I was once a huge Prince fan. I've seen him in concert a few times (and he's an amazing performer) and I've got a nice collection of his music, including several rarities.

But he has become a total dick ever since he went balls-to-the-wall Jehovah's Witness.

He was always a little spiritual, and a little self-centered, but now he's gotten to the point of being a complete jerk to his most loyal fans. He sued fansites for using his image and referring to his works, and when they complained, he wrote a "diss song" called "PFUnk" (which was musically rather awesome) that was put out for free so that all his detractors could hear his response to their complaints about being sued.

Drop it now
Gonna stop it now
Gonna git it now

Here he comes again
He's gonna try to ruin my day
Never had a reason to dog me out
Di'n't never make 'em do what they say

Nine times outta ten
Ask 'im if he did he say no
I'll never be a turncoat
Never be the one
To sell your name at the grocery store

You come around
Funny stuff be goin' down
Ask him how it happened
Yo he don't know

But I don't care what people may say
I ain't gon' let it ruin my day
The best remedy for a basket full of lies
Is funk

Ain't nothin' like funky music
To start me on my day
Got to gimme some of that music

Here she comes again
She got to tell the story her way
Once she's caught a guy
That's doin' somethin' she don't wanna
Takin' money when the crime don't pay

Every now and then
You'll do somethin' ... they said
One man's justice is another man's fear
Don't you wish that you could sleep in my bed?

The only reason to say my name is to get your 15 secs of fame
Nobody's even sure what you do

But I don't care what people may say
I ain't gon' let it ruin my day
The best remedie for a basket full of lies is funk

There's nothin' like funky music
Let the music play

Well, it might not be The Grand Progression
But it sure is funky
Right on

How you gonna cap and be gone?
I hate to let you know but it's on
You might not like the taste
But I'm still gon' stick your face in this funk

Gossip again?
Ho. Hum.
Listen to my drum

Digital music disappears in the daytime

...yo face
Listen to my bass

Time will tell
We are
Listen to my guitar

We don't care what they say
We ain't gon' let it ruin our day
The best remedy for a big, fat punk is funk

Ain't nothin' like funky music
Turn the music up

Are you talkin' to me?
All right
Somebody call 9-1-1
Y'all trippin'

Look here, Weavalicious
C'mere...let me talk to you
You and your boyfriend
Lemme tell you somethin' right now
You run up on me again
With words or otherwise
And I'mma knock both you punks out

There you have it, world
That is passing away
We don't care where you go
But you gotta get out o' here
Okay?

Cancer, chronic fatigue, ugly or just plain po'
I love all y'all
Don't you ever mess with me no mo'
What time is it?
All right then
That's it, y'all
I'm out like the Wolves in the first
But we gonna get it together though
Pookie! The limo warm?
Cool
Peace y'all
Stay funky

That takes some nerve, and despite the fact that the song is incredibly good, the circumstances make me miss the Prince of the early 1980s a lot more.

ZeroCorpse: (incomprehensible prince lyrics inexplicably printed in entirety, redacted)

That takes some nerve, and despite the fact that the song is incredibly good, the circumstances make me miss the Prince of the early 1980s a lot more.


It takes nerve for a multi-brazillion-selling pop artist to write a throwaway song against a few no-name fansites and get it published by his own recording company? That's like saying it would "take nerve" for a pro athlete to hold up a hand-lettered sign on the sidelines that read "No, you!".

/thinks the Prince of the 80's is still here, and still a douche.

As far as the music goes, I love Prince. My friends know if I'm in a bad mood, the best thing to do is play me some of his Purpleness.

As far as Prince as a person? He's a huge douchenozzle. I can't stand him. Ungrateful prick.

say what you want about prince. the dude can play. what i wanna know is... where are these covers?

ok, i'm retarded. i should read the article first. random Norwegians covering prince songs. All my eyes could see was Prince + Covers. My brain immediately thought, Prince... doing an assload of covers?!? Where?

I freakin' love Prince. But I have to wonder what the hell he's thinking sometimes.

Subby, if by "completely legal", you mean "ILLEGAL", then yes, you'd be correct.

They didn't pay the licensing fee of around 8 cents per track, according to the article.

My sister loves Prince. I wouldn't piss on my sister if she was on fire.

//random crap that's irking me
/back to my corner

Pr1nc3ss: My sister loves Prince. I wouldn't piss on my sister if she was on fire.

//random crap that's irking me
/back to my corner

***snerk*** Why pray tell is your moniker Pr1nc3ss, Pr1nc3ss?

/Not being facetious, just curious...honest!!!

ubermensch: Subby, if by "completely legal", you mean "ILLEGAL", then yes, you'd be correct.

They didn't pay the licensing fee of around 8 cents per track, according to the article.

Which you only have to pay if you sell the recordings. They didn't.

<b>Ron Paul Revere:</b> <i>ubermensch: They didn't pay the licensing fee of around 8 cents per track, according to the article.

The album/boxset itself is legal. Failure to pay royalties doesn't change that fact.</i>

License fees aren't the same as royalties. License fees are "hey, we're gonna record your tracks, thanks for letting us record songs without the hassle of writing them ourselves." You're paying for their work. Royalties are what you would pay if you're using his recordings. Regardless, they haven't made an attempt to pay the fees, so they're using his work without compensating him.

Rent "An Evening with Kevin Smith" just for the Prince story. Or you know, YouTube it.

/seriously, the dude is whacked out
//no you can't have a Camel now

<b>jake_lex:</b> <i>ubermensch: Subby, if by "completely legal", you mean "ILLEGAL", then yes, you'd be correct.

They didn't pay the licensing fee of around 8 cents per track, according to the article.

Which you only have to pay if you sell the recordings. They didn't.</i>

In America, at least, you still have to pay. It's called a mechanical license. It's been fixed to a disc, you have to pay. If you perform outdoors, a free concert of cover songs, the venue has to make sure it has a license fee from ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. Doesn't matter if the cover band is making money, still have to pay. Anytime you use someone's material, you have to pay for the use. The original writer may choose to not go after you, but that's their perogative.

ubermensch: In America, at least, you still have to pay. It's called a mechanical license.

that's kind of the thing, this doesn't involve an American product.

Pfeiffer syndrome type 2

Prince is a an enormous (if tiny) douche.

When was the last time he made a decent record, anyway? 20 years ago?

I always thought you needed some good material worth repeating before you really had a shot at a "cover".
Guess not.

snocone: I always thought you needed some good material worth repeating before you really had a shot at a "cover".
Guess not.

Oh yea, I live in Minneapolis and have put up w/ this pissant's antics for far too long. Figured his game out 30 years ago.
I'll give him credit, he and Day singlehandedly destroyed one of the neatest music venues in N America. 1st Ave started out cool.

Ron Paul Revere: I didn't bother checking, but I'll bet dollars to donuts you can find them at The Pirate Bay.

I hope they are since he's being such a tool
/not a fan, never was

The number of Prince fans on fark is a bit unsettling. I swear, 80% of his fans are right here. Maybe it's because of all the purple used on this page?
I've never met a Prince fan in real life....at least not since the 80's when he had a few songs that were OK.

The compulsory license fee is a good deal for artists, not so good for the copyright holders. It allows anyone to record any song that already had been recorded by paying the fee; no permission is required. It's better than nothing and the principle is a good one.

On the plus side, it prevents record companies from weaseling out of per-unit payments like they can do to the recording artists ("yeah, we printed 50,000 but 5,000 were promotional and 5,000 went to Columbia House and another 3,000 were provided free to reduce the overall price to the retailer, and there's about 8,000 that were unsold and marked down as discount, and another 3,000 that were unsold but we don't know exactly where they are, so you only get royalties on the 26,000 that were 'sold' as stipulated by the standard recording contract you signed.") Viola! Which is why the songwriters in the band can eke out a living off record sales while the others rely on touring and merchandise sales for income.

Pay the man. Nobody gives a damn if your accountant says that "no one made any money from the project". A legitimate record company understands this and acknowledges this.

Of course, normal people would simply sue for the money they are entitled to by law and maybe a little extra to punish the weasels. Control freaks like Pee-rinse sue for something unenforceable and appropriately grandiose, like destroying all copies of a product sold to thousands of people, as if the record company has any legal right to reclaim it from the owners.