Prince Sues 22 Bootleggers for $1M Each

Prince takes bootlegging seriously—very seriously. He's suing 22 people who allegedly posted his live performances online, and he wants $1 million from each of them, the Independent reports. The lawsuit claims the fans posted bootleg copies of the performances—some of which are from as long ago as 1983—to Facebook or Google's Blogger service, and that they allowed others to download unauthorized copies of the files. One individual alone is allegedly responsible for 363 unlawful file sharing links, the New York Daily News reports.

Prince fans are split in their reactions to the news, the BBC reports. On one fan forum, a user wrote, "Doing things like this is making him lose more and more fans." Prince is well-known for hitting back at bootleggers via lawsuit. Another fan called it "a black day in Prince history," while a third called Prince "crazy" and noted that he doesn't exactly need the money. But other fans expressed support: "I appreciate Prince's music and Prince himself enough to be against people who go against his rights as an artist," wrote one. (More Prince stories.)