Prince Is Still the Vigilant Copyright Protector

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Few musicians are as territorial in their copyright authority as Prince.

A couple weeks back, he ordered YouTube to remove a video of him performing the song "Creep" even though Radiohead's Thom Yorke (the author of "Creep") thought that performance should stay on YouTube.

Prince may have been technically right about his IP authority there — and other instances where he's used copyright statutes to protect his works — but he may be pushing a PR line few musicians would dare to go.

The latest lawsuit involves a Norwegian record label who thought it would be a good way to mark Prince's 50th birthday by making a tribute album with 81 covers of Prince songs. The label gave away 5,000 copies of the five-disc album and tried to contact Prince to give him a copy. That's where the trouble began.

According to Norway's compulsory licensing laws, the label has to give Prince 10 cents per song, and with 81 songs, that comes to $8 per album. The record label believed that since nobody was making money, they wouldn't have to send Prince any money. Guess again.

Prince is now suing C+C Records, demanding that all copies of the tribute be destroyed.