> The label was reportedly after control of Prince's master tapes.
Edit: I’m guessing this refers to owning the right to copy a master rather than owning the physical tapes that the master is stored on.
Relevant quote from a 1996 NY Times article on Prince²
> If you don't own your masters, your master owns you.
When Prince changed his name to a symbol, I didn’t pay too much attention to pop or mainstream music so when I heard about it, I had assumed he was simply being pretentious. After hearing about his problems with Warner Brothers, I have a lot more sympathy for his actions and desire to have creative control over his own music.
> The label was reportedly after control of Prince's master tapes.
Edit: I’m guessing this refers to owning the right to copy a master rather than owning the physical tapes that the master is stored on.
Relevant quote from a 1996 NY Times article on Prince²
> If you don't own your masters, your master owns you.
When Prince changed his name to a symbol, I didn’t pay too much attention to pop or mainstream music so when I heard about it, I had assumed he was simply being pretentious. After hearing about his problems with Warner Brothers, I have a lot more sympathy for his actions and desire to have creative control over his own music.
¹ https://www.angelfire.com/wv/Royalbadness/bio.html
² https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/17/arts/a-re-inventor-of-his...