Radiohead to Prince: put cover of 'Creep' back up on YouTube

After word spread that Prince had covered Radiohead's hit song Creep at the Coachella music festival in California last month, the tens of thousands of fans who couldn't be there flocked to YouTube for a peek, only to find the video had been taken down.

All videos of the American rock star's unique rendition of the British band's early hit were quickly expunged from the popular video-sharing site, leaving only a message that his label, NPG Records, requested that the clips be removed, claiming a copyright violation.

But the posted videos were shot by fans and, obviously, the song isn't Prince's.

In a recent interview, Radiohead's lead singer, Thom Yorke, said he heard about Prince's performance through a text message and thought it was "hilarious." Yorke laughed when he heard that the blocking had prevented his bandmate, guitarist Ed O'Brien, 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."

YouTube prohibits the posting of copyrighted material. If the site receives a complaint from a copyright owner, it will in most cases remove the video. Whether it should do the same for a company not holding a copyright is less clear, but Yorke's argument would seem to bear some credence according to YouTube's policies.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, declined to comment.

Prince also did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The dispute is an interesting twist in the debate over digital ownership, as it involves two major acts with differing views on music and the internet.

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.

Prince, who founded NPG Records in 1993, has been innovative when it comes to music distribution, too. He released his 1998 album, Crystal Ball, on the Internet and in 2006 was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Webbys. In 2007, he gave away copies of his disc Planet Earth in a British Sunday newspaper.

But the Purple One has also shut down his official website and in September of last year said he would sue YouTube and eBay for not filtering unauthorized Prince content.

Prince fans have organized to urge him to relent in his legal fights to control images and photographs of himself. As of Thursday, the most popular YouTube clip about Prince playing Creep was an expletive-laden rant from Sam Conti Jr., who describes himself as a "former Prince fan."