Prince, the first artist to release a CD on the Web nine years ago, has abruptly shut down his award-winning NPG Music Club website. It's a shocking move for a musician who has been held up as an exemplar for other artists in taking control of the distribution of his creations. In 2004, Prince told Business 2.0 that he launched the website, which offered original music unavailable elsewhere, because he "needed a worldwide distribution service that works as fast as we do."

But now, Prince asks, in his unmistakable orthography, "In a world without limitations and infinite possibilities, has the time come 2 once again make a leap of faith and begin anew?" News.com, which dubbed the club "the music site formerly known as Prince's," notes that Prince, after a long fight against music labels, released his most recent album through Universal Music Group. And Hypebot, a digital-music blog, reports that there's a legal dispute between Prince and the Nature Publishing Group over a trademark application Prince filed for the "NPG Music Club" name. Meanwhile, Music Club members who plunked down $25 for a "lifetime" membership may wish they, too, could begin anew -- but if they're thinking about asking refunds, Prince will no doubt tell them that "money don't matter 2night."