Prince has caused a little bit of controversy by forcing fans to pay $1.77 (AU$1.725) if they wish to view the music video for his new song Screwdriver. Although musicians asking for financial compensation for their work is nothing out of the ordinary, what makes this different is that the only way to see Screwdriver is to cough up the asking fee.
As reported by NME, the 8-minute clip, for Screwdriver, was recently uploaded to 3rd Eye Girl, Prince’s ‘official’ website. No preview of the clip is available so fans must decide if it’s worth parting with their change before viewing the video.
It is worth bearing in mind that, aside from the purchase being very low (good luck buying an actual screwdriver at that price), Screwdriver is also only hosted on 3rd Eye Girl and not available on other platforms.
Although NME noted that some fans are outraged about the lack of preview before purchase, plenty of other fans are happy to pay the measly sum for the chance to access new material from Prince.
Twitter user @germendeboer posted, “Just bought #screwdriver live from http://20pr1nc3.com Rock and Roll is alive and it still lives in #Minneapolis #PRINCE 4ever” while @thedancelectric wrote,” If u love #Prince then support him by BUYING #Screwdriver #Live at http://Prince2013.com ! #Justsayin”
Last month a 1-minute audio-only sample of Screwdriver was released, followed by new song Breakfast Can Wait earlier this month. Yesterday Prince appeared at The Grammys to present Gotye and Kimbra with award for Record Of The Year
So um… Prince updated his website finally and is charging $1.77 to watch his 8 min music video. uhh, yeah I’ll pass. prince2013.com
— duggylimes (@duggylimes) February 11, 2013
Just bought #screwdriver live from 20pr1nc3.com Rock and Roll is alive and it still lives in #Minneapolis #PRINCE 4ever
— Germen de Boer (@germendeboer) February 11, 2013
If u love #Prince then support him by BUYING #Screwdriver #Live at Prince2013.com! #Justsayin
— Barbara Rogers (@thedancelectric) February 11, 2013
