Artist now has official account on site he once threatened to sue over copyright claims, with several hits now available for viewing

Prince’s estate has uploaded official music videos and live footage to YouTube, the website the artist once threatened to sue over copyright claims in his bid to “reclaim the net” and rid it of piracy.

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The official YouTube account appeared on Friday with six videos, including the promos for I Would Die 4 U, When Doves Cry and Let’s Go Crazy.

Prince had a tempestuous relationship with YouTube. In 2007, he asked for the removal of 2,000 videos from the site, which he claimed breached copyright – a move that came three years before he declared the internet to be “dead”.

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“The internet’s like MTV,” he told the Daily Mirror in 2010. “At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

Despite his prediction, the internet survived, and so did Prince’s battle against illegal streaming. In 2014, he sued 22 internet users for distributing bootleg footage and recordings from his live concerts and in the same year he closed all his social media accounts, including his YouTube channel.

Since then, the only way to hear his work has been via physical records and CDs, and Tidal, the streaming site owned by Jay-Z. That arrangement came to an end after his death in 2016, with his estate saying the company was “exploiting” his work. His music then became available on other sites.

The emergence of the YouTube account follows a recent reissue of Purple Rain and the aborted Deliverance EP, which was blocked by his estate. Other videos on the YouTube channel include an extended version of When Doves Cry, Take Me With You and Baby I’m A Star.