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| Prince, a Master of Playing Music and Distributing It | Prince, a Master of Playing Music and Distributing It |
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| In 1993, Prince decided that he’d had enough. His longtime struggles with his record label, Warner Bros., had left him wanting to reassert control over his creative life. The company might own his music, he reasoned, but it did not own him. So he changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph, a highly stylized overlay of the symbols for man and woman. | In 1993, Prince decided that he’d had enough. His longtime struggles with his record label, Warner Bros., had left him wanting to reassert control over his creative life. The company might own his music, he reasoned, but it did not own him. So he changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph, a highly stylized overlay of the symbols for man and woman. |
| Prince, as was made clear in that moment, existed in a place beyond convention. His glyph was sent out on 3.5-inch floppy disks to media organizations so that they could use it. That way, no one had an excuse to refer to him with any terms other than his own. | Prince, as was made clear in that moment, existed in a place beyond convention. His glyph was sent out on 3.5-inch floppy disks to media organizations so that they could use it. That way, no one had an excuse to refer to him with any terms other than his own. |
| Prince, who was found dead on Thursday at 57, understood how technology spread ideas better than almost anyone else in popular music. And so he became something of a hacker, upending the systems that predated him and fighting mightily to pioneer new ones. Sometimes he hated technology; sometimes he loved it. But more than that, at his best Prince was technology, a musician who realized that making music was not his only responsibility, that his innovation had to extend to representation, distribution, transmission and pure system invention. | Prince, who was found dead on Thursday at 57, understood how technology spread ideas better than almost anyone else in popular music. And so he became something of a hacker, upending the systems that predated him and fighting mightily to pioneer new ones. Sometimes he hated technology; sometimes he loved it. But more than that, at his best Prince was technology, a musician who realized that making music was not his only responsibility, that his innovation had to extend to representation, distribution, transmission and pure system invention. |
| Many advances in music and technology over the last three decades — particularly in the realm of distribution — were tried early, and often first, by Prince. He released a CD-ROM in 1994, Prince Interactive, which featured unreleased music and a gamelike adventure at his Paisley Park Studios. In 1997, he made the multidisc set “Crystal Ball” available for sale online and through an 800 number (though there were fulfillment issues later). In 2001, he began a monthly online subscription service, the NPG Music Club, that lasted five years. | Many advances in music and technology over the last three decades — particularly in the realm of distribution — were tried early, and often first, by Prince. He released a CD-ROM in 1994, Prince Interactive, which featured unreleased music and a gamelike adventure at his Paisley Park Studios. In 1997, he made the multidisc set “Crystal Ball” available for sale online and through an 800 number (though there were fulfillment issues later). In 2001, he began a monthly online subscription service, the NPG Music Club, that lasted five years. |
| These experiments were made possible largely because of Prince’s career-long emphasis on ownership: At the time of his death, he reportedly owned the master recordings of all his output. With no major label to serve for most of the second half of his career and no constraints on distribution, he was free to try new modes of connection. | These experiments were made possible largely because of Prince’s career-long emphasis on ownership: At the time of his death, he reportedly owned the master recordings of all his output. With no major label to serve for most of the second half of his career and no constraints on distribution, he was free to try new modes of connection. |
| And so he became, for much of the last two decades, his own vertically integrated corporation. He was already capable of that sort of wholeness in the music-making — often, he was the songwriter, the arranger, the producer and the musician all in one. But he also understood that delivering the music was just as important as making it, and not something he felt comfortable entrusting to others. | And so he became, for much of the last two decades, his own vertically integrated corporation. He was already capable of that sort of wholeness in the music-making — often, he was the songwriter, the arranger, the producer and the musician all in one. But he also understood that delivering the music was just as important as making it, and not something he felt comfortable entrusting to others. |
| From the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, Prince took advantage of the relative seamlessness of the Internet to remake how artists could commune with their fans. He released music in erratic lumps at unexpected times — a Soundcloud approach years before that service existed. But like many innovators, he moved quickly and unpredictably. If he was the first to embrace something, he could also be the first to renounce it. | |
| In recent years, he moved aggressively to remove unauthorized clips of his music and performances from YouTube and was a ferocious opponent of bootlegging throughout his career. Yet it is impossible to understand the totality of the Prince catalog without taking the boatloads of unauthorized recordings into account — at concerts, he’d sometimes dip into material known only to the bootleg faithful, a sly acknowledgment of things he couldn’t control, or perhaps didn’t wish to. And Prince’s anxiety about ownership extended to interviews — he didn’t believe in having his voice recorded, even going so far as to conduct some interviews by fax. | In recent years, he moved aggressively to remove unauthorized clips of his music and performances from YouTube and was a ferocious opponent of bootlegging throughout his career. Yet it is impossible to understand the totality of the Prince catalog without taking the boatloads of unauthorized recordings into account — at concerts, he’d sometimes dip into material known only to the bootleg faithful, a sly acknowledgment of things he couldn’t control, or perhaps didn’t wish to. And Prince’s anxiety about ownership extended to interviews — he didn’t believe in having his voice recorded, even going so far as to conduct some interviews by fax. |
| In 2010, he told an interviewer, when asked how he wanted his music distributed, “The Internet’s completely over.” What he meant was that online distribution systems — iTunes, YouTube and others — were financially insulting to artists and were beginning to replicate the ways of major labels he held in such low regard. (On Thursday night, his albums were available on just one streaming service, the oft-troubled Tidal.) | In 2010, he told an interviewer, when asked how he wanted his music distributed, “The Internet’s completely over.” What he meant was that online distribution systems — iTunes, YouTube and others — were financially insulting to artists and were beginning to replicate the ways of major labels he held in such low regard. (On Thursday night, his albums were available on just one streaming service, the oft-troubled Tidal.) |
| And so one of music’s most forward-thinking technologists became, in his final years, something of a Luddite — except not quite. He was, in spurts, active on Twitter and even replied to people’s questions, though generally with witty evasion. After he signed up for Instagram last year, his gallery was populated with Prince memes, the kind that made it clear that even if Prince was an Internet skeptic, he kept a close eye on its evolving language. | And so one of music’s most forward-thinking technologists became, in his final years, something of a Luddite — except not quite. He was, in spurts, active on Twitter and even replied to people’s questions, though generally with witty evasion. After he signed up for Instagram last year, his gallery was populated with Prince memes, the kind that made it clear that even if Prince was an Internet skeptic, he kept a close eye on its evolving language. |
| And most important, he understood the value of technological literacy so deeply that he helped promote and financially support YesWeCode, an organization dedicated to teaching young people from low-income communities how to code and to bridging the racial gap in the tech industry. | And most important, he understood the value of technological literacy so deeply that he helped promote and financially support YesWeCode, an organization dedicated to teaching young people from low-income communities how to code and to bridging the racial gap in the tech industry. |
| This utopian belief in technology’s importance ran through both Prince’s embrace and his dismissal of its tools. In many ways, Prince’s music and ideas moved faster than technology. It’s quite possible that part of his reason for rejecting the digital options available to him was that they simply weren’t good enough. | This utopian belief in technology’s importance ran through both Prince’s embrace and his dismissal of its tools. In many ways, Prince’s music and ideas moved faster than technology. It’s quite possible that part of his reason for rejecting the digital options available to him was that they simply weren’t good enough. |
| In the hours after word of his death spread, prince.org, an online message board used by Prince loyalists to trade stories, debate minutiae and post rabidly about their favorite bootlegs, crashed — rendered unavailable because of a glut of traffic. The site is a remnant of an earlier Internet, with an ancient design not built for the speed and density of the modern online world. Its collapse under the pain of fan emotion felt fitting — a cosmic rebuke and a reminder that the future moves faster than the past, something Prince never forgot. | In the hours after word of his death spread, prince.org, an online message board used by Prince loyalists to trade stories, debate minutiae and post rabidly about their favorite bootlegs, crashed — rendered unavailable because of a glut of traffic. The site is a remnant of an earlier Internet, with an ancient design not built for the speed and density of the modern online world. Its collapse under the pain of fan emotion felt fitting — a cosmic rebuke and a reminder that the future moves faster than the past, something Prince never forgot. |