Report: Prince’s return to streaming will coincide with Grammys

A report by the New York Post claims that Prince’s back catalogue will make a return to streaming services on February 12, the night of the Grammys.

An announcement of his wider streaming availability is expected to be made during the event. There has been no official confirmation by Prince’s estate, Warner Bros., or any of the major streaming services.

Numerous ads popping up earlier this week in New York and London subways and billboards – with the Spotify logo against a purple background – seem to indicate this as a firm possibility.

Citing an inside source, the Post says that for the first time in 19 months, Prince’s Warner Bros. catalogue will be on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, Google Play, Deezer and other platforms.

These include hits such as Let’s Go Crazy, Purple Rain and When Doves Cry. These songs are currently available on Jay Z’s TIDAL service, which was partially acquired by American telecom company Sprint in a recent deal. 

In July 2015, nine months before Prince’s sudden death on April 21, he pulled his music from all streaming services except for TIDAL, saying that other services were financially ripping off artists.

Since his death, the superstar’s estate has fought a legal battle with TIDAL, saying that Prince’s agreement with the service was for the Hit’N’Run Phase album only, and was only applicable for a period of 90 days.

Given the huge sales of Prince music since his death (4 million albums in the US alone), the estate is losing out on a considerable amount of royalties. His hits are only available for consumption on one streaming service, albeit the fact that it boasts a lower user rate than more prominent services such as Spotify.

The Grammys will showcase a Prince tribute featuring the likes of Bruno Mars, Rihanna and The Weeknd, which is expected to spark another significant spike in album sales.

Last November, the estate cleared the way for a wider streaming arrangement by signing a publishing deal with Universal Music for the entire catalogue.

According to the Post, the release of thousands of unreleased audio and visual tracks are still being negotiated.

Furthermore, 2017 will also bring the documentary Prince: R U Listening? which will feature Bono, Mick Jagger and Sheila E. No release date is set.

A four day festival Celebration 2017 is to be held at Paisley Park between April 20 to 23. General admission tickets are priced at $500 while the $1,000 VIP tickets have already sold out.