Prince takes his music off every music streaming service except Jay Z's Tidal

Fans of Prince will be sad to learn that they can no longer access the pop legend's discography on Spotify.

In a move that sent shock waves across the music industry, the 57-year-old star removed his music from all streaming services, including Apple Music and Rdio.

"Prince's publisher has asked all streaming services to remove his catalog," a message on the singer's Spotify page reads. "We have co-operated with the request, and hope to bring his music back as soon as possible.

However, one place that fans can still listen to classics like Kiss, Purple Rain and When Doves Cry digitally is Tidal, the Jay Z-owned music streaming service. The recently relaunched site, which costs $19.99 (£17.98) per month and has positioned itself at the premium end of the market, offering what has been described as "lossless high fidelity sound quality", streamed the Purple One's Rally 4 Peace in Baltimore back in May.

Although Prince offered no explanation, his decision to restrict access to his songs and albums come just weeks after Taylor Swift took on Apple over its refusal to pay artists during free trials of its new service.

After the 25-year-old singer threatened to hold back 1989 from Apple Music, the tech giant reversed its payment policy and agreed to compensate artists during the free trial, tweeting: "#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer's free trial period. We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple"

While Swift has since agreed to allow Apple Music to stream 1989, her music is still absent from Spotify, after she cut all ties with the company in November 2014.

Prince, however, is still using SoundCloud to distribute new music. He recently unveiled a new track entitled Hardrocklover on the platform.