Spotify’s statement shared its hopes the absence of his music is temporary, but the situation doesn’t look promising. On June 25, Prince retweeted a Daily Beast article, along with follow-up messages that were critical of the streaming service and its policies.
“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
Similar to Swift’s move to pull her catalog from Spotify, calling the service a “grand experiment” in 2014, it appears that Prince has concerns about what streaming means for the music industry. According to TechCrunch, notices from his publisher went out to multiple sites, including Rdio and Deezer, in addition to Spotify. Google had reportedly not received any notice so far, and, notably, Prince’s songs were still available on Jay-Z’s Tidal, Pandora, and Google Play as of publication. Apple Music, which launched on June 30, never had Prince’s music in the first place.
It remains to be seen if the services that are still currently streaming Prince’s music will be able to keep doing so, but in the meantime, Prince fans will be relieved to know that the artist does still maintain a presence on SoundCloud. He recently tweeted out a link to his new song, “HARDROCKLOVER.”
https://t.co/d0PjEa39sk pic.twitter.com/GJjepk6pOY — Prince3EG (@Prince3EG) July 1, 2015
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