As many fans remember the legendary artist Prince, they will discover that the task of finding his extensive musical catalog online is nearly impossible. In today’s digital age dominated by music streaming services, many will be surprised to find a total lack of Prince’s music on many of the top streaming services such as Spotify, Rhapsody and Apple Music.
In the 1990’s Prince was involved in several legal disputes. It is well documented that he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in the 1990’s during a contractual battle with his record label Warner Bros. After fulfilling his contract, reclaiming his name, and striking a landmark deal in 2014 to reclaim control over his back catalog, Prince intensified his attacks on those he felt were infringing on his music copyrights. In recent years, he had been involved in legal disputes with Facebook and YouTube users providing links to ‘bootleg versions’ of his music and he had refused to release his music on several of the biggest streaming services, because he claimed those services took advantage of the artists.
Prince’s catalog can only be found online on a small number of platforms like Pandora and SiriusXM, which rely on compulsory licenses to perform music. The question now, is whether his music will see a wider release in the wake of his untimely death. Soon, the prolific artist’s catalog could become more widely available on streaming services. The decision to release Prince’s music more widely online, will depend on whoever is in charge of the administration of his estate and whether Prince had any provisions in his will regarding how his intellectual property may be used in the future. At this time this remains unknown.