The cosmic creature and rockstar we all knew as Prince was down with many things during his lifetime: the color purple, changing his name to a symbol, Jehovah’s Witnesses. But one thing he was absolutely, unequivocally not okay with was Youtube.
Back in 2007 Prince threatened lawsuits against Youtube for copyright violations and ever since then the website has been notoriously harsh on anyone who tries to upload Prince music videos, audio, performances, etc. Prince hated any non-sanctioned sharing of his music, even suing fans who tried to sell bootlegs, and Youtube was the first platform to attract his ire. “YouTube... are clearly able (to) filter porn and pedophile material but appear to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content which is core to their business success,” he said at the time.
Well, guess whose music videos are on Youtube today? The late Prince’s, of course, including classics like “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy” as well as some live performance videos, all on the artist’s official account. Not everything is there (I’m looking forward to whenever “Raspberry Beret” goes up featuring Prince in a cloud-printed suit) but it’s a start. And while this is great news for Prince fans and youngsters who probably haven’t even seen any of his music videos, it’s a bad day for the artist himself.
I can only hope his ghost is wandering the YouTube offices, appearing briefly in a puff of purple smoke before releasing a hoard of rabid doves on staffers.