kidmercury

Prince, or whatever he's calling himself these days, is releasing three albums in 2009.

I got beef with Prince, even more so than my arch-nemesis Jay-Z. Prince is totally old school when it comes to copyright, if you use the slightest bit of his music or image/likeness in a YouTube video, he orders a takedown. Some may say he has the right to do this, but I'm not so sure: is everything able to be protected under intellectual property rights? How about the first person who ever used the C major chord in a song? Or the first person to figure out that using G major, C major, and D major in a song could sound pretty melodic? If the answer is yes, then we'd be missing out on a lot of good music, as tons of songs have the same chords in them. So clearly, there is a line of sorts regarding what the creator can claim ownership of and what they cannot.

More importantly, though, one has to wonder if being a copyright crybaby is really to Prince's advantage. For instance, back in early 2008, I uploaded a video of me playing "Nothing Compares 2 U" a song written by Prince but popularized by Sinead O'Connor (whose version is about a bazillion times better than the piece of crap that Prince put out, which is tantamount to auditory assault). Prince waged war on me for this and ordered YouTube to take down my video -- see our previous coverage of this.

YouTube covers and fanmade promotion is some of the best marketing a person can get. The idea that my cover of Prince's song is going to cut into his revenue is absurd; if anything, the opposite is going to happen. It is likely that myself and YouTube will benefit from this as well, and perhaps Prince and artists like him feel like they are getting an unfair cut of the overall value being created. This may in fact be the case -- at least I would agree it is. But the entity getting more than they deserve is not the fan, but rather YouTube. And the solution is niche social networks, which will enable the original artist to create a community that gives attention to the fan and the original artist.

The Girl in the Dirty Shirt

Cover songs are the vehicle of choice for bedroom rock stars on YouTube. With this in mind, doing more cover songs is on my list of things to do in 2009, as a way of promoting my site and getting the Truth out. At first I was going to do a collection of covers of personal love songs (i.e. one person's love for another individual) and a set of covers of universal love songs (i.e. we are all one, we are brothers and sisters, etc). I did From Me to You with that in mind. I still might do that, although the fact that I suck at guitar and find it easier to write my own songs rather than play other people's songs could create some problems on that front. Alternatively I might just do Oasis covers, since I understand their style of songwriting, it's pretty simple. So here's one that could fit both plans: my cover of "The Girl in the Dirty Shirt" by Oasis. Has to be the most subtle love song of all time.

Completely off topic: John Browne has a killer article on the bond market in 2009. I agree entirely; see my article from back in November on the bond market.

Unregistered

Prince is a goddamned genius. And that piece of shit song, 'Nothing Compares 2 U' is boring and soulless compared to Prince's version. Ur a moron. Quit bitching b/c the man chooses 2 live by his own principles.

kidmercury

if by "goddamned genius" you mean "dude who wears assless pants and doesn't have a clue about digital media" i agree.

Unregistered

Oh my Gosh, what are you talking about?
Prince is propably the most overrated musicians EVER, his music is so average.
by the way sinéad o'connor is a so much better singer and composer than him, i can't even believe she covered him, her songs are so much more emotional.
and i'm not even a fan of hers...

Unregistered

You do realize Prince plays 27 instruments,and his music is dynamic and eclectic,you can 't catergorize him as rock or R'n'B.All music critics equate him to a musical prodigy and fans alike.Personally, his best albums are Sign of The Times,3121,and 1999 just to name a few.To ridicule his music like you did is very ignorant and any music afficiando will laugh in your face,his music is very emotional,you have to feel it,although I must say his voice isn't that great.

kidmercury

the fact that prince plays 27 instruments is the problem. his music is too complex and because he his voice is a disaster even when a miracle happens and he does come up with a catchy melody his terrible voice ruins it. the songs he's written for others -- i.e. nothing compares, manic monday -- are much better as listeners are not punished with his voice.

of course i would be far my sympathetic to prince and his unique brand of genius if he did not make me take down my cover of nothing compares. since he made that crucial mistake, he's on the enemy list. he will be dissed accordingly.

chacalula

Totally agree Kid, i never liked Prince, and i will never do, i just don't care about what he does

Unregistered

Totally agree!Princes songs suck, Prince is just a midget mad at the world who wears goddamn heels to bad and fucks his ugly sister. Why wont he just die already, and when he does, I hope they don't try to make it a big deal, the guy hasnt been cool in over 20 years. He's no micheal jackson. He doesnt even compare to brittany murphy!

Junior Dean

No but you can categorize his music under SUCKS ASS

prettygrl743

Personally, I am not a fan of Prince. The tight pants just don't do it for me. On a second note, I think that artist just need to let people who do their own "bedroom covers" keep their videos posted. That's what everyone loves to hear on Youtube today. They want to see people rocking out with their guitar. I've been playing guitar for three years, and all my friends want to hear the popular songs.

I actually have a good friend who just posted a cover of Bad Romance. It's pretty bizzare with fire in the background and everything. Thought you guys might be interested. You can check out his youtube channel

NickCataniaMusic

It's definitely crazy, but if you can do it, why not go for it!