Prince Music Streaming Online: Does Anyone Else Feel Weird About Listening?

Before we start, a slight admission: I probably shouldn’t care about Prince’s music streaming online as much as I currently do.

In fact, if we’re being completely honest, I was all for it as recently as January of this year, when I first shared on the Inquisitr that the singer’s estate had relented on a ban that the singer imposed on the practice while he was still alive.

Stronger still, I even had the best yet simplistic argument to combat those who felt the push to have Prince music streaming outside of Tidal, the Jay-Z owned web space where the “purple one” allowed his final two albums, HITNRUN Phases One & Two, to be hosted on for a time (albeit extended illegally), was a wrong one.

“Even Mr. Tidal himself,” I pictured myself saying, “has his albums available on Spotify.”

But, that was then. Today, just as I had reported on, on the same day as the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, a majority of hits, album cuts and remixes that were crafted to aural perfection by the one and only Prince Rogers Nelson, were unleashed in mass to popular streaming services Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Pandora, and Deezer, which I’d never even heard of before the Prince music streaming announcement, by the way.

Prince’s music is now available on streaming services. https://t.co/pxjb99qdyx pic.twitter.com/bFUYm4KJZM

— The FADER (@thefader) February 12, 2017

And on this day, just as expected, I immediately began adding my favorite Prince songs to my personal playlists on my Spotify account and started grooving along. But then, in the middle of one of my all-time favorite jams from the Purple Rain icon, “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” something started to really kick up inside of me; a strong feeling, and a really weird one, at that. It was almost as if I felt a little dirty, and not in a way that the Dirty Mind performer would have approved of, either.

I actually, dare I say it, felt kind of shameful. By singing and dancing along to the songs I saved on Spotify, was I disrespecting one of the greatest music artists of all time by going against something he actively disproved of?

Prince was so notoriously protective of his genius, and who wouldn’t be? The man created timeless music that still intrigues every listener who was lucky enough to rise up with him throughout the years, as well as those who are still confused as to why their mommies and daddies still frown whenever they’re reminded of the fact that Prince is not among the living anymore.

And for the record, I’m definitely both of those types of people.

Not only was I born in the 80s, when Prince reigned supreme on the music charts, but I was also a teenager in the 90s who lost track of his brilliance after the release of another forever-loved tune, “Diamonds and Pearls.”

Therefore, as an eventual adult, I was able to jump back to the period of sound that I had missed; this time, armed with a stronger sense of appreciation for music, and take it all in a much more mature way. Perhaps that’s why Emancipation ultimately rose to a close second on my list of “favorite Prince albums ever,” but I digress from my point (also, Emancipation is still unavailable online, so there’s no use in talking about that now, anyway).

However, I don’t believe that Prince would’ve minded my partial ignorance of his discography, mostly because all of the music that I do own of his was purchased way back when, meaning that whatever I do groove to, it’s physically owned (I don’t count ripped MP3’s as being problematic in this situation, in case anyone was wondering).

However, on the other hand, I do see the potential of what it could mean by having his music available digitally: younger ears chained to the rhythm — yes, that’s a Katy Perry reference — means that a whole new world of music lovers now have the chance to get a little more familiar with the magic and exclusivity of one Prince Rogers Nelson.

Although, be that as it may, I still feel like I have to do something to ease this uneasiness over Prince music streaming and being way too available right at the tips of my fingers. Perhaps I should order a couple of his CDs via Amazon — sure, they’re a bit pricey as of late, but I guess survivor’s remorse doesn’t really care about aspect. We miss you, Prince. I hope you’re not too disappointed with this development. It’ll be a good thing, right?

[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]