FragileUndertow said:

SquirrelMeat said:

Haha, NurseV quoted in one of the UKs biggest national newspapers! Good job they hadn't checked her picture threads.

NinaB said:

BartVanHemelen said:

djThunderfunk said:

By the time it was officially released I'd already had 5 or 6 different bootlegs of the Black Album on vinyl & CD in an effort to upgrade the quality. That didn't stop me from picking up the official copy when it was released. It sounded better than even the best bootleg I've ever heard

This is nonsense. By 1994 there had been plenty of straight CD rips released as boots. The 1994 master is exactly the same as the one used for the 1987 release.

It's not nonsense. I kept the best vinyl and the best CD from my boots. Both sound terrific but neither sounds as good as the official CD.

Who was "ripping" CDs in 1994? I'd say they were "dubbing" CDs back then.

I'm not saying they didn't sound good or that they weren't sourced from the same master as the 94 release. I am saying that the sound is not an identical rip.

Really Bart, nearly 500 replies in this thread and you want to challenge me on this. Give me a break.

[Edited 1/27/14 18:27pm]

nursev said:

wot???!!!

luv4u said:

luv4u said:

nursev said:

luv4u said:

wot???!!!

Its time luv...its time

It ain't.

Do we have court dates?

Or will some settle?

Do we have his testimony?

Hmm?

Perfectly timed to hype his appearance on New Girl! A promotional genius, the man is! Always reaching out to his fanbase in the best way possible.

Sorry, but Prince is a knob. Distributing released albums is one thing but Bootlegs is bootlegs and they only serve to increase the loyalty of the fanbase. The only people who are interested in boots are die hard fans. They're are not going to stop anyone buying a copy of Purple Rain, Musicology or Plectrumelectrum. The fans have supported him through all the years, even when he was releasing what some consider sub-standard work. Go after illegal copies of Plectrumelectrum by all means, but a copy of Dream Factory or Detroit 82 or the Dirty Dark Ages - hows that gonna hurt Prince?

Financially? If he released official versions he would sell them

Artistically? They are all out there, people know them, it doesn't stop us loving his released stuff.

Personally? Ok, he might not like it, but seriously, this is not gonna wipe them from history

Some things you just have to accept as what they are, and by making examples of these people he is not going to achieve a goddamn thing other than make a few peopels lives hell.

I would like to see him justify the amounts of money he is aking for. Thats just bull.

All this is gonna do is make people think he is a bigger jerk than people may already do. He shouldwelcome the fact that people enjoy his music enough to collect and listen to crappy quality bootlegs. Its the only thing that gets a lot of people excited about a Prince concert - the possibility of hearing something rare. Please no more Purple Rain or LGC!

I have mixed feelings on bootlegs. I think he is right, but at the same time, I admit I downloaded some free stuff (basically videos of live performances, since I can't afford to go see him live and I'd soooo like to, so... I compensate, sorry P). I don't know if some of the stuff they had on those sites was officially released, but in this case I can see how he could be loosing money, and be pissed off, too.

Obviously, he can do whatever he wants to, but if all his catalogue, and live recordings, and videos etc, was downloadable at a good price from an official and well promoted site, his battle against bootleggers would seem more reasonable. With all that 3rdeyegirl hype it seemed as he wanted to bootleg himself, which wasn't a bad idea, but I think he is simply trying to do too many things all together.

Prince Sues 22 Fans For $1 Million Each For Linking To Bootlegs In Laughably Confused Complaint

(...)

He's suing a bunch of users of Google's blogger platform and Facebook for linking to apparent bootlegs.

And that's not even the most bizarre part of the lawsuit. The lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Prince, Rhonda Trotter, claims to be an expert in copyright law, but you wouldn't get that from reading the lawsuit.

(...)

http://www.techdirt.com/a...aint.shtml

nursev said:

So...which one of you dickriding bootleggers work for the Guardian?

Be nice

udo said:

Prince Sues 22 Fans For $1 Million Each For Linking To Bootlegs In Laughably Confused Complaint

(...)

He's suing a bunch of users of Google's blogger platform and Facebook for linking to apparent bootlegs.

And that's not even the most bizarre part of the lawsuit. The lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Prince, Rhonda Trotter, claims to be an expert in copyright law, but you wouldn't get that from reading the lawsuit.

(...)

http://www.techdirt.com/a...aint.shtml

Thanks Udo! The techdirt article is the best one I've read on this yet.

It got me thinking. How difficult would it be for the 22 defendants to group together for a legal defense? It seems if they did this and if someone knowledgable at a place like techdirt helped them find legal representation that they could stand a real chance in defeating this "laughably confused complaint".

djThunderfunk said:

It got me thinking. How difficult would it be for the 22 defendants to group together for a legal defense? It seems if they did this and if someone knowledgable at a place like techdirt helped them find legal representation that they could stand a real chance in defeating this "laughably confused complaint".

We should at least contact the defendants and show them the techdirt article and suggest them to team up.

Tips with email addresses via OrgNote please.

Just saw this covered on HLN and they used a quote from

here. Didn't credit the org or anything but I remember the

comment when it was posted.Was the one about years from

now Prince will be remembered for his music and screwing over his fans.

opps sorry too many edits. IM SHRINKINGGGGGGGGG.

tecstar said:

The press coverage seems to be quite biased. No surprise here. This is a society in which almost everybody thinks culture should be free, stealing and infringing copyright. So what could you expect of the coverage of this news? Of course, the creations of an artist belong to his fans! In this thread there has been a debate with different positions, but, of course, The Guardian only quotes one position: the one that goes against the artists and their rights. I'm sure Prince will loose this. He'll probably give up because of the bad publicity it's going to give him. Sad, because if he gets bad publicity, that only speaks about our society and how it regards culture.

[Edited 1/28/14 9:50am]

Javi said:

I'm sure Prince will loose this. He'll probably give up because of the bad publicity it's going to give him.

What impact will this have on his music?

Some angry rock and roll?

Some disappointed soul?

udo said:

prince don't give a shit about his fans, he never give, he his a artist who doing things for himself, people are jerks to be playing with him, he always advice about sharing his musics and videos, but all this culture among the fans of see him like a ''royal purpleness who is very nice'' (not a business men) will send this inocent people to jail,

They just discussed this on The Talk.

No one had a problem with Prince doing this.

thedoorkeeper said:

They just discussed this on The Talk.

No one had a problem with Prince doing this.

What is The Talk? A TV or radio broadcast? I live in Spain, so I am curious.

babynoz said:

SuperSoulFighter said:

udo said:

What impact will this have on his music?

Some angry rock and roll?

Some disappointed soul?

In other words, finally make a good album for a change! I see Javi's point, but now it is Prince who has to prove that he really is losing $ 1 million per person. And if prince has the right to do this, then the bootleggers have a right to fight back! Bart made a good point about Uptown magazine doing just that. But they had the good luck of finding a lawyer who was willing to work pro bono. My guess is this will go the same way: Prince will drop his 1 million claim if the bootleggers agree to stop their business. [Edited 1/28/14 11:02am]

There I agree with people criticising Prince: stating that he looses one million per person is clearly exaggerated and can give the impression that he is not defending his copyright but his greed (which may well be the case). I won't defend Prince in this concrete point (not that he'll care loosing my support).

---

Anyway, if he releases a good album, I'll be happy to forget all this and enjoy the music!

[Edited 1/28/14 12:24pm]

Javi said:

djThunderfunk said:

BartVanHemelen said:

This is nonsense. By 1994 there had been plenty of straight CD rips released as boots. The 1994 master is exactly the same as the one used for the 1987 release.

It's not nonsense. I kept the best vinyl and the best CD from my boots. Both sound terrific but neither sounds as good as the official CD.

Who was "ripping" CDs in 1994? I'd say they were "dubbing" CDs back then.

Just because the technology wasn't cheap and available to the public back then, doesn't mean bootleggers weren't ripping CDs.

Javi ups the game. He takes NurseV's namecheck on The Guardian and says, I raise to a name check on the BBC!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news...y-25927363