I think Prince is selfish not to see FREE vidoes of him from YouTube! All Prince is doing now is only for the MONEY, why? Las Vegas Shows? Don't be fooled by the Free CD of Planet Earth, he was Paid Milllions to do it! How about 3121? Remember American Idol to Promote the CD? Musicology? Well, Grammy's, etc...

No, he's a man in a business. One might even call him a "businessman."
Of course he's tryna make money. Now, that may not excuse the youtube thing, but it is certainly a good reason to do various promotions.

prinsipe said:

Latest news ... Prince in shock promotion of his own music the way he chooses in return for money.

Music is a business.
With that being said, how can he be selfish trying to make a living?

Yes its a business, were buying His music for our hard earned money, but I think banning his videos because its free is going to far. Still Love Prince though.

kenlacam said:

I'm on two sides with this whole thing.

On one hand, he is a business man, or selfish (if that's what you wanna call it), and he's very bent on controlling everything that's online regarding his music and his image.
On the other, he has the right to do it. It's definitely "his business", after all.

Let's just put it this way, youtube had Prince videos etc..etc. for years.. then Google took over youtube! Now some artists/companies are balking about the Evil youtube. They smell $$$.

do you guys read the news?

Viacom is suing Google for $1 billion over content being used on Google's YouTube Web property without permission.

realm said:

Good point.

I still love him,tho.

Selfish for wanting to get paid for his work?


I guess everybody on the damn planet are 'selfish' then, cause not a lot of people work for free. You seem to forget that making music is Prince's day job. Would be the same thing if you worked at the office ten hours every day for free. You and me both know that shit ain't happening.

Non-sense.

arnt we all in someways

FuNkeNsteiN said:

True!

Still the companies that are balking never cared much about the musicians interest. The record companies screwed the musicians out of $$$ way before the internet screwed the musicians out of $$$. Now that the internet is screwing the musicians out of more $ than the record companies. Well some side with the record companies.

Doesn't mean the record companies will come up with deals that are in the best interest of the artists, when it comes to the internet. Heck, If anything the major record companies will try to cut the artists out of the profits from legal downloads or lawsuits agains Google.

Still the internet may be a 'route' that in the end will be in the best interest for the artists and spell 'the end' for the major record companies. Thats why the major record co are fighting in these fights, they smell the end. But its a whole new start for many musicians. I don't know, I think the artists that come up with new ways to sell the work will benefit. But trying to work with major record companies is just placing yourself on the Titanic. The major companies all find other ways to profit from the fiasco as the bitch about it!

Wanna blame anyone??? Blame Verizon/Warner Cable high speed, the Apple Ipod, and that pile of 100cdr spindle that Sony sells. But it will be easier to blame a single mom that downloaded 24 mp3s for the end.
[Edited 10/21/07 10:05am]

FuNkeNsteiN said:

I couldn't agree more, brother. This is a business, even if it don't look like one.

ToraToraDreams said:

Well, I'm a business woman and I'm well acquainted with wanting to make money from my work and I too think that Prince is being a selfish twit!

If this was just a matter of Prince wanting to make money for his work, I wouldn't have a problem with it but that's not the vibe that I'm getting from all of this.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't think this nonsense has anything to do with money. I think this is more about Prince erasing all traces of his past because of his recent beliefs. Which to a degree I still don't have a problem with. If he no longer wants to perform or associate himself with stuff from his past, that's fine. I think he should have one last phenomenal concert (in Detroit ), retire and live happily ever after.

However, the problem is that he apparently doesn't want ANYONE especially US associating him with his past, either. That I have major problem with because his past has a whole lot to do with us. If it weren't for us, he wouldn't have a past to being trying to disassociate from now.

I feel like the last few years since his so called "comeback" have been one big fat money grubbing scam. To me, it feels like he's been planning this foolishness all along and just wanted to get as much cash as he could out of us before he kicked his past and US to the curb.

If I'm right, that's some selfish ass shit, there's just no other way to describe it!

SexyBeautifulOne said:

I doubt that this is about selfishness. It's something. What it is, though, is not clear. Maybe it will never be.

The give aways and all, that's business. Good business, even. Removing the videos...I don't understand that move.
If it were that he's trying to hide traces of his past, then why remove them all? Why not leave the ones that he now approves of?
If it's a business move, I don't see how it's a good one, as it's these videos that recruit new fans and rekindle older ones. You can't pay for that kind of promotion.

About fans associating him with his past...there's nothing wrong with that. It's a part of who he is/was. If he wants people to focus on the person he has become, all he has to do is be the best person that he is...now. The contrast, alone, will speak more than him trying to sweep things under a rug. If anything, it's more admirable to see someone that has changed their life in some way (especially from something spiritual) and doesn't try to hide from it. But that takes humility. Maybe he's still working on that part.

GoldiLocks said:

That's likely, but even if he's got his own plans, there's only so long that one can keep people in the dark before they form opinions that are hard to remove. Some things don't go away just because people say "Oh, now I understand...now it all makes sense" A little communication...even if vague, is all needed.

there are lots of things about privacy and identity we can't even begin to fathom of a person in his position. maybe it drives him crazy and this is in his best interest. maybe not and he's really selfish. but fan's concocting every negative judgment possible hasn't brought anything back.


just saying, there are better things out there to hint and nail prince on the head with. like a tour.

He hasn't selfish when he made those cassettes with outtakes and gave them to the chicks he was shagging in the 80's

anon said:

The target of video and audio removal has been those sites which stream or enable download of material (some of which is pirated or bootlegged) and where no payment is made for enabling the material to be viewed. Where a site legitimately streams an official release, and even where it allows its audience to enjoy the broadcast for free, the site makes payment for the broadcasting, just as other channels such as legitimate radio stations make payments to allow them to play Prince's music to their audiences.
.

langebleu said:

I understand that, but these are the growing pains of a quickly changing industry. I can understand the concerns and even the frustrations but what I don't understand is the nature of the move. I'm sure that everyone that appears to be going along with the changing times, are just as concerned as Prince is.

It seems it's best to embrace the good that comes along with the bad because there's much good. Instead of suing YouTube, partner with them. As for viewing material for free... What's so wrong with that if you have a new product to sell? or a high res DVD of the YouTube Stream. Until all things are sorted and the industry settles into what it will become, it's probably best to make the most out of the problem, come up with a few creative solutions, and most importantly look good in the process.

Maybe he'll set up a PrinceTube, at some point, but it's not there now. So...

anon said:

Firstly. I've seen no evidence that he is suing YouTube.

The press releases state that he is considering taking action (they inevitably use shorthand in the headlines which say things such as "Prince to sue YouTube threat") but I've seen no legal action pressed. Instead, the owners of YouTube seem to be complying with Prince's request to remove material which has been uploaded but where they pay nothing for broadcast copyrighted material. I think they are probably taking anything down remotely linked with Prince in the first instance to be safe.

However, when it comes to promoting new product, Prince appears to embrace different approaches. He gives his new CD away for free to promote his tour rather than tour to promote the album. He authorises upload of videos to certain sites to enable material to be viewed.

The key seems to be that he wants to control it rather than have others make those decisions. It was seemingly ever thus.

Whether his recent decisions are well-judged or not, I guess time will tell.

.
[Edited 10/21/07 12:46pm]

If it were just about the videos and the audios, I might be able to see the point of those contesting that Prince is just protecting his financial interests but there are currently 3500 pictures all of which were not pictures of Prince, that are missing in action from the Prince.org gallery because the Org's ISP was threatened by WebSheriff.

Please explain to me so that I can understand, what financial interest is Prince protecting by the removal of pictures of people showing off the vanity plates or tattoos that they got in his honor?

Artists are very picky about their work...I was watching this thing where this lady used to burn her paintings because she thought they were unsuitable.....

SexyBeautifulOne said:

If Prince has a legal interest of some sort in an image, or an element of an image, then he might pursue protecting that interest.

I can't speak for Prince, Websheriff, prince.org's isp or prince.org itself on the reasons that specific images might have been removed. It could be that one party considered it had some legal interest in the images. It's quite possible that one party has threatened another with legal action if certain photographs are not removed, and a blanket decision to remove the photographs has been taken to avoid the potentially costly exercise of contesting that position.

Whether or not the action prompting removal of photographs from websites has any financial motivation, I have no idea. But there is no evidence as far as I can see that this is an attempt to prevent '"us" from associating with Prince's past'. If that was the intention, then why would Prince make available merchandise bearing distinctive images of himself from the past available for sale to attendees of his concerts through August and September?
.
[Edited 10/21/07 16:05pm]

langebleu said:

I don't know but the term "Garage Sale" was the first thing that popped into my mind.

prinsipe said:

But there's not a thing you can do about it!

prinsipe said:

Maybe someone is using them in ways they shouldn't and that is harmful to Prince.