In the evolving landscape of streaming music, it can be tricky to keep track of which artists’ music is available where. Taylor Swift has pulled her songs from Spotify but allowed her latest album, 1989, to be on Apple Music. Lil Wayne’s newest release is only on Tidal. Neil Young has removed his music altogether.

And then there is Prince.

Prince began pulling his music from most streaming services this month. Spotify posted a notice saying that the musician’s publisher “has asked all streaming services to remove his catalogue.” (Prince controls his own publishing rights, and is known to be protective of them.) But he kept his music on Tidal, which is owned by Jay Z and more than a dozen other artists — although Prince is not believed to be among them.

And then Thursday morning, Spotify tweeted that it had “something special”: a funky new single, Stare, that was released “just for Spotify fans.” At 3 minutes, 43 seconds, it is among the few recordings by Prince available on the service. (A live version of Nothing Compares 2 U, a song written by Prince that became a hit for Sinead O’Connor, is available in a compilation called Love Jams Volume Two.)

The shifting availability of Prince’s catalogue illustrates the changes that have been happening in streaming music. Artists of all kinds have been evaluating and debating the market and in some cases deciding that the economics do not work. A spokeswoman for Prince did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but lately Prince has made oblique references on Twitter indicating that he is paying close attention to the business aspects of streaming music.

He linked to an article in The Verge about a leaked licensing contract between Sony and Spotify, and also recently urged his fans to read a Billboard report on the Justice Department’s review of the regulatory agreements for ASCAP and BMI, two organisations that license songs for radio, television and streaming music. Many songwriters and music publishers have called those agreements outdated, resulting in low royalties from streaming music.