Advanced Search

Share Coverage



Category: Music Industry / Music / Pop

Prince's career-long battle with the music industry

Friday, 22 Apr 2016 09:44:24 | Peter Ryan

Prince was an astute businessman who knew the value of his personal image. (AFP: Kevin Winter)

Prince was not just a highly talented musician and performer, he was also renowned as a savvy and tough businessman who took on the music establishment.

Prince waged major, risky battles with the recording industry to protect his work and railed against digital downloads, taking on the might of iTunes and YouTube.

Rob Cox — whose day job is an editor at financial analysis services Reuters BreakingViews — is one of the many Prince fans who say he rocked not just music but the business of music.

"He should go down as the executive formerly known as Prince for some of the amazingly, maverick things he did during his career, particularly in fighting against the music and the technology establishment ," Mr Cox told AM.

Mr Cox said the "scantily clad kid from Minneapolis" who emerged in 1976 challenged the system from day one, even though his initial record sales were disappointing.

Audio: Prince the businessman who fought the establishment (AM)

However, it was not until the early 1980s, with his the success of his fifth studio record "1999" and being brought to fame by the advent of MTV, that Prince began to flex his business muscle.

"It was shortly after that in 1985 that he set up Paisley Park Records, and the idea was to basically do like the Beatles had done before, to basically own control and independence," Mr Cox said.

"The problem was Warner Music had helped bankroll the creation of Paisley Park Records and the terms of their agreement became a bit of a problem."

Prince 'slave' protest helped 'shift power back to artists'

As part of a contractual battle with Warner Brothers, Prince controversially painted the world "slave" on his face and changed his name to a symbol.

"Prince established this idea of independence before the advent of digital downloads, and that really hurt the record industry," Mr Cox said.

External Link: Prince had a long list of contractual fights

"He was out there arguing for independent ownership of your music and of your image, to the extent that his name became the issue.

"And you know, 20 years later, 10 years later, we'd start to see the record labels losing their power, and not least because they are losing their financial grip and now, really, the power has shifted back to the artists and to the performers."

Prince also railed against digital downloads and said the Internet was "completely over" thumbing his nose to iTunes and streaming services.

Mr Cox said the business battles fought by Prince are an overwhelming legacy to the rights of other artists.

"All along he had this maverick approach to the industries who tried to control his image or his videos or his music," he said.

"I think, in many ways, you're going to find a lot of bands, a lot of musicians, owe a real debt to Prince for that today."

Follow Peter Ryan on Twitter @peter_f_ryan and on his Main Street blog.

AustraliaPlus


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend