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Prince Extends Copyright Crusade to Six-Second Video Tweets

Prince

Prince’s tight, legalistic control over his music is understandable, but he has taken it to a new extreme. Given the still-paltry royalty rates artists receive for online streaming versus physical or digital sales, the Purple One’s diligence about keeping his recordings off YouTube looks smarter with each passing news cycle. Now, though, Minneapolis’ funkiest denizen has sicced his lawyers on Twitter’s Vine service.

As TheNextWeb reports (via FACT), Prince’s NPG Records sent a copyright-related takedown request to Twitter concerning eight Vine video clips. The complaint said the clips contained “unauthorized recordings” and “unauthorized synchronizations.” In fact, the videos now appear to have been taken down. But here’s the catch: Vine video clips are only about six seconds long. Um.

So enjoy Prince’s recent trove of new music, including his latest online release, a sludgy blues-rock rework of his own “Let’s Go Crazy.” If, though, your toddler starts (hypothetically!) dancing to it, don’t even think of putting a video up on Vine. Breakfast can wait, but making your own creative use of just several seconds of Prince’s music can send you the way of the dude from Foster the People.