Prince pulls music from all streaming sites, except Tidal

It’s the Tidal way for Prince from now on. He’s pulled his entire catalogue from streaming services including Spotify, Rdio and the newly-arrived Apple Music.

The exception is the artist-run platform headed by Jay-Z, which streamed his May 10 Rally 4 Peace concert in Baltimore. Last year, in a Q&A, he advised fans to listen their music using high-resolution audio.

Spotify posted this on its Prince artist page: “Prince's publisher has asked all streaming services to remove his catalog. We have cooperated with the request, and hope to bring his music back as soon as possible.”

The news comes as no surprise to those who’ve been following the artist’s tweets. He’s been negative about streaming music, including in a tweet posted on June 24, in which he grizzled, "Spotify is co-owned by record labels, who hold 20% of the company's stocks."

He’s been pulling his music off YouTube with only the track Breakfast Can Wait remaining on his channel.

In 2007, he took legal action against sites as YouTube, eBay and The Pirate Bay for using his work without permission.

Three years later, Prince declared, "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."

He added that the Internet was “now like MTV, once hip, now outdated”. At the time, he also said, “I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music."

Last year, his official Twitter and Facebook accounts were removed, and his music removed from SoundCloud and Vevo.