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Prince: The Artist Who Formerly Made Albums
Prince says he has hundred of new tunes up his purple sleeves but that he’s going to “hold off on recording” to take a stand against online music piracy.
The funky pop star explained his views on file sharing during a recent interview with the Guardian. The British paper noted that Prince was open to talking about the topic even though the Guardian writer was given a pre-interview list of guidelines from management that stated “please do not discuss his views on the Internet.”
“The industry changed,” Prince told the Guardian. “We made money [online] before piracy was real crazy. Nobody’s making money now except phone companies, Apple and Google. I’m supposed to go to the White House to talk about copyright protection. It’s like the gold rush out there. Or a carjacking. There’s no boundaries. I’ve been in meetings and they’ll tell you, Prince, you don’t understand, it’s dog-eat-dog out there. So I’ll just hold off on recording.”
Photo: AP Photo
F1 race meeting, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
During the interview he revealed he doesn’t particularly care for fame, noting that “we got people who don’t need to be famous.” He also “can’t stand” digital music and he hates ringtones.
Wondering what type of ringtone the singer thinks is acceptable for his phone? Prince doesn’t have a phone.
Although the hit TV show “Glee” recently covered his 1986 single “Kiss” that doesn’t mean Prince is happy about it.
“There’s no other artform 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’?”
Prince says he adores Adele as well as Janelle Monáe, who has performed with him as part of his Welcome 2 America tour. As far as his opinion of Lady Gaga goes, Prince says, “I don’t know. I’d have to meet her.”
One thing Prince does love is touring.
“I’m probably the hardest bandleader to work for, but I do it for love,” Prince said, calling himself as a “loving tyrant.”
After burning out playing the same songs over and over again during his 100-show Purple Rain tour, Prince is enjoying mixing it up on stage. He has his band rehearse around 300 tunes and then picks the tracks on stage.
“If there’s a challenge it’s to outdo what I’ve done in the past. I play each show as if it’s the last one,” he said.
Prince performs tonight and Saturday at
To read the full interview, click here for the Guardian story.