In what appeared to be an inevitable scenario, Prince has decided to pull his music from online music streaming sites, but he’s still on Tidal and Deezer, it seems.
“Prince’s publisher has asked all streaming services to remove his catalogue,” said Spotify on the artist’s landing page — the words many a streamer will not want to read.
“We have cooperated with the request, and hope to bring his music back as soon as possible.”
It reduces the options available to hear Prince’s music online, given the lack of his tunes on YouTube. But his music still appears to be on Deezer and Tidal, a streaming service that is still in its infancy.
Of course, Prince has been tweeting about the streaming world for a while now, notably retweeting a Daily Beast article that called Taylor Swift the new Prince.
That referred to the former’s hardline stance with Apple Music recently, which has largely been seen as Swift standing up to the corporate scene and winning.
“Spotify is co-owned by record labels, who hold 20 percent of the company’s stocks.” – The Daily Beast http://t.co/qQtZ02OOZr
— Prince3EG (@Prince3EG) June 25, 2015
“Essentially, streaming has offered labels the ability to pay themselves twice while reducing what is owed to artists…
— Prince3EG (@Prince3EG) June 25, 2015
…from pennies on the dollar to fractions of pennies on the dollar.” – The Daily Beast
— Prince3EG (@Prince3EG) June 25, 2015
I’m personally not a streaming convert, the concept is lost on me. However, it has proved incredibly popular in general.
But now with artists taking a stand, it will be interesting to see how things play out in the next couple of years. Especially now that Apple has gotten involved.
Main Prince image, via Shutterstock
