What does a tattoo of "The Little Prince", a children's story character by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, have to do with The Artist Formerly Known As...? (apart from the fact that it's on a cute babe...)

C'mon Salon and Farhad...let's not mix out metaphors so much. The world is confusing enough as it is!

Help me fill in the blank: The Artist Formerly Known As "someone you probably haven't heard of, care about or really give a toss who is or is not suing because he faded out of the public eye about 3 years ago and has been lost in the ether for even longer, whose music sucks and who needs to grow up. (pun intended)"

That just about sums it up. I know of one prince ever, he was a strange one too.

"Remember how we use to have arguments about who was better, Michael Jackson or Prince? Prince won!"

Yes, by those standards Prince did win. But only by virtue of the fact that sleeping with kids is pretty much one of the worst things you can do in our society. By my book, suing your own fans still make you a suck-ass suck suck.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJr1f5mcpZ8]

I thought he was washed up with the release of his second movie, the one that actually expected him to be an actor, not a glorified music video star. Why are people still listening to him? Aren't there a whole slew of more interesting, talented black musicians/composers out there now? You know, the ones actually making music that sells?

How much you want to bet some lawyer did this without checking, and we will be treated to the spectacle of a Prince apology and retreat? I've got the popcorn.

We wouldn't have this problem if that damn Digital Millenium Copyright Act didn't encourage this kind of craziness. Legally he is probably correct under DMCA. It's never been tested, really, so who knows? But the reality is that DMCA encourages madness. Despite what those bought-and-sold protectors of big business on Capitol HIll thinks, consumers DO have some rights.

The fans should call it satire. THAT's protected.

I liked it better when Prince just had fist fights with Sinead O'Connor and played great music.

It is only a matter of time before offshore internet providers start offering safe harbor for people who don't want to be harassed by idiots like His Looniness.

Want a Prince site? Set one up in the Cayman Islands! No copyright laws here! Post your Hero's life's work in MP3 files for anyone to take!

All it takes is one stupid case like this and you will see fans head for the safety of offshore accounts.

Then the Purple Pop Elitist can scream 4 U Ntil Darling Nikki comes back.

I've been using that for years.

Also:

The Artist Formerly Known As A Sqiggly Thing

The Artist Formerly Well-Known.

Favorites from this thread

The Artist Formerly Known As Relevant

The Artist Formerly Known As Interesting

The Artist Formerly Known As Whatever

It's "The Asswipe formerly known as the artist Prince"

For Prince to think he's even still relevant enough to pull this kind of stunt is amusing; however, if I were running those fan sites I would shut them down. Why should someone that arrogant get any publicity at all?

Prince: The Artist Currently Known As Asshole.

Never cared for his "music" anyway. No big loss.

... the artist formerly known as.

almost 10 years ago. It didn't work for him, either.

Copyright has its place, but we have gone copyright crazy in this country.

Reason Magazine has an excellent article about how magicians have done a good job protecting their secrets without benefit of any copyright whatsoever.

Food for thought, Prince.

... the artist formerly known as Zapf Dingbat.

Still, he's a genius, just not at this whole Internet thing.

Legally, he might have a case. Or he might not. It depends on what's on those sites (is he claiming a violation of his right to publicity?). But if I spent my time and effort putting up a site to celebrate a musician I admired, and the musician in question were to slap me with a lawsuit, I'd just take down the site and put up a fan site to someone who will appreciate the affection. There are plenty of real musicians out there starving for attention.

This will not "undo the Internet"; it will undo The Artist Formerly Known As Whatever. But only if we take his actions in the spirit in which they were given; if he doesn't want to be popular on the Internet, why make him popular against his will?

Help me fill in the blank: The Artist Formerly Known As ________.

an artist.

I guess he doesn't like having fans, because he's losing a lot of them over this. Then again, I never did understand what anybody ever saw in that weaselly little man.

"The Artist Formerly Known As a Resident of Planet Earth."

My God what a horse's ass.

The Artist Formerly Known as In Touch with His Fan Base.

that made more money than any other artist last year.

*raises eyebrows and smirks*

He is still an extreme narcissist. Some shrink should do a case study of this guy. If he is "formerly" anything it would be 'interesting'.

most likely to be left behind when a post-human technological utopia becomes possible.

goodbye, mediocre prince songs. that only leaves three in my playlist. that ain't gonna work out very well for prince moving up the list of my most-listened-to artists on my last.fm and ilike accounts. but then, those are on the evil, evil internet, so maybe he ought to sue them, too. darn their evil internet promotional ways.

to his credit, though, if i were a musician, i'd be mad at crappy youtube concert videos, too.

Prince can be as dumb as he wants to, but he needs to hurry up and remaster his back catalog (you know, the good stuff).

for being a musician, now known for being weird and contrary for the sake of contrariness?