By now the world knows that Prince covered Radiohead’s Creep at this year’s Coachella. I think I heard about it within six minutes of happening. The beauty of Text Message!
I, among with thousands of similarly slobbering fans, raced to Youtube to see it for themselves. What we found was that every single video of it on the web was removed.
I did a pretty good search at the time and gave up, although, I’m sure a more resilient websurfer probably found it. Needless to say, Prince’s label did a good job censoring the video from the public. Why?
What is Prince’s big beef with having his image out there uncontrolled? Doesn’t he realize a video like that would go viral and be one of the biggest promoters of his music he could have? For free?
Is Prince that clueless about the modern media landscape?
Or is he just, as the song says, a creep?
But now along comes Thom Yorke and his ragtag band, ever heard of them? Radiohead; the copyright holders, creators, and overall owners of the song.
They disagree with the purple one.
Even Thom York couldn’t find a video of this historic cover.
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.”
It’s a very interesting matchup. Prince is a legend, but Radiohead has been one of the biggest bands on the planet for the last 10+ years. Remember, Radiohead headlined Coachella four years ago. They’re both top musicians in their genres.
Radiohead: Alt. Rock.
Prince: Well, he’s Prince.
Their types of music couldn’t be more different. Radiohead is gloomy, introverted, white-boy rock from a craggy island in the Atlantic. Prince’s funk and soul-driven pop comes from the cold tundra of Minnesota. I know, I know, Prince can rock out too, but it’s not really what he’s known for.
That’s why Prince’s cover was so ironic, so talked-about.
It also marks a collision between two opposing views when it comes to the Internet and music distribution.
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.
Is he planning on releasing a documentary and wants to keep the footage under wraps so consumers have a reason to pay for the DVD? If so, I can sympathize, a little, but if he has no monetary reason for preventing the world from enjoying his version of the song, well, then he’s just a dick.
So… who’s going to prevail?
From a law standpoint it seems Radiohead should have a right to release covers of their songs; then again, Prince sang it, it’s Prince up on stage, you’d think he should have some right to its distribution status too. Is there even a precedent for this type of thing?
It’s a complicated issue, that’s for sure. Internet law is in an animotic stage and it’s a tough egg to crack. Ha! Jokes aside, I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong.
My hearts with Radiohead on this one.
Plus, I want to see the fricken video.
In its place, here’s a shitty video of Radiohead singing Creep at Coachella.
Art of Starving 
Yeah there are precedents. When a musical work has been recorded and that recording released, people can then pay to make new recordings of that musical work. This license is mechanical, it doesn’t require the permission of the author of the musical work. As for publishing the performance, Jane Q Public does not have the right to do so. Radiohead are within their rights to request DMCA removal since the Jane Q Public poster does not have any rights to the underlying musical work. Prince is within his rights to request DMCA removal at any time.
Thanks for the info. So in the end Prince does have right to block the video? And Radiohead? If one says one thing and the other says the opposite, who has final say: the creators or Prince? Or if either one wants it blocked it gets blocked?
I’m still a little confused, but thanks for shedding some light.
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