Prince Questions Record Labels' Necessity

Veteran musician Prince believes today's aspiring singers don't need the help of record companies to make it big - because many of them have enough technology to release tracks themselves.

The Purple Rain hitmaker, who in the past has suffered his fair share of wrangles with his old record company, admits he intensely dislikes the "restrictive" control labels currently have over the music industry.

He says, "Kids today, I mean, they're so talented and sophisticated. They can create their own albums on laptops. They can deliver it through the internet. They can even be their own distribution service.

"I mean, what do we really need record companies for?"