Prince sure does have a complicated relationship with his fans.
One minute he’s inviting them to a slumber party at his Paisley Park mansion to enjoy a private concert and dishing up pancakes, the next he’s serving them multi-million dollar lawsuits.
The 55-year-old music icon has targeted 22 individuals in a lawsuit accusing them of participating in “massive infringement and bootlegging of Prince’s material” co-ordinated through social networking and multiple bootleg websites, as NME reports.
Prince is seeking $22 million – $1 million each – from fans he alleges have uploaded and shared concert footage and bootlegged material. The 21-page lawsuit (which can be viewed in full here for you legal eagles) was filed on 16th January with a Californian federal court and specifically targets two main culprits – Dan Chodera and Karina Jindrova – for co-ordinating the mass infringement.
Chodera and Jindrova are accused of operating a Prince fan page on social media networks and “rely on either Google’s Blogger platform or Facebook, or both, to accomplish their unlawful activity,” the legal documents read.
The pair’s “interconnected network of bootleg distribution” also implicates 20 more unidentified bloggers who are “[each] responsible for up to thousands of separate acts of infringement and bootlegging.” Prince is seeking $22 million – $1 million each – from fans he alleges have uploaded and shared concert footage and bootlegged material.
The lawsuit finds Prince citing over 363 links to music pirate downloads and illegal file sharing services hosting his music, including bootlegged performances of a March 2011 performance in the US and dating as far back as a concert from April 1983 in Chicago.
The Guardian also points out that while most of the offending websites are generic downloading blogs like World Of Bootleg and NPR Universe, others are evidentially specifically Prince fan sites – including Purple House and Purple Kiss – which host fan shot footage and recordings.
As well as encouraging fans to participate in copyright infringement, the lawsuit notes: “Defendants’ infringements have caused and will continue to cause substantial, immediate and irreparable injury to Prince for which there is no adequate remedy at law.”
Clarifying the $22 million in damages, the documents add: “Prince has suffered and is continuing to suffer damages in an amount according to proof, but no less than $US1 million ($1.1 million) per Defendant and, in addition, is also entitled to recover from Defendants costs and attorneys’ fees.”
A thread on popular fan site Prince.org is already strewn with disbelieving commenters bereft at the notion that Prince would go after his own fans in his litigious assault.
“Is this a joke, what a black day in Prince history,” lamented one post. “Yes bootlegging is wrong, but … who is next? Dude will even go after regular ass fans … really sad,” wrote another user.
In related news, Prince recently confirmed the release of a new album, entitled Plectrumelectrum, which is the first to feature his latest, all-female band 3rdeyegirl. They’ll also be embarking on a short tour of the UK in the coming months to support the release of the album. Tour dates and album details are still forthcoming.
