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Prince Music Not Streamed: The Reason Why And How You Can Get Around It

By Gail Delaney
Published on: 09:03 PST, Apr 23, 2016

When your favorite music artist dies, Like Prince, many people turn to the music as a way to grieve. However, for many, finding Price’s music online is like finding a needle in the haystack: it’s almost impossible. Prince Rogers Nelson took a stand to keep his music off free streaming networks.

In 2015, Prince removed all his music from the free-streaming services except Tidal. Many artists took a stand to remove their music from these services because they were not being paid when people listened to their songs during the free trial sessions.

Prince even tweeted against Spotify.

“Spotify is co-owned by record labels, who hold 20 percent of the company’s stocks.”

“The internet is completely over,” Prince declared in 2010. Prince believed his music should not be given away, but there was one instance when Prince made the executive decision to release his album 20TEN in CD format only (and, at the time, only for free in copies of U.K. paper The Daily Mirror) because he was looking for new ways to distribute his music without leaving his work susceptible to online piracy.

“I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.”

In an interview the following year, Prince told The Guardian about his plans and his reasons.

“We made money [online] before piracy was real crazy. Nobody’s making money now except phone companies, Apple and Google. I’m supposed to go to the White House to talk about copyright protection. It’s like the gold rush out there. Or a carjacking. There’s no boundaries.”

The year when Prince removed his name from his music was a move not understood by many, but he had valid reasons. He was trying to shine the light on the artist’s music and being paid for it. Warner Bros., Prince’s record label at the time, offered him a contract that would get him completely out of debt. For many musicians, it wouldn’t take much thought before they signed on the line.

Warner Bros. wanted complete control and ownership of Prince’s early music and the way he released his new music. Even though the deal was lucrative, for Warner Bros., it left Prince without any say in his music. It would strip him of control, and he would not get any of the advances that they promised him. From that point on, Prince wrote “SLAVE” on his cheek each time he made a public appearance. The last album that Prince did under contract with Warner Bros. pretty well said what he felt when he called it, Emancipation.

“A lot of people didn’t know what I was doing, but it helped some people. I don’t look at it as Us versus Them. I did. But you know The Wizard of Oz? When they pull back the curtain and see what’s going on? That’s what’s happened?”

“What I meant was that the internet was over for anyone who wants to get paid, and I was right about that. Tell me a musician who’s got rich off digital sales. Apple’s doing pretty good though, right?”

Overall, it seems hopeless in listening to Prince’s music, doesn’t it? USA Today provides a few ways that you can listen to Prince and keep his legacy alive.

Fans can subscribe to Tidal. This website is a subscription-based site, with rates starting at $9.99 a month. However, if you want to see what the site is about and see if you like it, they do offer a one-month free trial. Apparently, this website “is the only place on the internet with complete access to Prince’s albums.”

USA Today offers several of Prince’s videos that are still on YouTube such as “Purple Rain” on the Arsenio Hall Show, Prince performing “Creep” at Coachella, and Prince with Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne, and others during a Hall of Fame tribute to George Harrison. During this video, Prince steals the attention as he plays guitar.

Another little-known way that many people may not think about is to use your library card so you can “borrow” Prince’s music. The music is streamed on Hoopia and all you need after you sign up is a library card number.

Listen to the radio stations as they play Prince’s music. Radio station, The Current, 89.3 FM, in his homestate of Minnesota played wall-to-wall Prince. They have celebrities talking about Prince, his music, and the impact he made in the industry. You can still listen to the on-air celebration of Prince through the weekend, April 23 and 24.

If you subscribe and listen to the satellite radio’s SirusXM, they are running a special channel dedicated to Prince. When all else fails, or if you want to listen to Prince’s music on demand, buy Prince’s albums on Amazon and iTunes.

Now that Prince has passed away, there are many of his songs and concert performances popping up on YouTube. It seems his fans are trying to keep his music alive so everyone can remember “The Artist” Prince, his music, and legacy.

Unfortunately, it takes the death of an artist before anyone appreciates their music and their chosen career.

[Photo by Anonymous/AP Images]

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