Perhaps it makes sense. Artists will soon make their money via concerts. Prince has a series of concerts coming up. He has a huge old-school fan base, so does not need to get his songs out there (people already know him).

His new songs then are more 'rare' among his core demographic (not teens) -> driving more people to his concerts, where he makes the money.

Remember that prince, back in 2001 ALREADY jumped on the internet bandwagon. He offered his songs for download then - he is not anti-internet, he has tried it and has changed his model.

Remember, this dude makes 50million USD a year, more that most of you will make if your startup sells for a huge amount of money. He knows what he's doing.