14 year old who's apparently heard of a viral campaign, but never experienced one. "Hey let's start this social media campaign where we pretend some bootlegger is uploading unreleased music and then we send a C&D to ourselves and all the media in all the world will write about it because it will be unique and wild and hype..."

Dude should be announcing his third round of remasters now, with deluxe editions and even more bonus material than previous releases. Instead we get:

- an unreleased track that sounds like it could have been recorded ten years ago but apparently was recorded mere months ago and is a mediocre album track (I'm being generous here),

- a lifeless rehearsal video (oh look, "Bambi" -- wild choice there Prince),

- a remix of his latest flopped single (which is actually better than any of the versions that got actually released but then that was a piece of crap) (please note this does not mean that I like this remix, it's still bland and unremarkable, it's just better than any of the versions that got released)

- and an extended version of a track from an album that was so arse that Prince couldn't even be bothered to release it in most of the world.

None of these tracks tell us anything that we didn't know already. It's Prince by numbers.

Meanwhile there's Bowie, who releases his first new music in ages on his birthday, and while I can't say it is a great song, there's plenty of food for analysis.

By the way, to those who claim the 3rd Eye nonsense was picked up oitside of the Org: yup, by a bunch of minor outlets. Meanwhile Bowie's video has just been featured on BBC One's news. Bowie's video on YouTube? Well, it isn't officially there but one illegal upload has had either 500,000 or 800,000 views. Vimeo doesn't seem to have any public numbers, but I bet it's at least as much.

Stymie said:

Fake C&D letters now? Why? For those who think its real, would a lawyer refer to unauthorized recordings as "bootlegs"? Come on now. Lame joke.

Good point

Sooo...all the videos are now pulled from Youtube. I'm bummed, as I really wanted to hear the extended version of Laydown. Damn it!

2ucio said:

yet she calls them bootlegs when we know how Prince feels about the idea of bootlegs,

I suggest you go look up the CD-art of Crystal Ball.

she doesn't use Prince style writing like "u"

Which is just about the only redeeming thing about this pathetic mess.

BartVanHemelen said:

By the way, to those who claim the 3rd Eye nonsense was picked up oitside of the Org: yup, by a bunch of minor outlets. Meanwhile Bowie's video has just been featured on BBC One's news. Bowie's video on YouTube? Well, it isn't officially there but one illegal upload has had either 500,000 or 800,000 views. Vimeo doesn't seem to have any public numbers, but I bet it's at least as much.

Not to mention that song was in the iTunes top 10 briefly today. Its now (last I checked) in the 50s in the Top 200 Songs.

"Bowie is back!"

Oh, please - Prince is behind all of this. How else would she get hold of the stuff she posted?

Plus she was just in Minnesota:

http://followgram.me/i/34...16_7369263

The C&D letter isn't a serious threat. Prince is just trying to straddle both sides of the fence, rallying against YouTube while also purposely using it to his advantage by leaking material via "3rdeyegirl" (who I suspect is a Hannah Ford alias) to create a buzz. It's just like when Prince "leaked" a couple of songs through Andy Allo while she commented, "Oh my, I hope I don't get in trouble for this" knowing good and well she had Prince's permission to post stuff. Read 3rdeyedgirl's previous Tweet about a lawsuit yesterday. It's no coincidence.

Bottom line, Prince gives his underlings the go ahead to put certain songs out there to generate buzz and then pulls them a couple days later so he doesn't seem like such a hypocrite for taking advantage of social media he's been so vehemently against.

This was all planned. I'll bet Prince approached 3rdeyedgirl (or Hannah) and said something like, "I'm gonna give you these tracks to upload on the net. Then, I'm gonna have YouTube take them down and give you a cease and desist letter from my lawyers to post afterward." I smell publicity stunt.

__

[Edited 1/8/13 17:32pm]

NDRU said:

PicassoFace said:

The C&D letter isn't a serious threat. Prince is just trying to straddle both sides of the fence, rallying against YouTube while purposely using it to his advantage by leaking material via "3rdeyegirl" (who I suspect is a Hannah Ford alias) to create a buzz. It's just like when Prince "leaked" a couple of songs through Andy Allo while she commented, "Oh my, I hope I don't get in trouble for this" knowing good and well she had Prince's permission to post stuff. Read 3rdeyedgirl's previous Tweet about a lawsuit yesterday. It's no coincidence.

Bottom line, Prince gives his underlings the go ahead to put certain songs out there to generate buzz and then pulls them a couple days later so he doesn't seem like such a hypocrite for taking advantage of social media he's been so vehemently against.

This was all planned. I'll bet Prince approached 3rdeyedgirl (or Hannah) and said something like, "I'm gonna give you these tracks to upload on the net. Then, I'm gonna have YouTube take them down and give you a cease and desist letter from my lawyers to post afterward." I smell publicity stunt.

[Edited 1/8/13 17:30pm]

3rdeyegirl isn't Hannah Ford. She's an artist who goes by the name of Stella Blu. This is the exact same thing he did with that YouTube girl a couple of years ago. What was her name...?