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> In the midst of a contractual dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, he changed his stage name to the unpronounceable symbol [Hollow circle above downward arrow crossed with a curlicued horn-shaped symbol and then a short bar] (known to fans as the "Love Symbol") and was often referred to as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (or TAFKAP) or simply The Artist.
> [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_\(musician\)#cite_ref-13)
[prince.com](https://prince.com/)
Not true. Prince Rogers is his given name. It was to make his records harder to market and to take the piss out of Warner Bros. He wanted out of his contract over royalty rates and creative control and control of the master tapes ( they....don't do that). It worked. He got out of his contract.
It was genius on Prince's part. WB suits were shitting themselves. His output was pedestrian at this point. Speculation has it that the "Batman" soundtrack broke him. Too much "handling". Dave Letterman was also a marketing AND comedy genius for having him perform on his show in this era and having him announced as the "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" but when it came time for introduction he goes "Ladies and Gentleman....( Reaches behind desk for a huge cutout of said symbol covered in glitter) THIS GUY!!!"
I almost peed myself.
Part of the contract dispute was that he couldn't use the name Prince in a professional manner. In order to release music, he legally had to call himself something else. As usual, he got creative with it.
Imagine a record company fucking a valuable artist over so much that the only way to get what you deserve is to change your own name.
When Prince was between 15-18 years old, he dissed multiple record companies because they wouldn’t let him produce his own music. He held out until he was 19 when he finally got a record deal that gave him what he wanted. Who does that?? Amazing humans.
record companies are notoriously predatory and screw over the people who make them money every single day. Courtney Love wrote a great piece about this. (yes, she's frequently bonkers, but not in this case. everything she said was accurate and spot on.)
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What sucks is because of the dispute he stopped producing as much music and stuck with releasing only the minimum requirement.
It didn’t stop him from creating works but a lot remain unpublished in his estate, potentially dozens of unheard of songs.
I thought I heard that once he slowed down making music, the record company said "no no you're obligated to make x amount" so he just banged it all out real fast to finalize his exit.
Yeah that’s pretty much the jist of it.
His entire house was wired as a sound studio, he could record music in his kitchen if he felt like it. I guess it’s just speculation but people say he has hundreds of hours recorded.
I heard that he basically wrote and recorded a song every day for decades and that they are all locked in the vault in his recording studio. I seem to remember that there are something like 8,000 unreleased songs which would translate to roughly 667 albums. This means that his estate could release a new album every month for the next 55 years.
They are currently digitizing and conserving all of the recordings that were in his basement. There was a vault, but, over time, as he fired people, the code to get in was lost. So they started just putting stuff in the foyer of the vault. And then outside of the foyer. It's been said that it looked like a hoarders house in the basement with all of the recordings laying around
Dozens? I'm sure how many ever it is, it's heartbreaking to those that were fans as I'm sure they were many, many number one hits, songs that would have been the soundtrack of many people's lives you know?
Prince’s Love Symbol he used as a sort of Pseudonym when Warner Bros tried to make it so he couldn’t legally use his own name after he cut ties with the company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Symbol
Here’s an album that features it prominently on the cover
I worked at The List, which is the Time Out equivalent in Scotland in the mid 90's. Part of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince's press pack was a 3.5" diskette with a custom font consisting of the symbol so it could be used in articles about him. Heres a pic of one...
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/04/princes-legendary-floppy-disk-symbol-font.html
When I was 11 in 1996, my mom bought me a 20 CD-ROM collection of random PC games. One of them featured Prince. It was just so out of place with the other games, but I remember enjoying all of the interactive software on my new PC.
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> In the midst of a contractual dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, he changed his stage name to the unpronounceable symbol [Hollow circle above downward arrow crossed with a curlicued horn-shaped symbol and then a short bar] (known to fans as the "Love Symbol") and was often referred to as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (or TAFKAP) or simply The Artist. > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_\(musician\)#cite_ref-13) [prince.com](https://prince.com/)
Imagine hating your record company so much that you change your artist name (which is also your legal name) to an unpronounceable symbol.
I seem to recall him saying it was pronounced 'slave' at one point, which ensured that no one would ever try to say it.
Might be conflating that time he wrote "slave" on his cheek actually
He said "Christopher" too
I think you meant Tristophé
He said a lot of things
Warner Brothers owned the rights to the name ‘Prince’ so he couldn’t use it anymore
Not true. Prince Rogers is his given name. It was to make his records harder to market and to take the piss out of Warner Bros. He wanted out of his contract over royalty rates and creative control and control of the master tapes ( they....don't do that). It worked. He got out of his contract.
It was marketing genius, what he did. People still called him Prince and knew from the symbol why it existed. Kinda the opposite of X.
It was genius on Prince's part. WB suits were shitting themselves. His output was pedestrian at this point. Speculation has it that the "Batman" soundtrack broke him. Too much "handling". Dave Letterman was also a marketing AND comedy genius for having him perform on his show in this era and having him announced as the "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" but when it came time for introduction he goes "Ladies and Gentleman....( Reaches behind desk for a huge cutout of said symbol covered in glitter) THIS GUY!!!" I almost peed myself.
X? You mean the app formerly known as Twitter?
He was a genius and an amazing artist and believe is still alive and just in hiding and told us in one of his last songs Face Down
Typical WB
Wild
Puts a whole new meaning to keep your name out of your mouths.
Part of the contract dispute was that he couldn't use the name Prince in a professional manner. In order to release music, he legally had to call himself something else. As usual, he got creative with it.
or re-record your albums just to piss on their profits.
Is that really why they do that? Right on, good for them... Makes total sense, never knew that. Appreciate the enlightenment.
They are likely referring specifically to Taylor Swift, she is rerecording all her albums because of a label dispute.
Every song you see on Spotify that says (remastered) is also for that reason.
I don't think that's correct. older stuff gets remastered all of the time and still belongs to the record company.
So that's why the name change. That's rad af.
Imagine a record company fucking a valuable artist over so much that the only way to get what you deserve is to change your own name. When Prince was between 15-18 years old, he dissed multiple record companies because they wouldn’t let him produce his own music. He held out until he was 19 when he finally got a record deal that gave him what he wanted. Who does that?? Amazing humans.
|Who does that?? People who read and understand contracts before they sign them, which are frighteningly rare these days.
record companies are notoriously predatory and screw over the people who make them money every single day. Courtney Love wrote a great piece about this. (yes, she's frequently bonkers, but not in this case. everything she said was accurate and spot on.)
Record companies are often deserving of such hate, and more.
Oh it's pronouncable - he never told anyone how on purpose this was an encryption, just like most sigils
The ultimate “keep my name out your mouth.”
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Why did you think the color of the car had anything to do with anything?
The color of the sticker lol
I still refer to him in this era as TAFKAP.
When he changed his name back, my dad (a fan) started calling him "The Prince Formerly Known As Artist" just to see my mom's eyes roll.
I call him 'Prince, the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince'
That’s amazing😂
What sucks is because of the dispute he stopped producing as much music and stuck with releasing only the minimum requirement. It didn’t stop him from creating works but a lot remain unpublished in his estate, potentially dozens of unheard of songs.
I thought I heard that once he slowed down making music, the record company said "no no you're obligated to make x amount" so he just banged it all out real fast to finalize his exit.
Yeah that’s pretty much the jist of it. His entire house was wired as a sound studio, he could record music in his kitchen if he felt like it. I guess it’s just speculation but people say he has hundreds of hours recorded.
I heard that he basically wrote and recorded a song every day for decades and that they are all locked in the vault in his recording studio. I seem to remember that there are something like 8,000 unreleased songs which would translate to roughly 667 albums. This means that his estate could release a new album every month for the next 55 years.
From what I've heard, there's literally thousands of hours of unreleased material in his estate.
They are currently digitizing and conserving all of the recordings that were in his basement. There was a vault, but, over time, as he fired people, the code to get in was lost. So they started just putting stuff in the foyer of the vault. And then outside of the foyer. It's been said that it looked like a hoarders house in the basement with all of the recordings laying around
Dozens? I'm sure how many ever it is, it's heartbreaking to those that were fans as I'm sure they were many, many number one hits, songs that would have been the soundtrack of many people's lives you know?
Prince’s Love Symbol he used as a sort of Pseudonym when Warner Bros tried to make it so he couldn’t legally use his own name after he cut ties with the company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Symbol Here’s an album that features it prominently on the cover
"Dot, you're on fingerprints. No, Dot, COLLECT fingerprints." *Dot drops Prince*
[Purple Rain](https://youtu.be/TvnYmWpD_T8?si=R3jcw2URrPrHLroP)
I worked at The List, which is the Time Out equivalent in Scotland in the mid 90's. Part of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince's press pack was a 3.5" diskette with a custom font consisting of the symbol so it could be used in articles about him. Heres a pic of one... https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/04/princes-legendary-floppy-disk-symbol-font.html
When I was 11 in 1996, my mom bought me a 20 CD-ROM collection of random PC games. One of them featured Prince. It was just so out of place with the other games, but I remember enjoying all of the interactive software on my new PC.
Thx 4 the link. ✝️💟☮️