UK Edition
23 Prince albums available to stream online for the first time
Two years on from Prince's death, 23 records by the singer-songwriter are being made widely available online for the first time.
The albums cover 1995-2010, one of the most prolific periods in his career, and are released today on music streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Prince Rogers Nelson, who performed under the mononym Prince, sold more than 100 million records worldwide, winning eight Grammys and an Oscar for his film Purple Rain.
After a high-profile dispute with his record label Warner Bros in the early Nineties – when the singer changed his name to an unpronouncable symbol, and protested against the label's contract requirements by appearing in public with "slave" written on his face – Prince experimented with releasing his music in unconventional ways.
He was one of the first artists to use the internet as a music platform, releasing his 1998 album Crystal Ball online, and launching his own internet subscription service, NPG. In 2008, he received a Webby award for his "visionary use of the Internet to distribute music and connect with audiences".
But in later years he expressed mixed feelings about internet streaming services, claiming in 2010 that "the internet is completely over."
The albums re-released today range from The Gold Experience (1995) to 20Ten (2010), and will be accompanied by a new greatest hits album, Prince Anthology: 1995-2010.
They will be available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, YouTube, Napster, Deezer (in the US only), Playstation Music, Soundcloud (premier), Tidal, HD Tracks and TouchTunes/AMI.