Radiohead to Prince: Unblock 'Creep' cover videos
 

Radiohead to Prince: Unblock 'Creep' cover videos
By JAKE COYLE



WASHINGTON - After word spread that Prince covered Radiohead's "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.

Prince also did not immediately 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, Calif., 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."

Prince is a fag, ive never been a fan of him, but he did make some good tunes, but that wont stop me calling him a cunt because i would have liked to have seen that performance:mad:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x58...hella_creation

Whoop whoop

nice job!...

Why does he have to be such a douche about it?

Prince is weird as fuck. I'm sure a lot of people have seen the Charlie Murphy story on Chappelle Show. If anyone has ever seen "An Evening With Kevin Smith" then you know that his story isn't full of shit.

Kevin Smith said Prince asked him to work with him to make a documentary about one of his album releases. He said when he went over to his house to meet with him, he was out back playing basketball in a purple velvet jumpsuit. His assistant then told him that Prince has dozens of full albums and music videos he paid for himself that he's never even released to the public because he doesn't want to. Apparently he has hundreds of songs he's recorded that he has never let anyone hear, and never will.

Prince is a creepy dude.

That dm clip is gone.
Here's youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54GtS3FvgXU

Somehow he still makes it sound like a sucky 80's tune with a shit solo for good measure,

Watch another fag (moby) instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1o8y...eature=related

the only way I can stand prince is if a stripper is in front of me while his music is being played....lets face it..strippers LOVE Prince songs....

Prince and cocaine, its what they live for man