What does Prince’s symbol mean, who owns his music and why did he change his name?

IT has been exactly three years since the sudden passing of renowned musician Prince.

Below, we explain what Prince’s symbol means, who owns his music and why he changed his name.

What does Prince’s symbol mean?

In a statement at the time, he wrote: “It’s all about thinking in new ways, tuning in 2 a new free-quency.”

Prince’s infamous “Love Symbol” was unpronounceable.

Why did he change his name?

In 1993, Prince announced that he would no longer go by the name Prince, but rather by a “Love Symbol” which was a mash-up of the gender symbols for man and woman, reported .

The change of name was a rebellion against his record label a the time, Warner Brothers.

He first signed with the company back in 1977 when he was still a teenager, and produced some of his most famous titles, including Purple Rain and Sign O the Times, while being signed to them.

The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros.”

Prince angrily disagreed and began performing with the word “SLAVE” written on his cheek.

Who owns his music?

Prince was well-known for having tight-knit control over his work.

Since his passing, Prince’s music was signed off to be distributed by Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony.

When did Prince die?

The musician was 57 when he died.

He was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park home on April 21, 2016.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Purple Rain star lay dead for up to six hours before he was found by his drummer Kirk Johnson and his personal assistant Meron Berkure.

They placed a call to emergency services at 9.43am on the morning of 21 April 2016.

The newspaper reported at the time that a paramedic who responded to the emergency call confirmed to those at the scene that Prince was likely to have passed away during the night.