As had been speculated for the past week, most of the catalog of the late singer Prince managed by Warner Bros is back on streaming music services.
The arrival of Prince's music to Google Play Music, Apple Music, Spotify and other similar services occurred on Sunday, February 12, coinciding with the last tribute paid to the artists during the celebration of the Grammy Awards.
Almost all of Prince's music, almost everywhere
Since yesterday, The 19 most popular albums of Prince's musical career between 1978 and 1996 are already available for listening on Google Play Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Prime, iHeartRadio and other services music streaming, including also PurpleRain, 1999, Sign O 'the Times, Controversy, Parade y Dirty mind, along with collections of hits and songs like "Let's Go Crazy", "Kiss", "Little Red Corvette", "Raspberry Beret", "When Doves Cry", "Batdance", "Diamonds and Pearls", "1999" and "Purple Rain".
Yet some albums are still available of this Prince period, including The black album, The Gold Experience y Chaos and Disorder, which are currently under a different contract, plus a dozen remixes and "B-sides" that don't appear on Ultimate prince nor in the compilations The Hits o The B Sides.
Also included in the catalog are two 2014 Prince albums with Warner, Art Official Age y Electrum Plectrum, the latter in collaboration with the group 3rd Eye Girl.
It’s interesting that the album lovesexy, from 1988 and made up of a total of nine songs, it is presented as a single 45-minute tracks in duration, which means that the album must be played from beginning to end, without the listener having the option to skip between songs, as offered on its CD release.
Prince | Image: Michael Ochs
A dispute that still continues
Since July 2015 until yesterday, February 12, 2017, the only music streaming service to offer Prince's music catalog has been Tidal. This was possible thanks to an agreement between the artist and this service that is currently in dispute. Representatives for Prince showed their discontent when Tidal released 7 albums previously unavailable on the platform on June 15 last year, taking advantage of Prince's birthday commemoration, claiming that the service had no right to do so. This dispute has its roots in the absence of a will by the artist, and in the general disorder that he left in his businesses when he died. Some albums, including many later titles that are not part of today's broad version, are still available on Tidal.
On February 9, Universal Music Group announced a deal for 25 Prince albums and unreleased unreleased material, however the record label was unable to materialize streaming deals for the Grammys celebration.
Warner feels heir to and responsible for Prince's talent
In a statement, Warner President and CEO Cameron Strang stated that “Prince recorded his most influential and popular music during his time with Warner Bro.s, and we are deeply aware of our responsibility to safeguard and nurture his incredible legacy. Being able to bring Prince's music to his millions of fans around the world via streaming services, appropriately on the biggest night of music. We have Prince Ownership, Universal Music Publishing, the Grammy Awards and all streaming services to thank for their great collaboration in making this historic event possible. "
Strang also teased the details of the promised luxury edition Purple Rain, which was originally announced as a 30th anniversary release, with the remastering overseen by Prince himself, in 2014, to be released on June 9 (the Friday after June 7, his birthday) when the artist often held special concerts or launches. Strang promises "two incredible albums of unreleased Prince music and two full concert films from Paisley Park."
Prince's music still seems to be rolling out right now, so don't be surprised if some of you still haven't seen it on your favorite streaming music service.
