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Prince recently sat down with The Associated Press to discuss his new coffee-table book "21 Nights," as well as the Internet's influence on pirated music and turning the big 5-0 in June of this year.
"How old are we really?" the music superstar asked. "It's about ascension. It's not the other way. There's nothing down about it. Everything is better."
As an example, he brings up his groundbreaking 21-night stand at London's O2 Arena last year. "I couldn't have sold out 21 nights in London in the peak of my career; it would have been an impossibility," he says. "I look forward to these years where everything is just open sky. I wish this for every artist: freedom."
The 21 London concerts inspired his new coffee table book "21 Nights," from publisher Simon & Schuster. The glossy not only steals glimpses of his onstage performances, but also behind-the-scenes moments of the star and his band during the unprecedented concert stint.
"No one had ever sold out 21 nights in a row," said photographer Randee St. Nicholas. "So I thought, 'We should do a book surrounding this point in his life, because this is a great point in his life.'"
"This was a landmark event," adds Prince. "No one believed that it would do what it did. ... Everyone tried to talk me out of it."
There's a reason why the CD that comes with the book contains only Prince's classic hits and songs from one of his signature jam sessions - and not any new material.
"Today, it's not realistic to expect to put out new music and profit from it. There's no point in trying to put new music out there and keep it from being (exploited)," he says, adding that he now has disdain for the way the Internet has, in his view, subverted artists' rights.
"The powers that be are abusing the copyright infringement," he says. "You can't sample Steven Spielberg; you don't see his stuff up there, just old tapes of the Ohio Players, who can't afford to defend themselves."
