Release Date
Original Release
July 8, 2014
2h 15m
Slave Trade: How Prince Remade the Music Business (2014)
Overview
In the mid-1990s reports emerged that Prince had fallen into dispute with his record company. Having signed what was ostensibly a new, 100 million dollar contract just a couple of years before, Prince was now demanding - not unreasonably to most commentators - control of his masters and the freedom to release what he wanted when he wanted. After a bitter war of words, during which the star scrawled Slave across his cheek whenever he appeared in public and routinely dissed his label, the parties finally settled and Prince henceforth was free to take full control of his music and the way it was sold to consumers. Prince approached this task with devastating foresight as he routinely created new marketing concepts which, with time, became the norm across the music world.
Director
Elio Espana
Department: Directing
Cast
Prince
Self (archive footage)
Michael Bland
Self
Alan Leeds
Self
Marva King
Self
Joe Levy
Self
Sonny Thompson
Self
