New item in Digital Garden makes the vague reference of the N.E.W.S. being "everywhere legal and otherwise." I respect file sharing and our rights as fans to share our files, but isn't it a bit ridiculous that "listening party" sample files are already propagating over the P2P networks?

I for one have made a conscious choice NOT to share the bulk of the music I've gotten from the NPG Music Club, mainly as a show of support for what Prince is doing. Should I be surprised that these files are being shared -- more to the point, should Prince be surprised that exclusive material is being shared prior to it's even having a proper release?

The only files I share are indie artists and I get their permission first.

I'll also share very hard to find tracks that might be out of print.

surprised, no... disappointed, yes...

'it's time 4 new direction. it's time for jazz to LIVE!'...Prince at last year's celebration.

I read that posting this morning, and I had no idea what it meant. Thanks for clearing it up.

blah blah, if you buy it, it is yours.

if an artist paints a picture and you buy it, is it yours? If i want to sell it to my friend or give it to my friend, is that ok? Picaso does not own it anymore.

Giving is find but making al illegal copy and then distributing it to every smuck online is another thing in itself.

When you purchase a CD you acquire a well-defined bundle of legal rights as to what you are allowed to do with this copyright-protected material. As a music-consumer you don't "own" the music on this CD as the same way that you own a pair of shoes or a litre of milk.

To me, this is quite a simple matter - I really don't understand why it is so difficult to understand for some people.

jthad1129 said:

So then, I'm assuming your contention is that since you paid $25 to join the NPGMC then whatever content you have access to as a member is YOURS to do with as you please? this is a really tiresome argument I'm about to engage in, but here goes:

Prince doesn't want the Rain to come down, so as a supporter of Prince I am out there with my bucket attempting to catch the rain.

His music will be shared against his wishes -- I simply posted about this because my post will hopefully influence one or two others from not sharing these files. And for the record, we don't have carte blanc rights to this content as club members.

I believe file sharing is a cool thing, and I do share some music online, but I use some discretion: I am not sharing club content, period. It is out there, we all know that, but I am not contributing to its availability.

kmc said:

So it's okay to share someone else's files, just not Prince's?

i wonder how many of you would feel this way (against sharing) if Prince never started talking about filesharing...

stymie said:

Not exactly... I'm what you would call a Prince fanatic -- all my music is essentially Prince's music. I primarily share stuff that I have purchased on CD: Lovesexy, SOTT, The Gold Experience... etc. I also swap some of his rarer 12" single versions as well. The way I look at this sharing these are items that are pretty much readily available, with a pretty good source of revenue trickling back to Prince. The newer internet release stuff is more of a "one off" type of revenue stream -- you or I join the club, and gain access to the content. I have a harder time justifying sharing these files. To quote Ceasar:

"Etu tu, Brute!"

More to the point of your question though: I wouldn't have an issue with sharing a Rolling Stone, 2pac, or other artist file. This is a website devoted to Prince, a forum devoted to Prince's music, and a subject that Prince is quite critical about. If I were concerned about say a Grateful Dead bootleg floating around that Jerry Garcia ain't gettin' paid from I would probably address a Grateful Dead messaging board.

The issue really needs to be resolved, because the way I see it evolving we may not be able to share library books if you take the arguments against sharing to their logical conclusion. Conceivably we couldn't share a coherent conversation, right?

What can be copyrighted? what can be forbidden?! What this post addresses is the NPGMC N.E.W.S. files that were sampled over the weekend that are already showing up in file-sharing programs (prior to even being commerically released!), and to a lesser degree other NPGMC files.

Vulgar edit
[This message was edited Wed Jun 25 12:56:01 PDT 2003 by kmc]

I found NORTH and WEST on WinMX last night. I'm always surprised at how quickly people make NPGMC tracks available... I can only hope that they don't realize that their NPGMC file directories are being shared. But maybe I'm just naive.

I'll buy the CD when it comes out in stores, but of course I'm going to download the files too!

I hear that he does not have a problem with live shows being shared. A public performance is public domain.

music is music, don't make it if you don't want the hassle of sharing. Just keep it in a vault for safe keeping and sit on it until you die