Prince and Michael Jackson were rivals. Pop music superfans know this, even if they don't necessarily agree on whether that competitive relationship was friendly or bitter. Knowing that doesn't change either legend's status or artistic worth. Yet while they were alive, some were compelled to treat their careers as if they were in constant competition, with one performer's success somehow costing the other. But the average person only cares if their music is good, which it is.
This is analogous to the discussion surrounding the long-awaited debut of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," Jeff Bezos' titanic play to secure a must-see franchise for Amazon's streaming service. In a move influenced by the worldwide success of "Game of Thrones," he tossed a reported $250 million to J.R.R. Tolkien's estate simply to secure the rights back in 2017 – a full two years before HBO's dragon-powered juggernaut went off the air.
