Prince to sue fans
I'm willing to give Prince a lot of leeway because the man is a musical God, but sadly, with that has come a major God complex.
When he called himself a slave to the record industry I agreed, when he wore cut off leggings and all in one silk jumpsuits I said, 'Eh, only a 5 foot man in platforms and rubbish facial furniture could possibly pull that off.'
But now, just like Metallica, he's getting his heavyweight lawyers to weigh in on the people who support him - his fans. The singer's legal team have contacted some of Prince largest fan sites insisting they remove pictures, lyrics, album covers and anything with Prince's likeness from the internet.
His reps have asked for "substantive details of the means by which you [the fansites] propose to compensate our clients [Paisley Park Enterprises, NPG Records and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)] for damages..."
WHAT!? Damages!? Are you having a laugh. Dude has quite enough money methinks.
Don't worry though, Prince's biggest web communities www.housequake.com, www.princefams.com and www.prince.org have united to fight back at www.princefanunited.com
On the site it says: "while Prince is entitled to control of his copyrights, it should be within the law. The law clearly provides for displaying of images of a celebrity's likeness for newsworthy events or matters that are considered to be public interest.
"All three websites feel that the photographs and/or likeness displayed on their websites clearly fall within the public interest category. Additionally, the use of photographs is legal based on the fair use doctrine, i.e. the displaying of album cover art, or the collage headers created by website members using a variety of different photographs."
Naturally, they have a very good point.
And to Prince, I have this to say: my musical midget, you're treading on very dangerous ground. Your control freakery should not be allowed to reign supreme over the people who have made you millions and supported you for 20 years.