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This Day in Music: Prince Awarded for Pioneering Digital Music Releases
On this day in 2006, Prince was presented with a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for his visionary use of the internet by being the first major artist to release an entire album, 1997′s “Crystal Ball,” exclusively on the internet.
The Webby Awards, according to their official press release, was “founded in 1996,” and “is the leading international honors for Web sites,” and is comprised of “a 535-member judging organization consisting of leading experts in a diverse range of fields.”
Today, we take digital music for granted, but Prince released “Crystal Ball” almost four years before iTunes was available to the public. He began using the internet to debut music, premiere videos, and connect with fans years before MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube. His use of the world wide web changed the music industry and transformed the relationship between artists and fans forever.
This Webby Award also recognized Prince’s creation of the NPG Music Club, a website where members could download exclusive content, listen to a one-hour radio show, as well as have access to premium seating and VIP passes for Prince shows and after-parties. This is especially impressive when you consider the NPG Music Club site went live only thirteen months after the initial launch of Pandora Radio, and just one month after Apple released the first version of iTunes.