NEW YORK (CNN) -- By now, almost everybody knows that musician Prince Rogers Nelson rejected his name four years ago in favor of a self-designed symbol. What many don't know is why.
"I go by this," he says, holding up a symbol on a chain around his neck. "This is my name. It has an unpronounceable sound."
A proponent of free agency in the music business, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince made the name change and wore the word "Slave" on his face as he bitterly fought to remove himself from a contract with Warner Brothers.
It was a struggle that he says took an inner toll.
"I'm not going to say that I had lost my mind, but there's paths that you can go down in life that are dead ends. And one of them is being manipulated by another mind source other than your own," he says. "And being tied in contracts and having ceilings over you -- especially when you're an artist -- is very confining. And after a while, it started to weigh on me."
Respect important
Freed from Warner Brothers, he made a deal with EMI to distribute his most recent release, "Emancipation." But soon after its release, EMI went under.
Nevertheless, "Emancipation" became the artist's most profitable recording since "Purple Rain," due to the royalty structure he commanded. And as he holds a news conference to kick off his "Jam Of The Year" World Tour, the suddenly accessible, newly visible artist is again a free agent. He is also an envied one.
"Every artist that comes up to me now, first of all congratulates me and they're very happy for me," he says. "And a lot of them -- they'll go unnamed -- they would like to be in the same situation."
Glyph, Symbol Man, The Artist Formerly Known As Prince and the acronym TAFAP are all names others have created for him. He says his friends and staff usually address him as "Sir."
"I try to show the same respect back to a person," the artist says.
In a less formal situation, a fellow musician may call him by saying, "Yo."
"'Yo.' Exactly," the artist says. "And he'll give you a hug, give you a pound and that's the end of it. He's a friend. He respects my choice."
Respect, albeit hard-earned, may be this 39-year-old artist's final reward.