What does it actually mean?

WB is still making the money off the CDs and music currently selling?

He/his estate gets the right to make "remasters?"

How does this work?

sro100 said:

What does it actually mean?

WB is still making the money off the CDs and music currently selling?

He/his estate gets the right to make "remasters?"

How does this work?

It means he owns the rights to them now. I mean, it's pretty simple. He owns his work, flat out. Master tapes, master whatever - they're his. It's a bit like Picasso only owning prints of his paintings, and not the original painting when he pug brush to canvas. But now he'd own the painting again. Prince, and many artists, were basically renting their own work, through shitty record contracts. The company always works in its own favor. Berry Gordy was infamous for designing contracts, so no matter how much money an artist pulled in, or how many records they sold, they would still be in the red to Motown. They were never in the clear in owning money. As you know, artists eventually pay for everything. Promotion, studio time, musicians, producers, etc. All that gets taken out of their profits before they see a dime. It's why so many artists get huge sponsors for tours. It's a hefty cost, and a company offsetting that in exchange for massive promotion works out for everyone.

Prince started getting his masters back, meaning copyright reverted to the original artist, 35 years after its release. It's the law, at least for music recordings. That means in 2013, he got For You, 2014 would have been Prince, and so forth.

WB and Prince had an agreement in 2014. (Dr. Funkenberry reported on this, too.) To my knowledge, the deal with WB in 2014 gave him back his catalog, in exchange for the promise of remastering, as well as WB distributing Art Official Age, and PlectrumElectrum. It was halted because Prince said (via his Instagram) that WB wasn't willing to pay NPG (ie: Prince) a fair amount to redistribute them, but that the remastering was done. Because if Prince owned the masters, then anyone who wanted to do something with them, would owe him. That being Warner Bros. What an interesting turn - WB having to pay Prince for his music! The remastering would have to go out under NPG/WarnerBros stamp.

However, some resolution must have been made, because For You is out, and Prince is due June 10 or so. I own the remastered For You. In fact, I just listened to it today (and recorded it to my computer) for the first time. The artwork is 99.999% the same. The differences are the title on the front is a bit clearer, and slightly lighter, the bold print on the sleeve inside is a bit thinner (not quite normal, not quite bold), but practically the same, there is a remastering credit in the credits, the catalog number is different, and the record company logo says NPG/Warner Bros. Even the older WB label on the vinyl itself is the same (the greenish one with palm trees).

I would assume that whoever is in charge of the estate long term, whether it's Tyka, or Bremer Trust, or another entity, has the rights to the masters. However, I do seem to remember reading somewhere that in the event of Prince's death, Warner Bros. would get the albums back. I mean, who else would they go to? He wasn't married, & had no children. If that's true, it could be the only contract/will regarding his death in any fashion.

It's been a minute since I've read a lot of this stuff, so a few details might be off a tad.

It means/meant nothing really, because he would have had to sell them in whole or part, to monetize the privilege. It was always much ado 'bout nothing.

funksterr said:

It means/meant nothing really, because he would have had to sell them in whole or part, to monetize the privilege. It was always much ado 'bout nothing.

That's not correct. He didn't sell his masters for Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, Emancipation, 3121, Musicology, Lotusflow3r, or Planet Earth to have distribution deals with those record companies that distributed them.

He could easily have a distribution deal with Warner Bros, and retain the lion's share of the profits, paying a fee to WB for manufacturing (since Paisley Park doesn't exactly have a pressing plant on the premises) and distribution.

This might be helpful to you.

TrivialPursuit said:

that in the event of Prince's death, Warner Bros. would get the albums back. I mean, who else would they go to? He wasn't married, & had no children. If that's true, it could be the only contract/will regarding his death in any fashion.

It's been a minute since I've read a lot of this stuff, so a few details might be off a tad.

I don't think Prince and/or his lawyers are that stupid, and that type of provision would defeat the whole purpose.

[Edited 5/28/16 0:09am]

TrivialPursuit said:

Prince started getting his masters back, meaning copyright reverted to the original artist, 35 years after its release. It's the law, at least for music recordings.

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It's a law, and thus open to interpretation. Otherwise please point me to undoubtedly numerous other cases where artist got back their rights through this law... If you think record companies would just hand over their lucrative back catalogues because some law said it...

.

Also, while those record contracts are often pretty shitty, also remember that one hit is funding dozens of failures. For decades record companies had plenty of acts on their books for prestige's sake, not because they'd ever make any significant money.

nursev said:

This is truly a topic that can go many ways regarding his death

PurpleDiamonds1 said:

nursev said:

This is truly a topic that can go many ways regarding his death

Sadly yes

nursev said:

PurpleDiamonds1 said:

Sadly yes

yep...money is the root to all evil

nursev said:

PurpleDiamonds1 said:

Sadly yes

yep...money is the root to all evil