The Artist is now known as Prince once again. It was announced at his press conference today that The Artist will now be known as Prince again now that his last contractual agreement with Warner Brothers (his publishing agreement)has expired.



The Artist also plans to release an Internet only version of last years Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic soon, this new version will be called Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic and will contain various remixes and will also contain two new songs.

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HotThyng76 sumbits the following AP article:



Prince Reclaims His Name



By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer



NEW YORK (AP) - Forget the symbol, erase the acronym. The artist formerly known as Prince
announced Tuesday that he will be, now and forever, known again as Prince.



``On Dec. 31, 1999, my publishing contract with Warner-Chappell expired, thus emancipating the
name I was given before birth - Prince - from all long-term restrictive documents,'' the freshly-minted
Prince told a crowded news conference.



``I will now go back to using my name instead of the symbol I adopted to free myself from all
undesirable relationships.''



That was easy, huh?



Prince's re-renaming kicked off a quirky, hour-long news conference where the Minneapolis rocker
- whose real name is Prince Rogers Nelson - made an assortment of announcements - including a
weeklong party in his hometown dubbed ``Prince: A Celebration.''



As part of the event, his Paisley Park recording studio will be opened for tours June 7-13, with a
special Prince concert set for June 13 at Northrup Auditorium. A new Prince song, ``Cybersingle,''
will also be available on his Web site, as will be a modified version of his last album, titled ``Rave In2
the Joy Fantastic.'



The return to the Prince name ends a seven-year battle between the performer and Warner Bros.
Records, which had Prince under contract through the end of last year.



Prince, charging that Warner Bros. exercised too much control over his music, switched his name to
a symbol in 1993. With the contract now over, Prince said he's confident there are no new names in
his future.



``Will I be changing my name ever again?'' the 41-year-old diminutive rocker mused. ``No, I won't
have to, because I won't be under any restrictive long-term contract again.''



When a reporter addressed him as Prince, he interrupted:



``Hi, Prince. That sounds great. I haven't
heard that in a while.''

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Shaun.Boogie (Shaun.Suggs@wcom.com) submits the following related SonicNet story:



http://www.sonicnet.com/n...&id=872662

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Eric Benchimol (ericben@home.com) provides the following URL for an MTV News article (with video clip):



http://www.mtv.com/news/h...ory12.html