Prince: No Music On The Internet; The Internet Is Over

from the maybe-if-we-made-the-internet-purple dept

Tue, Jul 6th 2010 7:30am — Mike Masnick

Remember back in the day when it seemed like Prince was the musician who really had figured out these new digital-era business models? He had done all these interesting experiments, many of which focused on selling new and unique scarcities, and not worrying so much about the infinite goods in the music. Honestly, it seemed like he was the first real "rock star" to be willing not to just experiment, but to embrace the digital era. But all that came crashing down really, really quickly when a few things became apparent. First, while he loved to experiment with new business models, he didn't seem to actually pay attention to the results. In fact, it became evident that he had little follow through ability at all. He would just throw stuff out there, with promises to his fans, and then not follow through at all.

Second, when it came to Prince and his music, he is all about control. Control is everything to him. And one thing that does not work in this new digital era is being ridiculously anal about controlling how others access or listen to your music. So, he went somewhat ballistic, suing various internet sites for copyright infringement, including YouTube and eBay, which were both odd choices. Since then, he's walled himself off further and further from the internet. Rather than embrace it, he seems to want to deny it exists all together.

And, it appears, he's now taking that to a new extreme.

Jeremy2020 points us to a recent interview with Prince by the Mirror out of the UK. Most of the interview just highlights the bizzaro "Prince World" that Prince lives in. On that subject, if you have never seen Kevin Smith's brilliant and hilarious half-hour discussion of his brief time in "Prince World," it's totally worth your time. Having seen that, the interview itself doesn't seem quite so bizarre, but does seem like "Prince-as-usual."

But, within the interview, Prince notes that his new album will only be released on CD, and not online. In fact, it looks like he's doing the exact same CD release strategy he's done before: release the album with a newspaper. If you subscribe to the newspaper, you get a free copy of the CD. The newspaper pays Prince a huge upfront, so he gets tons of guaranteed cash, and it helps the newspaper keep subscriptions. I actually think that part's pretty creative, even though he's done it before. But you would think that fits well with an internet strategy. Not according to Prince:

He explains that he decided the album will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There'll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses.

Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website.

He says: "The internet's completely over. I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it.

"The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.

"They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."

Of course, this won't keep Prince's music offline. The music will be online in no time at all, and it'll be everywhere, except that Prince won't have any control or say in it whatsoever. But, of course, if he thinks it's over and outdated and no good at all, he won't notice that because he won't be online.

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Filed Under: business models, internet, music, prince

76 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 7:40am

actually, if his music does go online, it would be an interesting legal case. nobody could say it got there legally.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 7:41am

Lucky for us, his view on the internet only applies to his latest album, the older ones are still available to us. It would be a shame to have him pull those as well, but he hasn't got complete control over those.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 7:48am

Re:
If? What is this, 1999?
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 7:49am

20TEN, coming to a torrent, usenet, ed2k, limewire client near you on Saturday!
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 7:50am

Re:
Interesting how? There are tons of things that are not supposed to be on the Internet, and yet, they are.

How is this any different?
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Pixelation, 6 Jul 2010 @ 7:53am

Never liked it anyway
Once again Prince loses the plot. Next he'll lock himself in his room and come out once every year or so. Hopefully.

Never cared for his music much anyway.

This will be a good test to see how his sales do.
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crade (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 7:55am

What he says in your quote makes sense to me, not so much anti-internet as a simple decision not to use it because he can get a better deal elsewhere.

"The internet's completely over."
Hyperbole.

"They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it. "
Probably he got more money from the Mirror if it gets an exclusive deal.
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PaulT (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:00am

While I respect his relatively close embrace of new business models, Prince still has a lot to learn.

For example, the CD/newspaper release it pretty good for getting exposure and gets him income - presumably on a basis that nets him profit even if the newspaper itself doesn't sell.

But, I live in an area of Spain that's quite popular with British tourists in July. Due to copyright reasons, whenever a UK newspaper gives away a free DVD or CD, it's not available here (even though the paper sometimes costs 5x the price). So, tens or hundreds of thousands of tourists are going to be out of the country on the day the paper goes on sale. They miss that copy of the paper, and they're usually not available when they return from holiday. But, they want the Prince CD. What do they do?

"Pirate" it, of course! His refusal to licence the album online will INCREASE the "piracy" because there's literally no other way to get the CD! No residual income from iTunes, nobody is able to give him any more money from CD sales (though there will be a lot of 2nd hand ones on eBay). Very, very short-sighted.
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:02am

Re: Never liked it anyway
When he comes out, if he sees his shadow it's 6 more months of the internet!
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PaulT (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:04am

Re:
Oh, and thanks Mike for the Kevin Smith reference. Between that and the Superman anecdote, anyone who thinks the entertainment industry knows what it's doing should be ashamed of themselves.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:04am

Re: Re: Never liked it anyway
Does his shadow also dress like the Queen of England?
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Garrett, 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:05am

So.... "the internet's completely over", but compact discs aren't?

If you are going that path, why not just release on 8-track? So much harder to rip
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crade (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:11am

Re:
It is a simple risk management decision. He chooses guarenteed dollars now rather than risk the market and possibly get more (or less should the CD do badly) in the long run. Now he has already been paid completely, what does he care if the CD is pirated?
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crade (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:12am

Re:
So.... "the internet's completely over", but Prince isn't? :)
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Nathan, 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:13am

Reverse Psych?
what if...it's all a case of reverse psychology

What better way to get your name/cause/music blasted all over the interwebs than by making a case like this.

Perhaps its pure genius
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:19am

Remember
Remember when Prince said his name was a combination of the male and female symbols. Totally unprouncable! Everyone called him, "the artist formally known as Prince". This lasted until a New York DJ announced that the combination of the male and female symbols was pronounce "IDIOT".

I repeat, IDIOT!
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:24am

Prince
Who? Is he important?
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:31am

Re: Re: Re: Never liked it anyway
This is a rhetorical question, isn't it?
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charliebrown (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:31am

Purple Pain
I'm in Australia and I don't see any of our local papers carrying a free Prince album - not the last one so I doubt this one - thanks, Ponce! In fact, I didn't even know there had been an album since 2006's "3121".

So I guess I will have to buy it off eBay considering it was only as a giveaway in a newspaper. Oh, wait, Prince says eBay is evil for selling his music without compensating him. Then how the fuzzy am I meant to get it legitimately? Move to England?

This is the second time tonight I've read about this. All I can say is that in MY OPINION (which does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TechDirt although I hope they get a good laugh out of it) the reason Prince is so short is because he's got his head so far up his @$$
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Hephaestus (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:43am

"They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."

Perhaps someone should tell prince that his CD's are full of 1 and 0's.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:44am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Never liked it anyway
Does the Pope shit in the woods?
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PaulT (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:46am

Re: Re:
...but, if he allowed the album to be sold on iTunes, he would get the revenue for the paper PLUS the revenue for iTunes.

It still makes no sense. If he licensed digitally, all the people excluded from the paper would still be able to give him money, no matter how many people "pirated" the CD...
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crade (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:48am

Re: Re: Re:
Your assuming he can get the same deal with the newspaper if he maintained the rights to sell the album elsewhere as well. I expect that is not the case.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:52am

Re:
Or that some theorize that the entire universe is basically one big Turing Complete mechanism, in which case it's ALL just 1's and 0's....
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TSO, 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:54am

Reminds me...

"God is dead.
-- Bill.

Bill is dead.
-- God."
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 8:56am

Re: Coach outlet
Great, and I can't even report your stupidity w/the buttons....
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RadialSkid, 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:04am

Chaka mad. Chaka real mad.
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eclecticdave (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:08am

Re: Re:
If it isn't, can we party like it is?

(Sorry, couldn't resist!)
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JR Smith (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:15am

Gotta wonder: Can this guy's ego possibly get any larger? I've never bought so much as one song by Prince nor have I ever downloaded one.
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Chris-Mouse (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:19am

For Prince, the internet IS over.
Of course, the fact that Prince thinks the internet is over won't stop it for the rest of the world. Prince will just get left behind along with everything else that's no longer relevant in a digital world.
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:23am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Never liked it anyway
Does the pope's shadow dress like a Klan member?
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TtfnJohn (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:28am

Re: Re: Re: Never liked it anyway
The Queen, even approaching 90 rapidly, dressed better than Prince or his shadow!
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TtfnJohn (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:34am

Re: Re:
Let's see now Turing was English therefore England is digital, therefore Great Britain is digital, therefore Europe is digital therefore....follow this long enough an you'll find that Prince hisself is digital and in digital denial though you may find he lives in one of those 2D Flatworlds!
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IOERROR, 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:35am

I'm pissed..
I can't read or write so what good does a news paper do for me? So I have to be deprived of his new CD because I never made it past the 1st grade? This sucks. I'm going to go watch a closed caption film and pretend I know whats going on. =o)
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AdamR (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:40am

Thank the recording industry for blowing so much smoke up his ass. They thought they could control him and have now unleashed this moron to the world.
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V (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:44am

Prince sucks anyway...nothing good nor creative since Raspberry Beret.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:45am

This is the same Prince who rewarded his hardcore fans who paid good money to subscribe to his website by charging them, even though the website no longer existed....
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Jamie, 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:49am

actually, Prince forgot the one important fact, the internet is for porn and porn alone :D
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:50am

Re: Re: Re:
He'd have to be part of it, otherwise it wouldn't be a Turing Complete!

Actually, I've been doing a lot of reading on Digital Mechanics/Philosophy, using it in the novel I'm now writing. Really, REALLY interesting stuff (if you can grasp the math at a basic level)....
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Gwiz, 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:51am

Re:
I personally would rather have numbers instead of his crappy music in my head.
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nasch (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:51am

Re:
That was Nietzsche, not Bill.
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Hephaestus (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:52am

Re: For Prince, the internet IS over.
Kinda sad though. Him sitting in that 70,000 sq foot house all alone. It reminds me of the movie "interview with the Vampire" Where tom cruise was sitting in the rocking chair in an abandoned house, all covered in dust ...
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stokessd, 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:52am

Wanna bet?
>He explains that he decided the album will be released in CD
>format only in the Mirror. There'll be no downloads anywhere
>in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet
>abuses.

Call me crazy, but I'm guessing there WILL be downloads of his music assuming it's worth downloading.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 9:59am

Re:
That was good? Creative maybe but not good.
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NAMELESS.ONE, 6 Jul 2010 @ 10:05am

NO PRINCE the BULLSHIT IS OVER
loser what a damn loser , your finished fool
goto gene simmons and BUY a KISS casket and we can bury you and him together in it
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NAMELESS.ONE, 6 Jul 2010 @ 10:07am

@7
and i too can get a better deal not going where he wants to sell and support idiots in mansions with yacht building programs while people starve and have no fun at all.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 10:12am

What is a CD?
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sehlat (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 10:14am

So where's the problem?
This is the singer formerly known as Prince and now known as Prince again. If his music disappears, could somebody please tell me how is this a problem?
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 10:17am

Ill download it just to delete it.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 10:17am

Re: So where's the problem?
It isn't. It was an issue formerly known as a problem, but the interwebz took care of it....
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Whitey French, 6 Jul 2010 @ 10:54am

Prince
Prince who?
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interval (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 11:14am

Re:
Have some pancakes. Bitches.
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interval (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 11:15am

Re:
His ego went down a few notches when he turned 50, trust me.
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Jason Bailey, 6 Jul 2010 @ 11:20am

Re: Remember
Although there is a lot to ridicule Prince about. I have to actually bring up the reasoning behind this particular situation. From what I understand, Prince found himself basically indentured to a record label. Due to a contract he signed, he had almost no creative control.
In a way to mess with the record label, he did the minimal that his contract demanded. He would show up for presentations and have "Slave" written on his face. He changed his name to make it difficult for the record label. When his contract demanded that he produce a video he would. However the contract never stated that he had to release it. Just have one made. Which leads to the surreal experience that Kevin Smith ran into.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 11:22am

Who is Prince?
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charlie potatoes (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 11:42am

Smirk
Just what, exactly, does he think he is the prince of?
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Prince J., 6 Jul 2010 @ 1:13pm

Just another example...
Just another example of how drugs rot the brain.

THE INTERNET IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE INTERNET!
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OldGreyTroll (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 1:18pm

Re: Re: Re:
See what Crade said above. He wants Apple to take the gamble on how well the album will sell by giving him an advance. He wants guaranteed income even if the album bombs.

Nice work if you can get it.
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Chris, 6 Jul 2010 @ 1:43pm

Yeah, he's kinda lost his marbles, I think. I do hope he keeps making music. It'll be a sad day when he gives up completely. He should just stick to selling live performances on DVD (or whatever the latest video format is). That's where he shines anyway.
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Nick Mc, 6 Jul 2010 @ 2:34pm

Internet Is Over
Must be why I'm getting 404 errors. Stop being such a nob, Prince, and turn the damned tubes back on again.
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Grey Ferret, 6 Jul 2010 @ 4:12pm

Maybe not so stupid...
How much publicity would Prince's new album get if he hadn't made such a comment? Nowhere near as much as it's getting now, that's for sure.

What better way to get free advertising on the internet than to come out and say "the internet is dead". Whether its stupid or brilliant, it's working.
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Suzanne Lainson (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 5:19pm

Re: Reverse Psych?
What better way to get your name/cause/music blasted all over the interwebs than by making a case like this.

That's what I am thinking, too. He gets paid for his album, plus he gets tons of publicity.

If the idea is to give away the album for the exposure, he's done even better this way.
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Suzanne Lainson (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 5:21pm

Re: Maybe not so stupid...
What better way to get free advertising on the internet than to come out and say "the internet is dead". Whether its stupid or brilliant, it's working.

Yup.
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charliebrown (profile), 6 Jul 2010 @ 6:00pm

Re:
"They just fill your head with mubers" ~ Prince on digital devices

"Perhaps someone should tell Prince that his CD's are full of 1's and 0's" ~ Hephaestus, commenting on this story

Does anything else need to be said? Nope: That was brilliant!
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Technopolitical (profile), 7 Jul 2010 @ 4:59am

Kudos to Prince-- for protecting Artist Control RIGHTS
MIKE : ...Prince and his music, he is all about control. Control is everything to him. And one thing that does not work in this new digital era is being ridiculously anal about controlling how others access or listen to your music. So, he went somewhat ballistic."

Me : It is all about Artistic CONTROL not $$ , as I have been proclaiming here for a while.

Glad you agree Mike.

Kudos to Prince-- for protecting Artist Control RIGHTS
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Valkor, 7 Jul 2010 @ 8:01am

Re: Kudos to Prince-- for protecting Artist Control RIGHTS
Moral Rights (i.e. artistic control) do not exist in US Copyright law.

Fail.
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btrussell (profile), 7 Jul 2010 @ 9:49am

Re: Re:
What is the title of this new album?
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Technopolitical (profile), 7 Jul 2010 @ 10:03am

Re: Re: Kudos to Prince-- for protecting Artist Control RIGHTS
Clearly Prince proves you are wrong.

Your "words" are meaningless,

And out of step with the realities of how COPYRIGHTS give Musicians complete control over legal distribution of their music.

The Gov't & law will fight the Pirates for Prince [& me.]
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Technopolitical (profile), 7 Jul 2010 @ 10:06am

Re: Re: Maybe not so stupid...
Prince is VERY smart dude.

And a GREAT musician.

But, I also think, his disdain for "Internet Pirates" is quite real.

Easily equal to mine.

Go-Prince-Go!!
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Bapzzy (profile), 14 Jul 2010 @ 5:42am

Prince = MJ
Am I right?
Prince doesn't like elephants and monkeys though.
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alternatives(), 18 Nov 2010 @ 2:01pm

The Internet existed long before MP3s
And will existed long after Prince is dead and buried. (barring a big collapse)

Say MP3 could no longer exist there. Given the 'cut the cable move to hulu' articles and Spam - MP3s are not the biggest part of Internet traffic.
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Marshall, 23 Nov 2013 @ 3:24pm

Response to: Anonymous Coward on Jul 6th, 2010 @ 7:41am
How. Do I get his music
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Tammie Willard, 10 Dec 2013 @ 9:18am

prince undeniably the best entertainer next to Mr. Jackson
I love Prince music. I do. But to take off internet, store shelves, YouTube ok that's him making sure he gets his dollars. But one thing about it whenever he dies it will be all over the place. So, he can not give us his musin now, but we will DAMN sure get it later. B-)
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StrategicSan444, 14 Feb 2014 @ 12:12am

Response to: Garrett on Jul 6th, 2010 @ 8:05am
Now this is truly too really funny!
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PhoenixLeo, 8 Oct 2014 @ 10:31am

My new mac mini doesn't even have a CD slot! and my CD player broke a few years ago and I don't plan on getting a new one as I have everything I love in my collection digitized and backed up in various places. What a dinosaur! (and the internet is a massive asteroid)
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Gnutt, 30 May 2015 @ 9:17pm

i was dreaming when i wrote this so sue me if i go too fast....
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