Prince, a long time opponent of online piracy, has declared that he will no longer record any new albums as long as the Internet piracy problem remains unsolved. He also stated his disdain for digital music, even the legal kind, which he says is affecting people's brains in different ways compared to analogue music.
Back in 2007, Prince initiated a campaign of lawsuit against websites, including YouTube, that the artists believe was conducting in unauthorized distribution of his music. Even home videos, that used Prince's songs, were taken offline in the aftermath. Later that year, Prince's lawyers also attempted to get fan sites to remove anything that features Prince's likeness, including photographs and album covers. While in 2008, the musician was embroiled in controversy when he demanded removal of his performance of a Radiohead song from YouTube, despite Radiohead wanting the song to remain, arguing that "it's our song, let people hear it."
Now, Prince feels the piracy problem has only gotten worse, and that the music industry has changed so much that artists are not making as much money as they used to. "The industry changed. We made money (online) before piracy was real crazy. Nobody's making money now except phone companies, Apple and Google," said Prince, and then adding, "So I'll just hold off on recording."
Prince is also against the new trend in digital music, as he feels it does not give listeners the right experience. "I personally can't stand digital music. You're getting sound in bits. It affects a different place in your brain. When you play it back, you can't feel anything. We're analogue people, not digital," added the artist.
Prince has recorded two new albums in the last three years.
Do you agree with Prince that artists now make less money due to the emergence of companies like Apple and Google, and that digital music isn't as good as analogue recordings? Post your opinion in this news article's comments section, or in this forum thread:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=94977
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