Earlier this year there was a thread on streaming/download sites such as iTunes, Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify, etc. that have incorrect versions of songs on Prince albums.

I pointed out that Parade on iTunes had the single version of Kiss (where the guitar fades out rather than the song stopping cold) and the Girl 6 version of Girls & Boys (which fades out rather than going directly into Life can be so nice).

My downloaded copy of Parade got messed up, so I just re-downloaded it from iTunes. I was presently surprised to see they now have the correct version of Girls & Boys (without the fade). But I was disappointed to see they still have the incorrect version of Kiss.

This makes no sense to me. Girls & Boys didn't correct itself. Someone must have noticed that it was the wrong version and made the change. Why didn't that person take the time to check the other tracks on the album? How could they noticed one messed up song and not the other?

Perhaps someone reported one mistake to iTunes and it was rectified, but another unreported error remained.

If someone at iTunes is paid to correct reported errors as a priority, they are less likely to spend their work time first checking for unreported errors.

I know that the "bomb" transition between "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" is not intact on the original 1999 on Spotify, which fades out "1999" before the bomb. It's rectified with the Super Deluxe version, thankfully!

I had no idea about this. Do you think they took liberties with the versions they used due to the nature of the platforms.

ie. You can buy individual tracks from albums as opposed to stand alone singles. You can create playlists. Maybe they preferred where possible to include unsegued versions of tracks because they are friendlier to their services, at least in the early days?

Also, I Would Die 4 U is the single mix on the Purple Rain on Spotify but the Super Deluxe has both the album and single versions.

[Edited 12/14/19 14:16pm]

VaultCurator said:

I had no idea about this. Do you think they took liberties with the versions they used due to the nature of the platforms.

ie. You can buy individual tracks from albums as opposed to stand alone singles. You can create playlists. Maybe they preferred where possible to include unsegued versions of tracks because they are friendlier to their services, at least in the early days?

Yes. Streaming platforms are a complete mess if you're serious about your music collection. Recently, ECM (the label) was forced to release live recordings without applauses, so that their tracks will be included in automatic playlists. That means that the latest Keith Jarrett album (Munich 2016), for example, is only available without applause on streaming platforms. Worse, since the streaming and download versions of the files sent to those platforms are the same, it means that if you're buying lossless and/or "hi-res" files, e.g. on Qobuz or HDtracks, you will get the wrong version as well. At this point, the correct/complete version of some albums is only available on physical releases, not digitally. This is crazy.

olb99 said:

Yes. Streaming platforms are a complete mess if you're serious about your music collection. Recently, ECM (the label) was forced to release live recordings without applauses, so that their tracks will be included in automatic playlists. That means that the latest Keith Jarrett album (Munich 2016), for example, is only available without applause on streaming platforms. Worse, since the streaming and download versions of the files sent to those platforms are the same, it means that if you're buying lossless and/or "hi-res" files, e.g. on Qobuz or HDtracks, you will get the wrong version as well. At this point, the correct/complete version of some albums is only available on physical releases, not digitally. This is crazy.

But the convenience, maan.

Just kidding: streaming still sucks, great post.

olb99 said:

Yes. Streaming platforms are a complete mess if you're serious about your music collection. Recently, ECM (the label) was forced to release live recordings without applauses, so that their tracks will be included in automatic playlists. That means that the latest Keith Jarrett album (Munich 2016), for example, is only available without applause on streaming platforms. Worse, since the streaming and download versions of the files sent to those platforms are the same, it means that if you're buying lossless and/or "hi-res" files, e.g. on Qobuz or HDtracks, you will get the wrong version as well. At this point, the correct/complete version of some albums is only available on physical releases, not digitally. This is crazy.

.

Wow. Thanks for the information. I never really got into streaming. I dabbled a little. A couple of free trials etc. But I never stuck with it. Not my cup of tea. I'm particularly glad steered away from it now.

Happens with all legacy artists when they just dump a catalogue somewhere. Sure the correct version of Still Waiting has never even made it onto cd, nevermind streaming!

For years The Stick wasn't on the Time album on streaming for no real reason I could see bar someone probably forgot to press a button.

jaawwnn said:

Happens with all legacy artists when they just dump a catalogue somewhere. Sure the correct version of Still Waiting has never even made it onto cd, nevermind streaming!

For years The Stick wasn't on the Time album on streaming for no real reason I could see bar someone probably forgot to press a button.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the HD Tracks version has the original Still Waiting.

olb99 said:

VaultCurator said:

I had no idea about this. Do you think they took liberties with the versions they used due to the nature of the platforms.

ie. You can buy individual tracks from albums as opposed to stand alone singles. You can create playlists. Maybe they preferred where possible to include unsegued versions of tracks because they are friendlier to their services, at least in the early days?

Yes. Streaming platforms are a complete mess if you're serious about your music collection. Recently, ECM (the label) was forced to release live recordings without applauses, so that their tracks will be included in automatic playlists. That means that the latest Keith Jarrett album (Munich 2016), for example, is only available without applause on streaming platforms. Worse, since the streaming and download versions of the files sent to those platforms are the same, it means that if you're buying lossless and/or "hi-res" files, e.g. on Qobuz or HDtracks, you will get the wrong version as well. At this point, the correct/complete version of some albums is only available on physical releases, not digitally. This is crazy.

Maybe one day we'll get Prince live albums without the audience

databank said:

jaawwnn said:

Happens with all legacy artists when they just dump a catalogue somewhere. Sure the correct version of Still Waiting has never even made it onto cd, nevermind streaming!

For years The Stick wasn't on the Time album on streaming for no real reason I could see bar someone probably forgot to press a button.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the HD Tracks version has the original Still Waiting.

oooh I did not know that!

That aside, my point is the wider these things just seem to happen somewhere in the bowels of record companies and stay that way until a very conscious effort is made on a rerelease.

I just discovered another incorrect vesion of an album track on iTunes. iTunes uses The Hits/4Ever version of Sexy M.F. on 0(+> instead of the true album version.

The difference is that on the CD the song starts with the final spoken words of the segue from My Name is Prince: "There! Ooo!". In contrast, the version on The Hits/4Ever has a clean intro.

I actually prefer the clean intro version, but for the sake of authenticity (so that I don't lose the "Ooo!") I replaced the iTunes downloads with rips from my CD. I'm keeping the clean version in a separate folder.

But it gets more complicated...

The iTunes version of My Name is Prince cuts at a different point than the CD version. Specifically, it cuts after the word "There"; whereas the CD version cuts before the word.

As a consequence, if you keep the iTunes's version of MNIP (which ends with "There") and the CD version of Sexy M.F. (which starts with "There"), the word is doubled. So you hear: "She came. Where? There! There! Ooo!"

So I had to replace MNIP as well to make the transition to Sexy M.F. correct.

olb99 said:

VaultCurator said:

I had no idea about this. Do you think they took liberties with the versions they used due to the nature of the platforms.

ie. You can buy individual tracks from albums as opposed to stand alone singles. You can create playlists. Maybe they preferred where possible to include unsegued versions of tracks because they are friendlier to their services, at least in the early days?

Yes. Streaming platforms are a complete mess if you're serious about your music collection. Recently, ECM (the label) was forced to release live recordings without applauses, so that their tracks will be included in automatic playlists. That means that the latest Keith Jarrett album (Munich 2016), for example, is only available without applause on streaming platforms. Worse, since the streaming and download versions of the files sent to those platforms are the same, it means that if you're buying lossless and/or "hi-res" files, e.g. on Qobuz or HDtracks, you will get the wrong version as well. At this point, the correct/complete version of some albums is only available on physical releases, not digitally. This is crazy.

One more reason to collect physical releases and make your own rips for digital.

djThunderfunk said:

Doozer said:

djThunderfunk said:

One more reason to collect physical releases and make your own rips for digital.

I agree, particularly for artists who are meaningful to you. However, I have come around to streaming over the past 18 months, especially for music discovery and having access to artists I might not want to completely invest in but want to hear all the way through once. That’s worth the price of a CD or vinyl every month to me.

That's a smart approach, use the advantages of a service without having to worry about the disadvantages when it comes to your favorites. Sounds like win/win.

iTunes SOTT came with only the single version of "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man". Dunno if they every fixed it. Really annoyed me.

Anotherwontdare said:

iTunes SOTT came with only the single version of "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man". Dunno if they every fixed it. Really annoyed me.

It's the full length version now.