Prince denounced record label for turning him into a ‘pawn to produce money’ with seething statement

Prince once denounced his own record label after the artist claimed he had been turned into a “pawn to produce money”.

The dispute between the Purple Rain hitmaker and Warner Bros. would lead to one of the most important moments in Prince‘s career outside of a recording studio. The veteran songwriter had a powerful name at hand with Prince, but he deemed it unnecessary to continue with the title after a dispute with his record label. Rather embarrassingly for Warner Bros., the problem they had with Prince was not the usual dry spell of other artists, but quite the opposite. The Artist Formerly Known as Prince was writing and recording so much that the label couldn’t keep up with his output. His hot streak continued, but the label felt that too much of a good thing would hinder sales and thus damage Prince’s marketability.

For context, Prince would release at least one album a year from his debut For You in 1978 all the way to 1993, excluding 1983. He would release 40 studio albums in total and a further series of live albums. Those in charge of the performer’s archives say there is more material to come. Back in 1993, Prince had enough of Warner Bros. hindering his attempts to release new material, and as such released a statement hitting out at the people distributing his music.

He wrote: “The first step I have taken towards the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Brothers was to change my name from Prince to (symbol). Prince is the name that my mother gave me at birth. Warner Brothers took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music I wrote.

“The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Brothers. It is an unpronounceable symbol whose meaning has not been identified. It’s all about thinking in new ways, tuning in two a new free-quency.”

Prince’s rebellion against Warner Bros. came just a year after he had signed an allegedly lucrative six-album deal that would’ve seen the veteran songwriter pocket $100 million. Warner Bros., seemingly in response to the statement and name change, would release a greatest hits compilation named The Hits/The B-Sides.

The label would also make a handful of concessions to Prince, who died in 2016. One such approval came when Bellmark Records, an independent distributor, handled the release of The Most Beautiful Girl in the World. After leaving Warner Bros. in 1996, Prince attempted a comeback with his Emancipation album. It featured covers of Joan Osborne and James Allen Shamblin II. The album would be Prince’s third of 1996 and just missed out on the top ten of the Billboard 200.