bananacologne said:

hold up, wait a minute..the org is not part of this..the org does not post illegal content.....that is why the org has yet to face these types of problems..

i sympathize with the folks over at HQ for having to go through what they are..but thats the price you pay..IMHO!!!


aint no "sticking together" about it...

sosgemini said:

It is not only about the video downloads. HQ is asked to remove photos from the homepage, to remove the symbol logo from the news section etc etc etc Those are things that are on prince.org too and as well on other unofficial fansites. That's why I would love to see the fansites stick together because you might be next.
[Edited 2/9/05 5:31am]

prodigalfan said:

I've posted on that thread on Housequake and I only have a few posts(been a member for almost 2 years though) and I am totally a purple kool aid drinkin' sheep. I love you guys, but I'm totally on NPGMC's side on this. EVEN THOUGH I ENJOYED WATCHING THE VIDS OVER THERE. I will admit that, others won't.

P.S. Prodical, I'm looking for the way to delete my account off the Quake. I wouldn't want to sully the quake with my radical sense of what's right and what's wrong.

dothejump said:

1) we dont use the symbol

2) anytime we use copywrited material and the owner of the material requests that it be removed, we remove it. NANA-Co is awesome madd quick about doing that and monitoring it...HE ROCKS!!

sosgemini said:

Indeed you haven't received any e-mails yet from the NPGMC. But it can always happen. I'm not sure that BC will be cheering if he can put away his gallery.

pennylover said:

But they're selective.

I've mentioned over there that Finess offers prince songs in his mixes, that he SELLS and MAKES MONEY from, and they turn a blind eye to that. That's no different than me making copies of Musicology and selling them online.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

GAWD, wouldn't that be awesome

dothejump said:

ben has been in communication with prince's camp in the past. but, when your dealing with pictures its the owner of the copywritten material that has to initiate the request, not NPGMC (unless NPGMC owns ownership writes to the photos)...and nana makes sure anything thats owned by NPGMC is *not* kept on our site....so communication from NPGMC is gonna get NPGMC nowhere...cause the org aint breaking the rules.

sure, they can say hi if they want too..invite us all to dinner or something..

So for those of us who refuse to wade through the nonsense, basically HQ has been asked to remove all visual Prince related content? Is that the jist?

i'm just really curious as to what would happen, or what would have happened, if HQ had simply reacted to NPGMC's latest request by simply removing the symbol and NPG logo from the site design, then to have redesigned a media viewer that didn't include any NPGMC artwork or logos, and then removed all photographs sourced from NPGMC or any NPG records artwork, but at the same time letting videos/photos NOT sourced from NPG/NPGMC remain on the site.

i think what happened last night - particularly the reactions to NPGMC's requests - could fall into the category of throwing the baby out with the bathwater...i could be wrong on this, but that's the sense i'm getting.

i think NPGMC knows there's certain material it can't control or hold ownership over. and if they CAN hold ownership of, say, a prince interview clip from the today show, it's up to them to explain to HQ how they're able to claim ownership of it. otherwise, it would seem to me that, in the case of a clip from the today show, HQ is at the mercy of NBC, who i'd assume owns material broadcast on the today show - if anything at ALL, i guess NPGMC at most could contact NBC and ask them to be in touch with HQ about removing such a clip. and i'm guessing NBC has bigger fish to fry.

i don't understand why removing NPG logos and prince symbols from the design of an unauthorized site is such a travesty. it makes perfect sense to me, and if it's still possible to post most of those videos without NPGMC being able to do a thing about it, then the whole stink seems like no big deal. just remove the images and keep doing whatcha do.

i can't help but think that there's a lot being blown out of proportion and misrepresented in this whole mess, and until fans of these sites can quit beating on their chest and getting all west side story about their precious 'turf', be it HQ, NPGMC, or even the org, we won't be able to have a productive or intelligent discussion on this at all.

CalhounSq said:

not quite - or at least, not from what i've been able to suss out. from what i understand, HQ has been asked to remove all visual Prince related content that has been sourced from NPGMC/NPG records without permission. i think this request has been (mis)interpreted as HQ being asked to remove all visual Prince related content, regardless of the source.

unless i'm wrong, which i may well be - i haven't seen the whole of the original request from NPG (though there are excerpts from it at HQ), and there's been no 'official' comment on this at the club site.

CalhounSq said:

no, he also wants his symbol removed, them to stop using housequake as their domain cause he owns that and for all their users to stop using the internet cause for some reason prince now thinks he is al gore and actually created the internet.

sosgemini said:

behave.

sosgemini said:

Prince and the folks over at NPGMC are far too paranoid about others using any prince-related material outside of their control.

Prince-related fan sites have been all over the web for 10+ years now, and what harm has it done him?

These C&D letters, lawsuits, and threats are petty and absurd.

Tom said:

this time around, i really don't think NPGMC is painting with such a broad brush. unless we can be shown otherwise, i think HQ is merely being told to cease using images sourced from NPGMC/NPG records materials. which seems fair enough, no?

I may have missed this somewhere in the above posts, but this is the new trend among record labels. Just this past week Universal Records has announced that they will no longer provide free access to their artists' music for online websites. This means they will now charge the sites for everytime they show a video; the only way they can do it for free will be that the longest they can show is 30 seconds of a video. Plus, they may start charging MTV for the videos as well (we'll see about that, but they have the power to do it with the conglomeration of labels under their umbrella.)

So, maybe NPGMC is trying to act like one of the big boys here.

this kind of thing pisses me off.
i got all types of stuff that ive taped from the telly over the years.
should i send them to Prince so i cant watch them anymore.
The worst of it was a lot of it is promotional work,appearances that he
didnt even get payed for.
figures he pissed.....

bananacologne said:

and u... Mr 245 posts... behave. [/quote]

sorry - it was just the fact he had pulled that quote from a PC game...as if that game had some special way of putting such a feeling...guy drives me nuts!

anyway, i think the Org needs to be very careful how it responds to HQ's situation right now - because if things ever turn you will want everyone to come to your aid too...

They only fuck with Housequake.com so they can have an excuse and blame them for the lack of output on NPGMC.com... This is just usual practice for Prince's camp...
Housequake.com is everything NPGMC.com wants/is supposed to be...

Neversin.

Neversin said:

letsgocrazy said:

thing is, i really hope everything gets ironed out between NPG and HQ, to an extent where everyone is happy. but both sides - and i mean BOTH - need to do some give and take. it's hard to put a lot of work into a site like HQ only to have someone else tell you to tear it down, i'm sure. and i hope NPG is sensitive to that. at the end of the day, i would hope prince and the NPG camp appreciates the tribute to his work that inspires sites like HQ and the org, and takes that into account when moderating the content that ends up on these sites.

Anxiety said:

You are right Anxiety. And I hope this is what they do at HQ. I for one don't let being shoved around and that is what it feels like. But like I said, they can KEEP THE SYMBOL... AND THE PICS TOO! I fear that HQ will close shop and call it a day. And those old video clips are something I don't want to lose.

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

Sorry if I offended you Orger, truly I am but the I just really want to keep the videos online. If you feel you are "sully the quake" and want to leave... that is your choice.

Anxiety said:

The letter of the law may allow NPGMC to do this, but it doesn't seem necessary to me. Sure, if something really bad happened, like Prince releasing a new DVD for sale, and then it was being posted in its entirety in DIVX format on HouseQuake, yes I could see them wanting to stop it. But these are crappy low-quality streaming clips and a handful of 72 dpi montaged images. Prince isn't losing any revenue over them, he's not being defamed, grossly misrepresented, etc.

It just seems ridiculous that we can see a huge 2 page spread in the National Enquirer, complete with giant photos, and all kinds of BS lies and gossip about Prince. But a fan site, with a much smaller audience, who generally happens to really like Prince and is celebrating his music, instead comes under the gun.

Neversin said:

OMG!! Hell has frozen over! I whole-heartedly agree with Neversin. I hope Satan's got his hip boots ready, it's gonna get deep today!!

Tom said:

yeah, i hear what you're saying...i mean, i READ what you're saying...i mean...aw hell, you KNOW what i mean...

...but i don't know if the issue is as much about the crappy low-quality clips as it is about artwork that was created by and for NPG records and NPGMC. it's one thing to publish or post a paparazzi pic or a video clip from an awards show, but another thing altogether to appropriate the NPG logo as part of your site design. ya know? from what i'm understanding, that's the crux of the issue...though i may be wrong.

still and all, on certain levels, i get what you mean - it would be nice if there was more freedom with prince's stuff and that the other fan sites could pluck from the giving tree that is NPGMC and all would be right in purpleland. but we all know that's not the reality. and to a certain extent - to put a brand logo on soemthing that's unauthorized - it's a reasonable reality in my estimation.

i do think there's a way that everyone can conduct things so that everyone's happy. i just wish it wouldn't be such a bumpy ride to find that place.

I've come to the conclusion that this has been made a mountain out of a molehill.

Anxiety said:

@ Anx's 'West Side Story' jibe

MetroArea said:

I have come to the conclusion that something is in the works and this is maybe a way of throwing us of the scent.

Or maybe I’m just dreaming.




Yup i'm dreaming it's groundhog day again.....


.
[Edited 2/9/05 11:44am]