If you take a look around the web, you'll see that everyone's up in arms over this interview. "Prince is over." "Who's Prince?" "He sounds like a cranky old man."[Prince] explains that he decided [20Ten] will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There'll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses.
Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website.
He says: "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.
The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.
They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."
Truthfully, Prince's thoughts on the Internet should not come as a surprise to anyone. Since the '90s, Prince has taken great strides to make sure he was paid fairly (or what he deemed fairly paid) for his work. The man legally changed his name to get out of a record contract. So it really shouldn't be that big of a shock that since he feels he doesn't receive enough money from iTunes and YouTube, his new album won't be available there.
Sadly, though, I see this whole thing spiraling out of control as the years pass, with Prince become more and more of a technophobe until he tours the nation in a purple VW bus (or possibly a Little Red Corvette), setting up displays at flea markets, and selling his music directly to the consumer via cassette.
I hope I'm wrong. And I hope you're able to get your next album into your fans' hands, Prince. Legally and profitably.
[source]
