Prince To Release New Album Via Tidal

Prince is a man who likes to do it his own way. The multi-instrumentalist has long fought against the copyright infringements that have become a way of life online – remarkably, you still won't find any of his music videos on YouTube. He has now announced that the new Prince album – or to be completely accurate, the new album by his current group 3RDEYEGIRL, will be released through TIDAL, the streaming platform launched with much fanfare (and little actual take up) by Jay-Z and a raft of stars earlier this year. 

The album, HITNRUN, is set for release on September 7th and is apparantly (and this could prove to be ominous or excellent) written for the really deep Prince heads, as the band asserted- 

"Super hardcore Prince fans that know every song he's ever recorded – we refer to them as 'The Purple Collective' or 'The Purple Army' – this album is absolutely for them, because it's super funky," reported 3RDEYEGIRL. "There are a lot of experimental sounds. It's just hit after hit and definitely caters to those fans who just love to hear what Prince has to say, rather than wanting to always hear that classic Purple Rain Prince sound." 

Prince released a typically grandiose statement to accompany the decision:

"After one meeting, it was obvious that Jay Z and the team he has assembled at TIDAL recognize and applaud the effort that real musicians put in2 their craft 2 achieve the very best they can at this pivotal time in the music industry.  Secondly, TIDAL have honored Us with a non-restrictive arrangement that once again allows Us to continue making art in the fashion We've grown accustomed 2 and We're Extremely grateful 4 their generous support.  And lastly, in the tech-savvy, real-time world We all live in 2day, everything is faster.  From its conception and that one & only meeting, HITNRUN took about 90 days 2 prepare its release.  If that's what freedom feels like, HITNRUN is what it sounds like."

Whether this – and Prince's untouchable back catalogue – being available on TIDAL is enough to bring in the fans remains to be seen…