Why Prince hated other people covering his songs
In the modern day, while there may be a resurgence of vinyl sales among the most nostalgic and avid of music fans, we primarily consume our music via streaming platforms. As we know, the internet is a double-edged sword, and while it can help aspiring musicians access a wider audience, it has presented the industry with a blight of financial setbacks. At the end of the 20th century, David Bowie and Prince were among those to predict the rise of the internet.
In 1999, Prince gave his views on the internet during a speech at the Yahoo Online Music Awards as he presented Public Enemy with the ‘Online Pioneer’ award. “One thing I wanted to say is, don’t be fooled by the internet,” he warned. “It’s cool to get on the computer, but don’t let the computer get on you. It’s cool to use the computer, don’t let the computer use you. Y’all saw The Matrix. There’s a war going on. The battlefield’s in the mind. And the prize is the soul. So just be careful. Be very careful. Thank you.”
Over a decade later, in 2010, Prince issued another, more direct and anguished warning in an interview with The Daily Mirror. “The internet’s completely over,” he opined with venom. “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.”
Prince’s comments came at a time when MP3 downloads were still yet to submit fully to the power of streaming platforms, but they foreshadowed the industry-wide inequality that has ensued over the past decade. Bolstering his assertions about the internet, Prince demanded that his songs be removed from Spotify. Instead, he gave his 35th studio album, 20Ten, away free with copies of The Daily Mirror and Daily Record as a protest.
“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 At one time, MTV was hip, and suddenly it became outdated.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,” Prince added in his conversation with The Daily Mirror.
As a result of these controversial assertions on the internet, a Guardian reporter was asked not to quiz Prince on such topics during a 2011 interview. While the conversation glided just clear of the internet, Prince gave his opinion on digital music, claiming that it’s no passable replacement for analogue.
“I personally can’t stand digital music,” he said. “You’re getting sound in bits. It affects a different place in your brain. When you play it back, you can’t feel anything. We’re analogue people, not digital.”
Shortly after, Prince targeted a runaway trend of charting cover songs; at the time, Glee had recently aired their version of Prince’s 1986 hit ‘Kiss’. “There’s no other art form where you can do that. You can’t go and do your own version of Harry Potter. Do you want to hear somebody else sing ‘Kiss’?”
Listen to Glee’s cover of Prince’s ‘Kiss’ below.
