Way back in 1993, Prince made headlines by appearing in public and on stage (at the Brits) with “SLAVE” scrawled across the side of his face, to protest conditions in his contract with Warner Brothers. Fast forward 22 years and — despite making up with Warner for 2014 albums Plectrumelectrum and Art Official Age — Prince thinks nothing has changed. Recently, he told the National Association of Black Journalists that, “Record contracts are just like, I’m gonna say the word, slavery. I would tell any young artist — don’t sign.”
The artist formerly known as Prince, and then as a “love symbol” (used to “emancipate” him “from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros”), and then Prince again was repping for Jay Z’s streaming platform Tidal, where he will exclusively release his forthcoming album.
“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,” he explained.