Prince's latest switch has nothing to do with his name.

The artist once known by an unpronounceable symbol has, without explanation, dropped his opposition to Napster and announced plans to debut a new song on the file-sharing service.

"The Work — Pt. 1," will be available through Napster's featured artist program beginning Friday (April 6), according to a statement from the company. The track is the first single from Prince's album-in-progress, The Rainbow Children, due later this year.

Napster's homepage will include a link to the NPG Music Club (www.npgmusicclub.com), Prince's new by-subscription-only music service (see [article id="1439259"]"Prince Offers Fans Exclusive Material Via Online Club"[/article]).

"What record companies don't really understand is that Napster is just one illustration of the growing frustration over how much the record companies control what music people get 2 hear," Prince wrote in a statement released by Napster.

But Prince said earlier this month that his music club, not Napster, should be the model for the future of the music industry.

"The Internet should b set up where every artist has a site/sight. If u want a particular work from this artist, you go to his/her site/sight and cop," he wrote in an online interview. "No one should b allowed 2 bootleg the work because the creator does not benefit" (see [article id="144122"]"Napster Dividing Artists From Prince 2 Dave Matthews"[/article]).

For complete digital music coverage, check out the Digital Music Reports.