To coincide with yesterday’s Grammy Awards, where Prince was remembered in a special tribute, The late singer’s music is now available on all streaming services. This ends over 18-months where his back catalog was only available on Jay Z’s subscription service Tidal.
The streaming deal was reached with Prince’s estate and covers streaming services including Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora. All of his albums from 1978 to 1996 are now available.
The legend, who died in April 2016 at age 57, had previously removed his music from most streaming and digital music platforms back in 2015, with the exception of Tidal outlet. Prince was a huge advocate for musicians rights to be paid fairly, he famously attacked the music industry during a 1997 interview: “If you don’t own your masters, then your masters own you”.
Warner Bros. Records chairman and CEO, Cameron Strang, remarked on the decision in a press release: “Prince recorded his most influential and popular music during his time with Warner Bros. and we are deeply aware of our responsibility to safeguard and nurture his incredible legacy. Warner Bros. is thrilled to be able to bring Prince’s music to his millions of fans around the world via streaming services, fittingly on music’s biggest night. We’d like to thank Prince’s estate, Universal Music Publishing, the Grammy Awards and all of the streaming services for their great collaboration in making this landmark event possible”.
The big four music streaming sites have all taken to Twitter to celebrate the move:
Spotify
Show some respect. Get freaky. This is: Prince https://t.co/WXcRQPd3zn pic.twitter.com/XiYrNbDMrR
— Spotify (@Spotify) February 12, 2017
Apple Music
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) February 13, 2017
Amazon Music:
Go crazy with #Prince! Stream his greatest albums & songs on Amazon Music ? https://t.co/RTLtanrpxm pic.twitter.com/zUBDvTAOWp
— Amazon Music (@amazonmusic) February 12, 2017
Pandora:
Let’s go crazy! Prince is now on Pandora. Start listening: https://t.co/ji8lJKFyNS pic.twitter.com/nfsNqIa7IU
— Pandora (@pandoramusic) February 13, 2017
Prince’s music being available has received mix reception from Twitter, with some people excited about getting the chance to listen to the tunes and others questioning whether this is what Prince would have actually wanted:
Me listening to Prince’s music on Spotify knowing damn well he didn’t want it on there: pic.twitter.com/DvRXA5e1cB
— Ms. Valdis (@VitaniValdis) February 12, 2017
I have nearly all of Prince’s albums already, so why am I still super-excited he’s headed to Spotify? ?? pic.twitter.com/ru4K01pCsl
— JOHNNY ?☮️✝️ (@jkalifornia) February 3, 2017
I don’t think Prince would’ve wanted his entire music catalog on Apple Music and Spotify. He put his catalog on Tidal for a reason.
— Ᏸecca? (@MJStarLover) February 12, 2017
I feel really guilty about this but I’m really excited about Prince coming to spotify
— dani (@LaundryLeague) February 3, 2017
STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING THEY JUST ADDED PRINCE ON APPLE MUSIC MY LIFE IS COMPLETE I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER SEE THE DAY pic.twitter.com/FABH5oNdrc
— mama africa (@thatgirlsalina) February 13, 2017
t’s really cool that #Prince catalog is available on #AppleMusic now. All of his greatest hit #songs can be streamed. #Goat #Purplerain
— IMQ (@IMQmusic) February 13, 2017
When Prince explicitly gives instructions about his music, but we ignore it and put it on Apple Music instead. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
— TyreeBP (@TyreeBP) February 13, 2017
