Prince's Music Reportedly Coming to Apple Music February 12

[ohbrilliance]

I hope The Most Beautiful Girl in the World is going to be available on Apple Music here in the U.K.

TMBGITA was an independent release, so not part of his Warner Bros catalogue. That explains why it's fallen to the wayside. I've always considered the effort and promotion of that song to be an FU to WB from Prince.
Have you looked at buying the single and related releases such as The Beautiful Experience second hand?

I understand that some artists are big about promoting lossy music, but for older artists it seems a bit odd. After all, most of their sales were on vinyl or tapes, which wouldn't have anywhere near the quality or lack of deterioration that you'd get from 256 AAC.

The sound quality of Prince's music in particular has been pretty lacklustre. I assume due to poor mixing, and not related to the final medium. It can only improve with remastering.

 

[Rogifan]

I hope The Most Beautiful Girl in the World is going to be available on Apple Music here in the U.K.

Am pretty sure it's his only U.K number one but I've never come across it on any of his albums; digital OR physical.

Doubtful, at least not right away. I'm guessing this will only include the music already available for purchase on iTunes. That stops after 1993 and doesn't start again until 2014.

 

[5105973]

Interestingly the last album he released is available to stream on Apple Music. I'm not sure why as nothing else is.

i believe this streaming deal only applies to his Warner Brothers music. He had 20 years of one off deals with different labels for distribution. Those albums aren't even available on iTunes. And I think some of them have been removed from Tidal too as the estate has a dispute with Tidal.

For a moment I thought this article was about YOU! (I haven't had my morning coffee yet.) I so closely associate Prince with you now on this forum I had a major "duh" moment there when I saw the pic before reading the headline and article.

 

[Olganech]

I hope The Most Beautiful Girl in the World is going to be available on Apple Music here in the U.K.

Am pretty sure it's his only U.K number one but I've never come across it on any of his albums; digital OR physical.

You need the CD single.

 

[Junior117]

There was no will so the family members can do whatever they want with his assets and they only care about maximizing the amount of money they make off his recordings. It was strange that someone who was so overly protective of his recordings during his lifetime would not leave a will dictating how they would be handled after his death.

Well, like I said, I don't know how that would work, but thanks for clearing it up.

 

[OllyW]

TMBGITA was an independent release, so not part of his Warner Bros catalogue. That explains why it's fallen to the wayside. I've always considered the effort and promotion of that song to be an FU to WB from Prince.

It was released by Warner Bros. as a single and on The Gold Experience album but it seems to have been long deleted from their catalogue, most probably as part of the fallout from their nasty contractual dispute.

It seems like the second hand market is currently the only way to buy it.

 

[honglong1976]

There was no will so the family members can do whatever they want with his assets and they only care about maximizing the amount of money they make off his recordings. It was strange that someone who was so overly protective of his recordings during his lifetime would not leave a will dictating how they would be handled after his death.

He obviously didn't expect to die yet!

 

[MysteryMii215]

Yes he complained about the money from Spotify going to record labels not artists. He once went on an epic rant about YouTube too but unfortunately deleted all those tweets. His estate is still pretty ruthless about removing any live footage from YouTube and Facebook.

As an example to show how far this has got, Universal Music removed a 29-second clip of a baby dancing to "Let's Go Crazy" from YouTube back in 2007. The person that uploaded the video later sued Universal, claiming that the video falls under Fair Use, and that Universal was abusing the takedown system. During that lawsuit, the court ruled that Fair Use had to be taken into consideration while filing a takedown notice.

Edit: typo

 

[BuffaloTF]

Now what I need is a digital copy of the Sign O The Times movie... along with Purple Rain's performances, these are what really stand out to me with Prince as an artist... the dancing, the stage show... the stuff MTV News never told you about when they were too worried about discussing his Typhoon haircut, whatever the hell that was called, or the twins that moved in with him...

 

[GermanSuplex]

Very sad he left no will to direct what should be done with his assets. Given that, pretty much anything is fair game. In death and with a bank/lawyers in control of his estate, he is now a product and hopefully he will be exposed to new fans and maybe casual fans will dig deeper into his library.

Prince is by far the most diverse artist I have ever seen. When I saw him give that killer performance with Tom Petty in 2004 in tribute to George Harrison, I couldn't believe this was the same guy who performed songs like Gett Off, Diamonds and Pearls, etc. jazz.

 

[malexandria]

I'm not sure he would've wanted this. He hates digital media.

He didn't hate digital media, he hated that hiis work was being stolen via digital media. He has always been notorious about stopping bootlegs of his stuff. Back in the day when the only way you could get prince bootlegs was at Record Conventions, he used to randomly show up and stop people from selling his stuff at their booths. He also didn't like the kind of deals that services like Spotify were offering. He, rightly, expected to get paid for his work and not just "give" it away.
[doublepost=1485981809][/doublepost]

So Tidal is analog...

He had an exclusive deal with Tidal, they paid him what he asked for. Not a difficult concept to grasp.

 

[blue22]

This will create Controversy...

LOL, I see what you did there.

 

[ohbrilliance]

It was released by Warner Bros. as a single and on The Gold Experience album but it seems to have been long deleted from their catalogue, most probably as part of the fallout from their nasty contractual dispute.

The single was not a Warner Bros. release. All are NPG records, distributed either by Bellmark or Liberation Records.
The version on the Gold Experience is a different mix and arrangement from that on the single.

 

[GermanSuplex]

The single was not a Warner Bros. release. All are NPG records, distributed either by Bellmark or Liberation Records.
The version on the Gold Experience is a different mix and arrangement from that on the single.

Yes, the NPG version is better to me. The officially released version is similar and nice, but lacks the tremendous ad-libs found on the version most people probably know best. I think he intentionally used the lesser version on the Gold Experience on purpose

Prince's first real album outside of Warner Bros. was Emancipation (hence the name), an album I've owned since release and never seem to be amazed how tracks I considered filler catch me putting them in rotation. Although being three discs long, that's understandable.

I find it sad and odd that he passed so shortly after all of his masters were under his control. He had a 25-year battle and shortly after it was over, he passed with no will.

He did make peace with WB before his passing, however. One album I'd really love to see go digital is Lotusflow3r, I think many non-Prince fans who gave it a chance would be shocked at his rock prowess on those songs, especially his cover of Crimson and Clover and his song Dreamer.

 

[Rogifan]

Yes, the NPG version is better to me. The officially released version is similar and nice, but lacks the tremendous ad-libs found on the version most people probably know best. I think he intentionally used the lesser version on the Gold Experience on purpose

Prince's first real album outside of Warner Bros. was Emancipation (hence the name), an album I've owned since release and never seem to be amazed how tracks I considered filler catch me putting them in rotation. Although being three discs long, that's understandable.

I find it sad and odd that he passed so shortly after all of his masters were under his control. He had a 25-year battle and shortly after it was over, he passed with no will.

He did make peace with WB before his passing, however. One album I'd really love to see go digital is Lotusflow3r, I think many non-Prince fans who gave it a chance would be shocked at his rock prowess on those songs, especially his cover of Crimson and Clover and his song Dreamer.

Dreamer is amazing. Thankfully not everything has been removed from YouTube yet.

I wish he hadn't been so stringent with his music. Makes me sad that so many either don't know he could shred on guitar or think his best guitar solo was at the RRHOF because that's one of the few videos you can find on YouTube.

 

[akadafni]

Prince's catalog of songs is headed to Apple Music and other streaming services, like Spotify, Pandora, Google Play and more, on February 12, reports the New York Post. Currently, Prince's songs are only available to stream on Tidal.

It would be the first time in 19 months the singer's music would be available on that many streaming networks. Prince pulled his music from all streaming services except for Tidal 9 months before his death. Since his death, Prince's estate has been working on deals with various services to make his music available for streaming again.

The music will go live on streaming services during the Grammys on February 12. The award show will feature a tribute to Prince featuring music artists Rihanna, Bruno Mars and The Weeknd. While the music that will become available on streaming services falls under the late artist's Warner Music contract, the Post says music from his secretive "vault" is also being negotiated.

Article Link: Prince's Music Reportedly Coming to Apple Music February 12

This would be enough to make me join Apple Music if it includes more than the Warner catalog. I will party like it's 1999 if it includes anything from like 96-2013

 

[ohbrilliance]

Yes, the NPG version is better to me. The officially released version is similar and nice, but lacks the tremendous ad-libs found on the version most people probably know best. I think he intentionally used the lesser version on the Gold Experience on purpose

...

He did make peace with WB before his passing, however. One album I'd really love to see go digital is Lotusflow3r, I think many non-Prince fans who gave it a chance would be shocked at his rock prowess on those songs, especially his cover of Crimson and Clover and his song Dreamer.

There's a certain dreamy mellowness to the original TMBGITW that is lost on the Gold Experience version. For anybody else reading, I recommend also checking out The Beautiful Experience EP. He takes the song and runs with it.

Lotusflow3r is available on Tidal. I'm not a member, so can't tell whether it's available for streaming, but it's available for purchase along with a lot of other good music that more people need to hear (N.E.W.S., Xpectation, Rainbow Children, Even the NPG Music club albums The Slaughterhouse and The Chocolate Invasion are in there: http://tidal.com/au/store/artist/4847 This is music that shouldn't fall to the wayside.

Makes me sad that so many either don't know he could shred on guitar or think his best guitar solo was at the RRHOF because that's one of the few videos you can find on YouTube.

The RRHOF solo is nice, but not up there with the greatest. It may have helped if the guitar was louder in the mix. This is one clip I link to that I reckon shows better form (Empty Room from Montreux 2009):

 

[DeepIn2U]

Prince is by far the most diverse artist I have ever seen. When I saw him give that killer performance with Tom Petty in 2004 in tribute to George Harrison, I couldn't believe this was the same guy who performed songs like Gett Off, Diamonds and Pearls, etc. jazz.

Music maketh the soul of a man breathe, but he's the man the maketh the music flex it's soul.

Yeah this cat was just oozing raw talent always evolving. The man loved music plain and simple good music is GOOD music don't let a genre or a people define it's restrictions

Personally my credit card is ready Apple iTunes Music as I want it available on my upcoming Mac Mini, iPhone 6S and future iPhones/iPad's. I've always loved Prince's music and someone mentioned Sign-O-The-Times ... i'm down for that Graffiti Bridge and don't smack me (I was poor growing up) Purple Rain. Never got to see that move beyond clips in the music video.

Can't wait!

 

[GermanSuplex]

Sign O The Times needs to have its DVD film counterpart released. I think I saw it for the first time in ages on HBO about 10 years ago, so I figured I'd go online and buy a copy, only to find it hasn't been released in the States in digital form. I bought an import. The album is tremendous, maybe his magnum opus, and the film is it's live equivalent.

With his prolificity, I'm not sure a true full-collection box set is possible, but certainly I'd like to see his official full-album discography on iTunes.

On topic, but not solely pertaining to Prince... I'm not sure why artists are demanding of quality and full album purchases. In the 90's, I'd record songs off the radio onto cassettes and listen to them on cheap walkmans with cheap headphones. When I had a portable CD player, do they think I'm getting lossless quality with cheap earbuds while walking downtown? I mean, my iPhone, with AAC files and EarPods produce better quality than all the aforementioned methods of music.

I understand and respect artistic integrity and the way they want their music consumed, but I don't listen to music in a recording studio.

 

[honglong1976]

Very sad he left no will to direct what should be done with his assets. Given that, pretty much anything is fair game. In death and with a bank/lawyers in control of his estate, he is now a product and hopefully he will be exposed to new fans and maybe casual fans will dig deeper into his library.

Prince is by far the most diverse artist I have ever seen. When I saw him give that killer performance with Tom Petty in 2004 in tribute to George Harrison, I couldn't believe this was the same guy who performed songs like Gett Off, Diamonds and Pearls, etc. jazz.

"My guitar gentley weeps" Seriously, how can he make the guitar sound so emotional? Only Prince could do that! The guitar loved him!

 

[akadafni]

"My guitar gentley weeps" Seriously, how can he make the guitar sound so emotional? Only Prince could do that! The guitar loved him!

I want to BUY music not rent. I've accepted the fact that my Prince collection will never be complete but can somebody (preferably Apple) take my money please!

 

[MLVC]

I think it's being added right now, I'm seeing several of his albums (including Purple Rain) showing up.