Tidal artist Prince disses Apple for taking money from musicians

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Prince_at_Coachella
Prince still isn't ready to party like it's $9.99 per month.
Photo: Wikipedia CC

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

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