Sociology
Prince’s Power of Fame
Power is an abstract concept. Generally, people do not realize how prevalent the game of power is in the society. It is not limited to kings, queens or to the political realm. For instance, the household member that earns the most usually has the final say in many matters. The dynamics of power vary and as it is not a rigid concept. Money brings power as one can influence people by ‘buying’ them in whichever way they can be bought. Similarly, fame of authors, poets and musicians brings them power, and they wield it as they please.
Legendary singer Prince had immense influence on his fans through his music and persona. He held tremendous power of fame. When people like celebrities they want to be like them; they act, talk, sing and hold opinions similar to those celebrities. For this reasons likeable personalities such as Prince can change and sway the moods and opinions of people.
Power is illusive; one moment a person might have it all and the next he might lose it. But people that know the social dynamics in the context of power usually hold the power longer than others. Prince had his immense fan following, and with this power he was influencing the battles he was engaged in with the record labels such as Warner and Sony. To fulfill his contract in an attempt to break free from the company he churned out albums just to “make up numbers”.
Prince probably could not have been the success he did in the conflict with Warner and Sony without his power of fame. With tremendous success by Billboard top ranking music videos, he started harnessing power. Realizing that the record companies were getting the best of the talents of singers and musicians he split up with them and started his own label.
It can be argued that the record companies did not trap him in contracts. Prince already knew what he was getting out from the deal, which is why the legal contract exists in the first place. However, gathering that he could get more from his own talent, he did what many other musicians cannot successfully accomplish; he started his own recording company.
An ordinary performer writing ‘slave’ on his cheek would not have accomplished what Prince did. Understanding that appearance and perceptions can change the opinions and can sway people in your favor, he appealed to the public. This act alone was a challenge to the music companies. Regardless of how big the record labels are, they do not have the face or the influence on the people. Singers such as Prince have a face, a voice and devoted fans that relate with the poetry and music of the singers. This is exactly the reason why Prince took the battle to the public, because he knew that he was more powerful than the companies in this power structure.
In other words, record companies cannot gain sympathies of the masses the way Prince did. He furthered his goals by using his ‘power’. It is completely a different debate as to how just he was in his cause or in the purity of his motives. But in his self-righteousness he believed that singers were being exploited by the companies.
Luke’s third dimension of power is perhaps in play here. Luke describes this notions of power that it appeals to divert people from the actual issues and shapes and regulates their wants. Looking at Prince’s power play, it is not very difficult to see this form of power. Prince could not openly state that the companies were not letting him make enough money or perhaps that he wanted to make more money and did not want the record labels to get rich alone. But this overt conflict could not be presented to the public.
Had Prince openly stated the legal conflict as it was, it would have lost its appeal and sympathies that he gained form his fans. He could not tell what the ‘actual conflict’ was. He had to hide the conflict in the word ‘Slave’, poetically humiliating the ‘abuse’ of the record companies.
Power is relational, the power of an individual changes according to the context. Prince was a super star during the eighties and the nineties He could call the shots and could sway the public opinion according to his will. But then came a time when the internet became too powerful, more powerful than Prince. He tried to fight with YouTube, The Pirate Bay, and eBay but maybe the people’s opinions had changed about digital distributions of music and other forms of information. He was not as successful in his conflict with social media and ecommerce companies as he was with Warner and Sony. Internet is mainly perceived as a free market for non-physical products such as information, music and other intangibles. In this age, maybe Prince did not have that amount of influence and power to change the people’s opinion about the internet.
Power does not have a rigid structure, it is forceful yet illusive. Power can be exercised in many ways, through money, connections, brute authority or through fame. Singer such as Prince have the power of fame and they use it as they see fit.
Bibliography
Emonn Forde. “Record breaker: a brief history of Prince's contractual controversies”. The Guardian. 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/10/history-prince-contractual-controversy-warner-paisley-park
James Arvanitakis “Sociologic Analyzing Everyday Life and Culture”. Oxford University Press. (2015) p. 143
