Radiohead to Prince: Hey, that's OUR song
Rich Vázquez
"Creep" at Coachella, the tens of thousands who couldn't be there ran
to YouTube for a peek. Everyone was quickly denied -- even Radiohead.
All videos of Prince's unique rendition of Radiohead's early hit were
quickly taken down, leaving only a message that his label, NPG
Records, had removed the clips, claiming a copyright violation. But
the posted videos were shot by fans and, obviously, the song isn't
Prince's.
In a recent interview, Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince's
performance from a text message and thought it was "hilarious." Yorke
laughed when his bandmate, guitarist Ed O'Brien, said the blocking had
prevented him from seeing Prince's version of their song.
"Really? He's blocked it?" asked Yorke, who figured it was their song
to block or not. "Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment."
Yorke added: "Well, tell him to unblock it. It's our ... song."
YouTube prohibits the posting of copyrighted material. If the site
receives a complaint from a copyright owner, it will in most cases
remove the video(s). Whether the same could be done for a company not
holding a copyright is less clear, but Yorke's argument would seem to
bear some credence according to YouTube's policies. YouTube, which is
owned by Google, declined to comment.
Minnesota-grown rock star Prince also did not respond to a request for
comment Thursday.
The dispute was an interesting twist in debates over digital
ownership, held between two major acts with differing views on music
and the Internet. Radiohead famously released their most recent album,
"In Rainbows," as a digital download with optional pricing. They also
have a channel on YouTube.
When Prince performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
in Indio, California, on April 26, he prohibited the standard
arrangement of allowing photographers to shoot near the stage during
the first three songs of his set. Instead, he had a camera crew
filming his performance.
Prince, who founded NPG Records in 1993, has been innovative when it
comes to music distribution, too. He released his 1997 album, "Crystal
Ball," on the Internet and in 2006 was awarded a lifetime achievement
award by the Webbys. In 2007, he gave away copies of his disc "Planet
Earth" in a British Sunday newspaper.
But the Purple One has also shut down his official Web site and in
September of last year said he would sue YouTube and eBay for not
filtering unauthorized content.
Prince fans have organized to urge him to relent in his legal fights
to control images and photographs of himself. As of Thursday, the most
popular YouTube clip about Prince playing "Creep" is an
expletive-laden rant from Sam Conti Jr., who describes himself as a
"former Prince fan."
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