Prince is on Spotify but Taylor Swift, Thom Yorke and Beyoncé are holding out

The music industry and its audience was up in arms this week – some flailing with joy, others expressing their disquiet – as the music of Prince became available on Spotify. Now, you may have missed it, but Prince unfortunately popped his clogs last year. In life, he was thoroughly against his work being on the platform, so the argument of “It’s what he would have wanted, his music lives on for all” probably won’t cut much ice with the fans deriding it as a betrayal.

Alas, Mr Nelson has become yet another monument to topple in the temple of Spotify-refusal, with only a stoic few holding out and refusing to offer up music for near-enough nowt. Here are some of the others refusing to “do a recently deceased Prince”.

Taylor Swift

It’s all about the Benjamins as far as Taylor is concerned – if you’re not going to pay for it then you don’t get to hear her music. Her label pulled her 2014 album from Spotify almost as soon as it was released and the singer says: “I just don’t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value.” She obviously hasn’t watched any of Let It Shine.

Garth Brooks

Like a Luddite in a Stetson hat, Garth has shunned modern technology to such an extent that his music is not only unavailable on Spotify – he also doesn’t have it on iTunes. He is set to embrace the 21st century for the first time by making his next album available on his own website.

Thom Yorke

Zany, ray-of-sunshine troubadour Thom has precious little nice to say about Spotify, noting that it is “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse”, even though Radiohead’s music is on the service. He also proves that, while he can do misery rock to a T, he’s rubbish at metaphors, because corpses are already dead.

Beyoncé

There’s a good reason why Bey’s hit album Lemonade is not on Spotify, and that reason is Tidal, the competing streaming service part-owned by her hubby, Jay Z. After all, if you own Domino’s Pizza, you don’t let Pizza Hut set up a stand in your shops. Or something.

Joanna Newsom

Jo has been pretty candid about her thoughts on Spotify. “A villainous cabal of major labels,” she huffed, before going to take it out on her harp.