Fingers crossed

Being a Prince fan is getting ever tougher in the digital age, with a group of fan sites saying they've been asked — in a brusquely legal manner — to take down pictures of the artist, reports Reuters.

The Artist Formerly Known as Not Litigious served a notice to a number of fan sites to take down images, lyrics and other material.

Three sites in particular have been targeted and have banded together in the Prince Fans United campaign.

A spokesperson for Prince says it is not the artist bearing the torch of online fan crucifixion. Rather, his record label is taking issue with widespread use of copyrighted material.

But actions speak louder than PR. In September, Prince himself launched an effort to rein in control of how his music was being used online. The singer announced he was suing YouTube and going after Pirate Bay for offering illegal album downloads.