Watch this while you still can. Prince wants it to be taken down.
Radiohead heard that Prince was demanding the fan-posted video be taken off YouTube and they started backing the other-side (the fan’s right to post it). To the band, seeing as it is their song, the copyright is their’s to give away.
It then opened up this whole argument. Prince backers put forward that the performer has the right to protest his image and performance being posted without his permission. The otherside came back with the “it’s a public performance, fan-videos are allowed” argument, only to have the Prince backers come back with the “contract of a concert ticket” argument, which is where the back-and-forth got as humdrum as the French open for me and I decided to go see the vid for myself.
On the off chance that you’ll be hearing and reading about this video and its captured performance over the next few months, I thought I’d draw your attention to it while it’s still up.
It’s actually a pretty good cover of ‘Creep’. The song was Radiohead’s first ever single back in ‘92.
This latest cover by Prince is further proof of the versatility the band’s songs have. A great part of their back catalogue has been covered by artists of almost every genre you could think of (from neo-soul singers to classical concert pianists). Their melodies translate well into any style of music and they are arguably one of the greatest bands of all time.
In other Radiohead news: The band’s former label, EMI, just released a Best-of compilation today. There is doubt over whether Yorke and the guys approved the release or not. Fans are bashing the compilation through reviews on iTunes and Amazon.com, dubbing it a cheap ploy on EMI’s part to cash in on the success of In Rainbows.
While EMI’s been pretty f*ing stupid over the past few years – since whatshisface took over – they’re not dumb enough to miss out on the recent success the band has had. They own the rest of the band’s catalogue and they’re going to try and make money off of it, which is fair enough.
As long as these repackaged discs do not coincide with new releases from the band, they’re fairly harmless. Some labels have put out ‘Greatest Hits’ and ‘Best of’ collections in the past to hurt the sales of new releases after an artists leaves their fold, most notably Sony with Aimee Mann and Mariah Carey. EMI’s not doing this with Radiohead, thank God, and as educated as Radiohead fans are on cheap label ploys, I’m not worried.
The last series of EMI fiascos were the nail that split the grain. Artists who have left the label out of frustration have found new ways of distributing music that won’t keep both ends (listeners and performers) obsequiously begging for the right to do anything in that arena anymore.
Few though, had the guts to stand quite as far out on that ledge as Radiohead did by distributing their music online, independently and without a fixed price-tag.
The In Rainbows project was a tipping point for alternative forms of music distribution. It paid and will continue to pay dividens. In other words…that ‘Best-of’ chip ain’t got nothing on what the band has already built far from the clutches of EMI’s suits.