Apple Music may be gaining an edge over rival companies like Spotify thanks to its remuneration of artists — but in a new interview, the artist currently known as Prince inexplicably blames Cupertino for musicians making no money on the Internet.
“Tell me a musician who’s got rich off digital sales,” Prince told the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper, adding that, “Apple’s doing pretty good though, right?”
Because, as everyone knows, all of Apple’s money comes from withholding royalty payments for “Purple Rain,” right?
In the interview, Prince clarified his still-to-be-played-out 2010 prediction that, “The Internet is completely over,” by stating that, “What I meant was that the Internet was over for anyone who wants to get paid, and I was right about that.”
If Prince is wondering exactly why he’s not seeing too much money from his online music these days, it may have more to do with the fact that he’s removed all of his songs from YouTube, Spotify, and most of them from Apple Music — in favor of a deal with Jay Z’s Tidal service, which isn’t exactly raking in the dough.
This isn’t, of course, the first time a big name artist has taken issue with Apple. Most notably, Taylor Swift had a spat with the company earlier this year, although she has since reversed her stance to the point where she’s a gray sweatshirt away from being an Apple salesperson.
Seeing as Cupertino is doing better and better at winning over musicians due to its lack of a free listening tier (Adele is reportedly a recent convert), it seems slightly misguided to fire shots at Apple of all companies for bilking artists out of royalty payments.
Then again, maybe it’s a compliment in disguise — proving that Apple is already synonymous with music streaming, despite its late entry into the game.
Source: Guardian
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
13 responses to “Tidal artist Prince disses Apple for taking money from musicians”
Prince who? Seriously, it’s 2015 and Prince has done nothing to stay relevant.
Artists who signed away their digital rights to record companies I have no sympathy for. If you signed the contract for a pittance of upfront money, who’s to blame again?
That’s Grey shirt by the way… And soon to be Red
To his defense I would say that the number one reason musician blame for not making any money in music sales was Apple’s introduction of one song download when iTunes first came up. Before that you had to buy the whole album.
That’s true, but all Apple really did was add a pretty interface and monetisation to what was already happening with illegal downloads. If albums hadn’t already been broken down into separate song files, thereby fundamentally changing the album experience, I doubt Apple would have pushed it. Bigger payments = more cash for Apple.
… and often get a lot of songs on that album that were poor quality and that you didn’t want. But, that was then and this is now.
I love his music but he’s a nut job and his opinions are of no value.
If Prince has taken his music out of the iTunes Store and put everything on Tidal, is it a wonder that he’s not making any money from “the Internet”? He’s limiting his own exposure and denying the most popular music sales portal on the planet (iTunes), so where he could be making song and album sales on iTunes, he’s making nothing. His stance seems highly illogical. If he feels so strongly that single songs should not be sold and only full albums, he should make a deal with Apple to only sell his full albums. I’ve seen this before on iTunes, so it’s not rocket science to work out a solution.
Prince released an album by giving it away free with a Sunday newspaper. He’s really got no idea how to distribute properly.
Technically, he is correct. He gets a MUCH higher % royalty rate from all 6 of the TIDAL customers than he does from Apple.
Well I think it is not a Big secret, but musicians make already some time their main money during their tours. If you are not the hot shot of the moment and rank high in the charts the labels and distributors make most of the money for the sale.
That was also the reason, why prince was touring as “Symbol, formerly known as Prince” some years ago, because he was cross with the label. He is an artist who would like to be a big manager as well. I think this the itch that keeps him from accepting the fact, that people are not willing to pay too much for (only) music. Fans spend their money on the live act, where he is for sure still known as safe bet for a good show.
like his label didn’t take a cut etc
Boo hoo hoo! Poor prince.