Prince is suing an American website for allegedly making pirated copies of his live performances available to download. While using the internet to build a strong fan-community and to promote and sell his new music, Prince has been vocal on artist’s rights to stop illegal downloads on the internet, and has filed at least nine previous lawsuits against websites.
The latest action is against US based Paisley Park Enterprises who run FreeMyHeart.com - a website devoted to singer Me'Shell Ndegeocello. The lawsuit alleges the site broke federal copyright laws by allowing Web users to download Prince songs that included "specific information describing which day the unauthorized recording of the 'Xenophobia' concert took place." But the site’s owner Matthew Lankford claims that he simply put links to other sites which had illegal Prince downloads, and that all reference to the artist had now been removed. "One of my favourite artists is coming after me for promoting him on my website," he told reporters. "For him to seek $150,000 per song to try to ruin me for doing nothing more than promoting him is ... overdoing it."
Prince has said he plans to self-release a 3CD recording of tracks from his recent ‘Xenophobia’ tour.