Estranged Reality Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 You know, there are so many things that can be criticized related to GN'R over the past few years (and indeed such things do get criticized here on a daily basis), and I've never exactly been one who's always able to look at the glass as being half full when it comes to some of these issues, so I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything with this thread. But I am a huge fan of the musician Prince and I just read this article today and it made me think, things could really be worse for us fans of Axl:http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/27/prince-sues-internet-users-alleged-bootleg-recordingsPrince is suing 22 internet users believed to be among his fans, accusing them of sharing bootlegs of his concerts. The musician is demanding $1m (£605,000) each from the owners of websites and Facebook pages that he claims enabled the free distribution of recordings of his concerts.The 21-page lawsuit was filed last week at San Francisco's US district court, reported Consequence of Sound. The mostly anonymous defendants are accused of engaging in "massive infringement and bootlegging of Prince's material", with each web page contributing to "up to thousands of separate acts of infringement and bootlegging".The targets aren't bootleg factories in Asia or eastern Europe, but websites with links to download decades-old live recordingsI guess the upside there is that Prince continually records music whereas Axl doesn't, but at least Axl isn't actively suing his fans for spreading bootlegs of thirty-year-old concerts, eh? This isn't exactly the most pertinent GN'R-related topic but there's not much to talk about right now anyway and I wanted to provide this article so that we could maybe be appreciative of the fact that this kind of thing isn't going on. Imagine being the poor fan getting that letter in the mail demanding 1 million pounds for sharing a decades-old bootleg. Mind-boggling. I love Prince but he is a sheer idiot when it comes to his fanbase. Axl may do a lot of things (seemingly) ill-fated but at least he was cool about the Internet and its effect on fans bootlegging concerts. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NGOG Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Very moronic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowOfTheWave Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 What a piece of shit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amir Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 He has such a weird relationship with his fans/the Internet/making money. On the one hand he pulls off shit like this, on the other hand he gives away albums with tabloid papers in the UK. Running an award-winning website, then pulling it down weeks after winning said award. Who knows what goes on in that man's head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PITBOSS Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) I don't know man, is it cool to be hosting 1000's of his concerts on your page? it's one thing to be a fan and share a few but if your gonna have that many available to download you think that's not gonna draw some attention?Still kind of a dick move to pull the lawsuit, he coulda just had them taken down Edited January 28, 2014 by PITBOSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RNRS Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Great lawsuit. Doesn't stand a chance though. In order to be able to win this lawsuit he'll need to come up with proof as to how he's lost money over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NGOG Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 on the other hand he gives away albums with tabloid papers in the UK. Still making money, very shrewd move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amir Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 on the other hand he gives away albums with tabloid papers in the UK. Still making money, very shrewd move.He's not making as much as if he was selling them for £10+ each, surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magisme Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Axl doesn't murder people either, as far as I know. Let's give him some credit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoSoRose Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Prince is a total bafoon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Estranged Reality Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 I don't know man, is it cool to be hosting 1000's of his concerts on your page? it's one thing to be a fan and share a few but if your gonna have that many available to download you think that's not gonna draw some attention?Still kind of a dick move to pull the lawsuit, he coulda just had them taken downBut technically most of these people didn't host the files. Not all of them are named in a lawsuit, but the one website that is named was a blogspot site which featured links to third party websites (probably stuff like Mediafire). So none of the files were hosted or transferred through the site itself. He probably will end up getting most of his lawsuit thrown out of court, but it's more the thought that counts.Unless these people were actively trading bootlegs for money and selling them to fans -- which seems unlikely in today's Internet-exchanging era of concerts -- then it wasn't as predatory as he's making it out to seem. I think it's fucked up.Axl doesn't murder people either, as far as I know. Let's give him some credit. Yeah, but I'm just posting this because it's a current news topic about another highly divisive musician and it got me thinking about how much it would suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magisme Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I know. I'm just being an asshole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Estranged Reality Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140126/22483926006/prince-sues-22-fans-1-million-each-linking-to-bootlegs-laughably-confused-complaint.shtmlthis sums up why i think it'll probably get thrown out, but imagine how much it would kill your spirit as a fan of an artist to get sued for a million bucks for trading shitty-quality bootlegs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NGOG Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) on the other hand he gives away albums with tabloid papers in the UK. Still making money, very shrewd move.He's not making as much as if he was selling them for £10+ each, surely?Think about how many people buy a weekend Mirror, versus how many people buy CDs. Edited January 28, 2014 by NGOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfierose Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Perhaps the title should be Axl hasn't done anything like this...yet. It might give him ideas, what better way to erase Slash than get rid of all the old band bootlegs from the Internet. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NGOG Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Perhaps the title should be Axl hasn't done anything like this...yet. It might give him ideas, what better way to erase Slash than get rid of all the old band bootlegs from the Internet. ;-)If Axl did, he would be hurting some of his most ardent fans. Dudes like Esteban devote their lives to following and promoting GNR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoking Baby Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 We're lucky that TB doesn't allow Axl to use the internet too much. His love for lawsuits could probably result in some fans being sued here and there. What a dick move by Prince, btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facekicker Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Prince is a total cunt. Luckily he at least makes amazing music. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I hate to disagree, but if this was happening with GnR old concerts, do we really think that Axl/Beta wouldn't be all over getting it shut down? That crazy maribeth got thousands of GnR fan recordings shut down on youtube and Beta/Axl approved of that. Prince has always been crazy and a little weird about things like this. And it does seem like a dick move on his part to go after fans. But in his defense, he has given away his music, he has released music through his fan club and the guy has literally released around 50 albums worth of material for his fans to enjoy. Including live albums.Axl has given us nine albums? I could be missing one. Appetite, Lies, 2 Illusions, SI, 2 live, greatest hits and CD. Prince has released 50.I guess I don't really care if the guy is a complete prick in real life. Releasing 50 albums worth of material for your fans to enjoy.........I'll take that any day over a singer who wants to be my best friend and who loves puppies and kittens and who smiles all the time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sabbath Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Prince (and every other artist) should just do the "official bootleg" thing and sell the recorded shows for profit. I would gladly pay for any Gn'R show I've seen, regardless of performance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelica Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) Prince is a control freak to the nth degree. I think because he is often so generous with fans (I saw him play for $25 in 2011 FFS), he feels his (completely untethered to reality) desire for his material to basically not exist online without his permission, should be honored. It looks like a dick move (and from most artists it would be, and maybe it is), but I doubt that's the perspective he's coming from. Also, he's known to have a hair up his ass about this stuff, so these guys were taking a risk in the first place. Edited January 28, 2014 by Angelica 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padme Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Prince (and every other artist) should just do the "official bootleg" thing and sell the recorded shows for profit. I would gladly pay for any Gn'R show I've seen, regardless of performance.Yes but with GN´R it would be mission impossible. We´re still wating for the official Vegas DVD. Can you imagine what it would be wating for the bootlegs to be officialy released? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nosaj Thing Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 lol Prince is an absolute cunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 lol Prince is an absolute cunt.Maybe so!But like I said earlier, the guy has released 50 albums worth of material.............so that kind of makes up for it!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saber_ Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Well I guess this destroys the oft-repeated notion that Axl is such a maniacal litigator or litigious maniac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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