Prince has never been an artist shy of voicing his opinion – especially when it’s about record labels. In a spontaneous, informal group interview conducted last Saturday at Paisley Park, the music icon had some choice words about the state of the music industry with particular regards to the rights and respect of musicians. The ones that stood out most? “Record contracts are just like — I’m gonna say the word – slavery.”
Having recently inked an exclusivity deal with Jay Z‘s entertainment platform TIDAL, the singer cited freedom of creative control as the biggest factor in his decision. He explained to journalists (who were not permitted to record the meeting or take notes) that modern recording contracts control the artist to a point where they are little more than an “indentured servant”.
This isn’t the first time that Prince has been a stern critic of the workings of the music industry.The mid-nineties saw the singer facing off with his (then) label, Warner. He bore the word “slave” on his cheek during performances, changed his name and released a rapid run of albums in an effort to see out the terms of his contract. Following that, he signed a number of one-off deals with Warner’s rival labels to release his music – the first of which resulted in the 1996 album put out by EMI titled Emancipation. Now, twenty years later, it seems he is still holding the same view, telling reporters that he would caution musicians against falling into the record contract trap: “I would tell any young artist … don’t sign.”
Also in Prince’s firing line (as they’ve been for sometime), were online streaming services. In the past, he’s vehemently expressed his distaste for the digital world, declaring that “The Internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else.” Earlier this year, he had his entire musical catalogue pulled from all streaming services except TIDAL, tweeting a link citing both Taylor Swift and Prince himself in a discussion of streaming services and artist’s royalties
“Spotify is co-owned by record labels, who hold 20 percent of the company’s stocks.” – The Daily Beast http://t.co/qQtZ02OOZr
— Prince3EG (@Prince3EG) June 25, 2015
Previously, the artists’ legal team had worked extensively to have all unauthorised Prince content pulled from YouTube. Until recently, Prince’s Spotify page was empty save for a note that read “Prince’s publisher has asked all streaming services to remove his catalog. We have cooperated with the request and hope to bring his music back as soon as possible.”
The interesting thing about Prince’s history with record labels is that despite breaking with Warner in the nineties, he has since resigned with the major label. In April last year, it was announced that the singer had gone back to Warner Bros. Records to release a remastered edition of Purple Rain for the album’s 30th anniversary. What Prince got in return however, was complete ownership of all his master recordings at Warner. It might have taken over a decade, but he got what he wanted. Furthermore, for all his talk about how damaging the use streaming services (Spotify especially) can be, Prince is still using them to promote his music. Oh yes, proclaiming him a TIDAL exclusive may have been a touch premature as he’s recently added a new track Stare to his previously defunct Spotify page. The kicker? Stare is a Spotify exclusive that isn’t even available with TIDAL.
His points about record contracts restricting artist’s creative freedom and that artists should be paid properly for their content are absolutely justified and he isn’t the only high profile musician to speak out about it. But for someone who is so skeptical of the internet, His Royal Purpleness seems to really love Twitter. You know what I’m sayin’?