I was reading the thread about the Roosevelt Hotel show and a good point was made (I forgot who made it). Prince often does covers of other artists' stuff at his shows, but he has gotten very pissy about other artists covering his stuff.

now, he bitched hard at Ginuwine about his cover of "When Doves Cry" and when poor Ginuwine told him he did it as a tribute to him because he looks up to him, Prince's reply was "Well, I didn't appreciate it."

He called Alicia Keyes and pretty much asked her if he needed to get an attorney after he found out about her plans to include a cover of "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore" on her cd. And Alicia pleaded with him to at least listen to the song first. After she kissed his ass so hard that she bruised it, he left her alone. mm-kay?

Then, when asked (by a reporter?) about how he felt about that stuff, he was basically like instead of doing his music they should just call him and thank him or tell him they like such-and-such song and leave it at that and not actually do his shit. Then he went on with his usual "my music is like my children..yadda yadda yadda."


whaddup wit dat?
now i'll give you Ginuwine...he stinks. BUT I'm sayin' tho'.Like, if her were to do a live cd or dvd, would he call MJ up in Bahrain and ask if he could do his joint? Not likely.

Maybe he doesn't like recorded covers, but thinks it's ok to cover during live performances.

alwayslate said:

Not really. The contact that Prince made with Alicia was principally to invite her to perform at Paisley Park.

As Alicia Keyes has gone on record to explain, Prince started the conversation by pretending that he was unsure whether to contact his lawyer because she was covering one of his songs. She had not spoken to Prince before and she didn't know whether he was serious or not. As the coversation went on, she realised he was joking with her and his true intention in calling her was to invite her to perform at the second Celebration in 2001.

.

I do not think they have to get permission to do a cover of a song. BUT many labels will not let on of their acts a cover of a major artist unless they get permission. But as far as I know it is as simple as paying a license fee and the royalties.

And for public performance it is the same thing, you have to pay a royalty. *even when they sing "happy birthday" at Applebee’s they are supposed to pay the royalty.

Did P have an issue with Mariah Carey covering "THe Beautiful Ones"?

superfreak said:

i don't have any interviews or articles, etc that mention him discussing it. anyone?

I won't believe this crap until I see a royalty check that Prince refused to deposit.

Anybody can cover a song with minimal permissions and they are usually granted, but sampling is an altogether different issue (did Ginuwine do a cover or a use a sample?) wherein the copyright holder can refuse the license. I'm pretty sure Mariah Carey did both: cover and a sample.

PFunkjazz said:

honest, i swear it's true... or mostly true.
you can choose not to believe it but that was Prince's word outta his own mouth (possibly Rolling Stone interview or whatever?) I remember because soon after that confrontation, Prince and Ginuwine were attending the same awards show (can't remember which one, might have been the Soul Train Awards, this was back when he was still with Mayte) and the camera kept showing Ginuwine laughing and shit while Prince was up there giving his speech...i mean close up on his face. Cuz the word was out that Prince chewed Ginuwine's ass out about doing the song. And then when the audience did their standing ovation at the end of Prince's speech. Ginuwine was just standing there looking serious for the camera. not clapping though.

I forgot Ginuwine also had a video for his remake..... oh man, I wish I could show it to you so you can see how bad it was..incredible. I can see why Prince was mad though, the cover was wretched. i mean, whew.