Why can't I find Prince on Spotify or Apple Music?

As Prince fans wake to the devastating news of his death, they will be unable to jump onto Spotify or Apple Music to hear their icon's music.

Prince performs during the halftime show at Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Sunday, February 4, 2007. Source: AAP

Heartbroken Prince fans wanting to grieve their icon through his music will not be able to hear it on Spotify or Apple Music.

Prince pulled his work from those streaming services, as well as Vevo and Rhapsody, in favour of Tidal last year.

Tidal, backed by Jay-Z, claims to pay more royalties than any other music subscription platform.

Aside from the royalties, Prince said it was important to support African-American-owned enterprises, such as Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network.

"Tidal is a new company, it's brand new," Prince told Ebony Magazine last year.

"They're just getting their footing, and I think when there's a company like that, or the OWN network - situations where we finally get into a position to run things - we all should help.

"It's been a lot of fun."

Prince's ability to control his own image and how people interacted with his music also played a big part in his decision to give exclusive rights to Tidal.

Where it would normally list "related" artists on his Tidal artist page, he was able to change it to "influences".

"Then all these black and white pictures come up and you can go back and look at all the people who influenced me," Prince said.

"Then in each one of those situations, Tidal allowed us to go and work on those pages.

"The problem with these formats is that there's a lot of laziness out there.

"They have to do so much, so a lot of times it's just a program. It's an algorithm. I didn't want to be a part of that."

Despite not streaming his extensive back catalogue, Spotify still tweeted a tribute to the legendary artist on Friday.

Fans replied with disappointment, confusion and anger.

"@Spotify how about streaming his catalog then? #paytheartist," one user commented.

"@Spotify because he despised your business and how you treat songwriters and artists...just in case you where wondering...," read another reply.

"@Spotify wishing he had let you guys have some of his catalogue :(," another said.

Spotify responded by tweeting: "Unfortunately we do not have Prince's catalog."

American R&B artist Omarian tweeted: "He owns his music. So most of you all going to @AppleMusic won't be hearing no classic prince. But I will. #appreciateTheGreats #RipPrince".