Prince

Prince has been selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 10th Annual Webby Awards on June 12. The awards, which will be held at New York City?s Cipriani Wall Street, will honor the Prince for his use of the internet to distribute his music. He was the first major artist to release an entire album exclusively on the internet. After a highly publicized split with Warner Bros., Prince made his 1997 album, Crystal Ball, available only via the internet. Since then, he?s used his own web-based NPG Music Club to release seven other full-length CDs.

?Prince is a visionary who recognized early on that the internet would completely change how we experience music. For more than a decade, he has tapped the power of the Web to forge a deeper connection with his fans and push the boundaries of technology and art,? Tiffany Shlain, the founder of the Webby Awards said. In addition to honoring Prince, this year?s awards will also recognize the strides made by The Gorillaz and the founders of Myspace.com.