Clear Your Schedules, 'Coz 20 Years Of Prince's Official Websites Are Now Online

In life, late music icon Prince seemed to be a creative visionary in almost every regard — even extending to the online realm.

Over the course of nearly 20 years, he unveiled an array of websites and digital content overflowing with ambition and innovation, from his earliest dalliance with the CD-ROM-based Prince Interactive, in 1994, and his first official online portal, TheDawn.com, in 1996, to his groundbreaking NPG Music Club platform (2001-2006) and more recent efforts such as 2013's 3rdEyeGirl.com.

Thankfully, those who are looking to remember the great musician's Webby Award-winning contributions to online culture in a tangible way are in serious luck, with a new website called the Prince Online Museum having just launched.

As Billboard reports, the free digital archive contains links to working versions of several of Prince's official websites from a 19-year span (1994-2013) and is overseen by Sam Jennings, who also served as NPG Music Club's webmaster for the duration of its existence. In keeping with Prince's dedication to artist rights, the club was one of many innovations Prince made in delivering his music directly to his fans.

"With the launch of the NPG Music Club in 2001, Prince firmly established that an artist-owned online distribution business can be successful and build that connection between an artist and his audience without a middleman," Jennings said in a statement on the museum's website. "This is what freedom sounds like."

According to its mission statement, the Museum exists as a way to establish and maintain a library of Prince's official online projects, though it goes further to express a desire to "acknowledge his 20 years of ground-breaking, provocative, and fiercely independent use of the internet to establish a direct connection between an artist and his audience".

"We launch with over a dozen of Prince’s most popular sites, but over 20 years online, Prince launched nearly 20 different websites, maintained a dozen different social media presences, participated in countless online chats, and directly connected with fans around the world," Jennings said. 

"This Museum is an archive of that work and a reminder of everything he accomplished as an independent artist with the support of his vibrant and dedicated online community."

Additionally, Jennings says, you can take heart knowing that the Museum is a completely not-for-profit endeavour, with its creators — several of whom worked with Prince on the original websites being displayed — removing Prince's music and all monetary transaction channels off the site. "This is a 100% free experience 4 display purposes only 2 show off the work we created," they write in the site's FAQ. Additionally, as Prince did, the Museum supports the #YesWeCode initiative, which is attempting to "connect 100,000 low-opportunity young adults to high-paying careers in technology".

"The Prince Online Museum was built by the people who worked directly with Prince on these projects," Jennings said in his statement. "We are the originators, we are the experts. It is a labor of love, no money has been exchanged. There will be no downloads sold and no membership fees required. But we do have working versions of almost all of Prince’s official websites. Take a virtual walk through the timeline and remember when anything was possible."

You can check out the timeline of the featured websites here, from which you can click through to take a trip to the past and some simpler times.

Prince Online Museum: Websites List

2013: 3rdEyeGirl.com
2013: 20PR1NC3.com
2009: Lotusflow3r.com
2007: 3121.com
2006: 3121.com
2004-2006: NPGMusicClub.com
2003: NPGMusicClub.com
2002: NPGMusicClub.com
2001: NPGMusicClub.com
2001: NPG Music Club v1 (screen gallery)
2000: NPGOnlineLtd.com
1999: Love4OneAnother.com
1999: 1800NewFunk.com
1997: CrystalBallCD.com
1996: TheDawn.com (screen gallery)
1994: Prince Interactive (walkthrough video)