Letters to the Editor

Letters posted here are associated with the following article:
The Artist threatens to take legal action against sites that celebrate him.
The letters thread is now closed.
  • Suing your own fans - there's a great business model

    If owned any Prince CD's, I would burn them.

  • The Artist Formerly Known As...

    ...Relevant?

  • The Artist Formerly Known As ...

    Tafkap.

  • The Artist

    The Artist Who Has Always Been a Little Kooky. As opposed to Michael Jackson who has been The Artist Completely Off the Wall.

  • The Artist Formerly Known as...

    Popular?

    Well-known?

    Ubiquitous?

    Chart-topping?

    Relatively not-weird when compared to other 80s pop icon Michael Jackson?

  • The Artist formerly known

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

  • @Burn - Perfect.

    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).

  • what a dinosaur.

    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.

  • The artist...

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

  • Still, not formerly

    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'.

  • The Artist

    that made more money than any other artist last year.

    *raises eyebrows and smirks*

  • FKA

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

  • My Entry

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

    My God what a horse's ass.

  • *shrug*

    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.

  • Prince no more

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

    an artist.

  • I wonder about those fans...

    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?

  • The artist formerly known as savvy

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

  • My favorite...

    ... the artist formerly known as Zapf Dingbat.

  • Copyrights are great ... but

    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.

  • Lou Reed did the same thing

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

  • The artist formerly known as ...

    ... the artist formerly known as.

  • Prince: The Artist Currently Known As...

    Prince: The Artist Currently Known As Asshole.

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

  • The Artist Formerly Known as... who?

    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?

  • You've Got It Backwards

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

  • The Prince Formerly Known as An Artist

    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

  • He'll Only Make It Worse

    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.

  • TIme to force idiot politicians to clarify fair use

    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.

  • The former artist formerly known as Former Prince.

    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?

  • It was Chris Rock who said . . .

    "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 have the answer

    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.