electricberet said:

Zannaloaf said:

and plenty of bands with the name the family on it (Sly and the Family Stone anyone??). Just like movie titles, and book titles. NO ONE has a RIGHT to these things unless trademarked. Prince didn't do it so he is legally entitled to zilch. He needs to move on more than anyone involved.

I think both of you are right. It's a dumb idea to give your second album the same title as your first album (unless you're Peter Gabriel). On the other hand, it's a dumb idea for Prince to try to stop it, since he has nothing to gain other than additional negative publicity.

The band is FDeluxe now. It's their first album.

funksterr said:

electricberet said:

I think both of you are right. It's a dumb idea to give your second album the same title as your first album (unless you're Peter Gabriel). On the other hand, it's a dumb idea for Prince to try to stop it, since he has nothing to gain other than additional negative publicity.

The band is FDeluxe now. It's their first album.

It's still lame. If the other members of the Revolution formed without Prince and called themselves RDeluxe, and then put out an album called "Purple Rain," that would be lame.

electricberet said:

funksterr said:

The band is FDeluxe now. It's their first album.

It's still lame. If the other members of the Revolution formed without Prince and called themselves RDeluxe, and then put out an album called "Purple Rain," that would be lame.

I think it's their way of reconcilng their past with their future. So not lame at all.

electricberet said:

funksterr said:

The band is FDeluxe now. It's their first album.

It's still lame. If the other members of the Revolution formed without Prince and called themselves RDeluxe, and then put out an album called "Purple Rain," that would be lame.

Why why why am I agreeing with this?

sosgemini said:

electricberet said:

It's still lame. If the other members of the Revolution formed without Prince and called themselves RDeluxe, and then put out an album called "Purple Rain," that would be lame.

Why why why am I agreeing with this?

Because it makes sense.

Anyone who knows the backstory here and cares about these musicians will want to hear their new album regardless of what it is called.

[Edited 5/19/11 20:29pm]

Just to spite him they should call the group

THE ARTISTS FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE FAMILY

and the album should be called

THE NEW ALBUM BY THE ARTISTS FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE FAMILY.

an they should write a new song called

SIT AND SPIN

PurpleChi said:

sosgemini said:

This was all over them wanting to name the album The Family. Wow!

https://www.facebook.com/...6897305828

With that being said, Gaslight kinda sucks as a title.

Oh, I didn't read this before my last post. Ok, well Prince may have a point there. Technically, the album being called, The Family is directly connected with the group Prince created. The term resonates with Prince fans and helps FDeluxe to market themselves to that population. We may not like it, but it is what it is...just saying. Now is Prince still a prick for caring that they capitalize off of that piece of Prince history? That's debatable.

Yeah, Prince is the only person ever to call a band "The Family".

RubyButterfly said:

NouveauDance said:

It must really be grit in his paw that these guys are getting along and going forward without him after all this time. It'd be funny if it wasn't so pitiful.

^

This.

Not enough information 2 get worked up over, i mean we have no idea what the letter stated. all i know is its ridiculous that all these yrs later, there not allow to talk about there past youth years, because they spent them in Princes presence, thats just dumb, what kind of contracts did they sign? thats what they need to fight ALL OF THEM, but as far as getting pissy with Prince over a letter, i havent read or know little about, I'll pass

wow, what the hell is it with P?. What happened to freedom of speech?. It will be interesting to see what the content was. F.D. are a truly talented bunch and the trax heard so far sound just great so I wish them well and hope that they let their artisty does the talking. How about putting their feelings about P into a song!!

electricberet said:

funksterr said:

The band is FDeluxe now. It's their first album.

It's still lame. If the other members of the Revolution formed without Prince and called themselves RDeluxe, and then put out an album called "Purple Rain," that would be lame.

I think the lame element here is Prince. Go read what ALan Leeds said over on the their facebook page. I think he is dead on.

electricberet said:

funksterr said:

The band is FDeluxe now. It's their first album.

It's still lame. If the other members of the Revolution formed without Prince and called themselves RDeluxe, and then put out an album called "Purple Rain," that would be lame.

Also - considering people outside the Prince fans are well aware of "Purple Rain" and that it is a fairly specific title (outside of the lyrics in the Ventura Highway song by America - should they have sued for THAT?) your post is irrelevant. The Family is still relatively obscure, but people can sort of recall it if you talk about the video or songs along with the name. Much like the name "The Time" - it helps in promoting a project or band. Which should not be a huge freaking issue if you at some point went under that name. Heck - the Temptations are still going strong with no original members. Your pointless musings have nothing to do with Prince being a straight up prick when it comes to this stuff. WHAT is he really going to do with it? Is he going to start up a NEW version of The Family? I'm sure it's just him being an ass because he somehow thinks he should OWN everything he was involved with - completely discounting the fact that other people were and always HAVE been involved - even if peripherally. Wonder what Jehovah would have to say? I'm betting this is hardly what the Witnesses would condone.

They changed the name of the band, now the album title. Prince has absolutely no intention to use either - come on, everyone put down the purple kool aid and think about it - it's pure spite, plain and simple. Petty. little. man.

NouveauDance said:

They changed the name of the band, now the album title. Prince has absolutely no intention to use either - come on, everyone put down the purple kool aid and think about it - it's pure spite, plain and simple. Petty. little. man.

Agreed. Although at least it's free publicity for the band. If I were them, I'd try to milk that angle for every bit of PR I could get.

Zannaloaf said:

purplenuts said:

I back his position all the way. He has legal rights and he is protecting them.

What legal rights? He doesn't own the trademark. He has NO legal rights.

He has copyright rights over those songs they posted.

NouveauDance said:

They changed the name of the band, now the album title. Prince has absolutely no intention to use either - come on, everyone put down the purple kool aid and think about it - it's pure spite, plain and simple. Petty. little. man.

If he wouldn't allow "The Family" as the band name, what made them think he'd allow it as the album title (given that it had been used before). The cynic in me says this was all contrived to create controversy/publicity.

Not that there's anything wrong with publicity. I just think there are ways to get it.

Spinlight said:

Zannaloaf said:

What legal rights? He doesn't own the trademark. He has NO legal rights.

He has copyright rights over those songs they posted.

Yeah but Prince covered Radiohead's Creep (which pissed them off cause he didn't ask first) and posted it all over the net. Same difference.

Spinlight said:

Zannaloaf said:

What legal rights? He doesn't own the trademark. He has NO legal rights.

He has copyright rights over those songs they posted.

Only the videos Paisley Park produced. NOT the live versions they have done. But I was talking about the name.

What publicity is it creating other than with the people who already know about it (us)?

I'd agree with Efan that they could actually milk it if they wanted to - this would be no different to what people like that skaggy Kim Kardashwhatever did a short while back, but I think I'd rather take the high road and just side step the prissy little bitch altogether - Not that they could ever really do that in any interview any way of course.

[Edited 5/20/11 9:40am]

Genesia said:

NouveauDance said:

They changed the name of the band, now the album title. Prince has absolutely no intention to use either - come on, everyone put down the purple kool aid and think about it - it's pure spite, plain and simple. Petty. little. man.

If he wouldn't allow "The Family" as the band name, what made them think he'd allow it as the album title (given that it had been used before). The cynic in me says this was all contrived to create controversy/publicity.

Not that there's anything wrong with publicity. I just think there are ways to get it.

yeah - controversy to a relatively small number of people. I think the reality is that using The Family gives them some edge with promoting a tour or cd to places that might play or book them. At least that makes the most sense. People were saying that The Time could give up there name and just start over. Which is ridiculous. Prince may have penned much of the material in their albums with him, but if you want to see them in concert, you want to see THEM..and you'll know THEM by their name. No matter the legality of "the Family" or who has more money and time to set lawyers on the attack, it's a ridiculously small thing to want to use a name for the same basic band to tour and record under. Unless you are a ridiculously small person who has some kind of twisted motive for not being a mature person and say "Sure, no skin off my nose." But that would be the behavior of someone whose ego can be set aside. That said I hope Fdeluxe milks the crap out of this whole story!

ItsGonnaBLonely said:

Not enough information 2 get worked up over, i mean we have no idea what the letter stated. all i know is its ridiculous that all these yrs later, there not allow to talk about there past youth years, because they spent them in Princes presence, thats just dumb, what kind of contracts did they sign? thats what they need to fight ALL OF THEM, but as far as getting pissy with Prince over a letter, i havent read or know little about, I'll pass

wow common sense and critical thinking on the org!

thepope2the9s said:

ItsGonnaBLonely said:

Not enough information 2 get worked up over, i mean we have no idea what the letter stated. all i know is its ridiculous that all these yrs later, there not allow to talk about there past youth years, because they spent them in Princes presence, thats just dumb, what kind of contracts did they sign? thats what they need to fight ALL OF THEM, but as far as getting pissy with Prince over a letter, i havent read or know little about, I'll pass

wow common sense and critical thinking on the org!

yeah! This ONE incident of Prince acting like a jackass should REALLY have no effect on anyone! I mean ..if it was a pattern of behavior...well THEN maybe....

Genesia said:

NouveauDance said:

They changed the name of the band, now the album title. Prince has absolutely no intention to use either - come on, everyone put down the purple kool aid and think about it - it's pure spite, plain and simple. Petty. little. man.

If he wouldn't allow "The Family" as the band name, what made them think he'd allow it as the album title (given that it had been used before). The cynic in me says this was all contrived to create controversy/publicity.

Not that there's anything wrong with publicity. I just think there are ways to get it.

Come on Orger's. We are smarter than this aren't we? By now most of us should understand at least a little something about copyright law. Prince has no more legal right to dictate album titles to FDeluxe than he does to you or I.

I like Fdeluxe, and I like Neil, I have spoken with him a few times.

But I'm still seeing Prince's point.

It's not about other bands being called The Family or whatever. It's about THIS band, which is a band that Prince put together, and a band that (so far) has only ever released ONE album, of which Prince was responsible for writing all the songs (bar River Run Dry), playing every single note you hear on the album (bar Clare's orchestral arrangements and Eric's horns, neither of which lead or dictate the structure or key melodies of the songs), the entire look of the band was conceptualized by Prince, and the release, videos, and promotion of the album were funded by Prince from the overall budget that WB gave him for Paisley Park Records.

It simply isn't fair to capitalize on any of that without Prince's involvement. Furthermore, it affects his reputation. Only the hardcore fans like us (the minority) would know that he actually has no involvement in it.

They go out using the name "The Family" in ANY way, people will google for the info and what will they see? Prince's work. "The Family was a band created by Prince in 1985, known for the songs Screams of Passion and Nothing Compares 2 U" etc etc etc.

Guaranteed, vast majority of people that would hear the music or see the band live, would simply assume that it's still Prince behind the boards, writing the music, etc. They don't care enough to research or distinguish the difference or find out what the deal is.

The Time understand that. They wouldn't go out and just do whatever the hell they want as "The Time" without making sure it was cool on Prince, because they're going out there, using a brand that everyone knows he created, playing songs that people know he wrote. It's just respect.

I would hope that Paul, Susannah et al reached out to Prince before deciding to reignite the project and ask if he wanted to be involved, but I have a suspicion that that's not how it went down.

So again, it's about showing respect to the person that not only has a legal claim to that brand and it's history, but more importantly was the person that created it all. That put all the work in for the whole thing to even have existed in the FIRST place.

Adding to the complexity of the entire matter is the fact that (even if they all claimed otherwise) there's UNDOUBTEDLY some unresolved feelings SOMEWHERE with both Paul and Susannah, as far as Paul bailing on the project the first time around, and Prince and Susannah's break-up. Musically it's pretty evident that Prince was extremely upset at both of those situations (obviously the latter more so, but 'Dream Factory' made it pretty clear how he felt about Paul leaving).

That personal stuff might well be water under the bridge as far as we all know, but on top of the other stuff, it's still something else in the mix, no matter how minor.

Militant said:

It simply isn't fair to capitalize on any of that without Prince's involvement. Furthermore, it affects his reputation. Only the hardcore fans like us (the minority) would know that he actually has no involvement in it.

How is that in anyway different from when Prince left Warner Borthers? Did he not capitalize on all of Warner's investment into his development as an Artist and as a brand? People have every right to shed business relationships and move on. Especially if you are Susannah. Damn she stop boning the boss and now he wanna make her pay.

[Edited 5/20/11 14:29pm]

Militant said:

I would hope that Paul, Susannah et al reached out to Prince before deciding to reignite the project and ask if he wanted to be involved, but I have a suspicion that that's not how it went down.

Of course they did. They mentioned reaching out to him from the get on FB or Twitter proir to recording a single song.

It's nice to see some thoughtful, friendly discourse from both sides of the argument here. It's refreshing. No matter what happens in regards to Prince cock-blocking F-Deluxe's pre-promotional plans, at least the music will get released and stand or fall on it's own merits.

I'm pretty excited to hear the LP.

Militant said:

I like Fdeluxe, and I like Neil, I have spoken with him a few times.

But I'm still seeing Prince's point.

It's not about other bands being called The Family or whatever. It's about THIS band, which is a band that Prince put together, and a band that (so far) has only ever released ONE album, of which Prince was responsible for writing all the songs (bar River Run Dry), playing every single note you hear on the album (bar Clare's orchestral arrangements and Eric's horns, neither of which lead or dictate the structure or key melodies of the songs), the entire look of the band was conceptualized by Prince, and the release, videos, and promotion of the album were funded by Prince from the overall budget that WB gave him for Paisley Park Records.

It simply isn't fair to capitalize on any of that without Prince's involvement. Furthermore, it affects his reputation. Only the hardcore fans like us (the minority) would know that he actually has no involvement in it.

They go out using the name "The Family" in ANY way, people will google for the info and what will they see? Prince's work. "The Family was a band created by Prince in 1985, known for the songs Screams of Passion and Nothing Compares 2 U" etc etc etc.

Guaranteed, vast majority of people that would hear the music or see the band live, would simply assume that it's still Prince behind the boards, writing the music, etc. They don't care enough to research or distinguish the difference or find out what the deal is.

The Time understand that. They wouldn't go out and just do whatever the hell they want as "The Time" without making sure it was cool on Prince, because they're going out there, using a brand that everyone knows he created, playing songs that people know he wrote. It's just respect.

I would hope that Paul, Susannah et al reached out to Prince before deciding to reignite the project and ask if he wanted to be involved, but I have a suspicion that that's not how it went down.

So again, it's about showing respect to the person that not only has a legal claim to that brand and it's history, but more importantly was the person that created it all. That put all the work in for the whole thing to even have existed in the FIRST place.

Adding to the complexity of the entire matter is the fact that (even if they all claimed otherwise) there's UNDOUBTEDLY some unresolved feelings SOMEWHERE with both Paul and Susannah, as far as Paul bailing on the project the first time around, and Prince and Susannah's break-up. Musically it's pretty evident that Prince was extremely upset at both of those situations (obviously the latter more so, but 'Dream Factory' made it pretty clear how he felt about Paul leaving).

That personal stuff might well be water under the bridge as far as we all know, but on top of the other stuff, it's still something else in the mix, no matter how minor.

One of the big issues in all of this is that it is MORE of the SAME kind of crap Prince has dished out through his career after claiming to be the "victim" of the very kind of stuff he pulls now (not the specific cases - but the overall tenor of his beef with "the man". Oddly he has become the man! lol. Once you also claim some giant spiritual awakening and wanting to do what's right you'd think losing the bitterness and ego would be the first thing. Which is what is so annoying bout the guy. He just keeps talking all of this stuff but rarely seems to walk it.

Also - he has no legal rights to it.

[Edited 5/20/11 15:24pm]

straight from Fdeluxes facebook site:

The group agreed to change the group's name initially as Prince claimed he owned it (which I found through research was untrue). Of course once I knew this I questioned his claim with his people. Once we decided we were going to use fDeluxe we thought the smartest option would to be use 'The Family' as the title (or even the word "family" in the title somewhere) which would give us a link to the 1985 album. After all there are numerous songs/album titles that are the same (i.e 'Don't Be Cruel', 'Thriller') and there is no law against titles being the same so we thought there would be no issue.Plus "Family" is such a generic name (there are numerous groups who came after this one with Family in their name i.e Puff Daddy & The Family - "diddy" owns that mark btw - The Family Stand, Family, La Famile etc) it is used a lot in album and song titles. If we were calling it something like "Purple Rain", "Baduizm" or "Cookie: The Anthropological MixTape" that would obviously be not on!!! Hope that clears that up for you! Neil p.s did I mention fDeluxe 'Gaslight' out week commencing September 12?????