Prince Compares Record Contracts To Slavery

Prince 2008

Two days after the artist known as Prince announced that he would release his new album HitNRun exclusively to Tidal, the singer revealed the reason he is sidestepping a record label and offering the LP directly through Jay Z's streaming service. "Record contracts are just like — I'm gonna say the word – slavery," Prince said. "I would tell any young artist... don't sign."

Speaking to a small group of reporters from the National Association of Black Journalists Saturday at his Paisley Park Studios in Minneapolis, Prince expressed concerns over the future of the music business, Rolling Stone reports. He also voiced his disapproval about how record labels turn artists into "indentured servitude," since the artists have little control or insight over how labels take their music and profit off it online, a claim David Byrne similarly laid against the major labels.

"Once we have our own resources, we can provide what we need for ourselves," Prince said of why he chose to team with Tidal. "Jay Z spent $100 million of his own money to build his own service. We have to show support for artists who are trying to own things for themselves."

This isn't the first time Prince has compared the music industry to slavery. In 1993, when Prince and Warner Bros. were warring over his record contract, the rocker frequently appeared in public and onstage with "slave" scrawled on his cheek. Prince would soon change his name to "the Artist Formerly Known As" and "the Love Symbol" in an effort to "emancipate" himself "from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros." Prince and the label later reconciled for 2014's Art Official Age.

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