jdcxc said:

Except for a weak post on their website, what has Warner Bros done to recognize the important career of one of their most transformative and historic artists? I also wonder what type of business talks they are having with the estate bankers. The bad divorce aside, he was on their label when he died. And they will definitely benefit financially in the years to come. Any thoughts or knowledge?

Uh, their whole building was bathed in purple, and a huge photo of him was outside. They also had a picture of him on their website for the longest. Must've missed that one, eh?

He was not on their label when he died. He had a distribution deal with them for AOA & PE (the same way he had distribution deals with Arista, Columbia, etc). Those are not regular record contracts - they're distribution deals. A lot of indie artists might use a label's ability to get a record out, but not be signed to them as an in-house artist.

He owns his masters, and WB paid him to re-distribute his remastered vinyl catalog. That's all really covered...her thread.

There were full-page ads from WB in many of the tribute pubs as well.

They had a window display in their main office after he passed as well as their website. That's all. I've no doubt they will own/control everything eventually. I don't like that for more than one reason.

[Edited 6/15/16 16:40pm]

We could do much worse than WB. They let Prince push envelopes with extremely progressive sounds and lacivious lyrics. They green-lit two borderline avant garde Batman films, they dominated the 90's with sophisticated animations like Animaniacs, they recently allowed the incredibly risky Mad Max: Fury Road to theaters, they're nailing it with the Harry Potter franchise and they rebooted the long-dead Godzilla franchise in the US. In music, they let everyone from Gorillaz to LCD Soundsystem do whatever the hell they want. I'm fine with WB over other studios.

TrivialPursuit said:

Shockedelicus said:

endiadj said:

Shockedelicus said:

We could do much worse than WB. They let Prince push envelopes with extremely progressive sounds and lacivious lyrics. They green-lit two borderline avant garde Batman films, they dominated the 90's with sophisticated animations like Animaniacs, they recently allowed the incredibly risky Mad Max: Fury Road to theaters, they're nailing it with the Harry Potter franchise and they rebooted the long-dead Godzilla franchise in the US. In music, they let everyone from Gorillaz to LCD Soundsystem do whatever the hell they want. I'm fine with WB over other studios.

the majority of that has nothing to do with prince.

WB didn't seem to stifle Prince's content much, they just seems to stifle how much he could put out.

Then again, who knows what they're looking for in this "plastic" age of pop stars.

jdcxc said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Uh, their whole building was bathed in purple, and a huge photo of him was outside. They also had a picture of him on their website for the longest. Must've missed that one, eh?

He was not on their label when he died. He had a distribution deal with them for AOA & PE (the same way he had distribution deals with Arista, Columbia, etc). Those are not regular record contracts - they're distribution deals. A lot of indie artists might use a label's ability to get a record out, but not be signed to them as an in-house artist.

He owns his masters, and WB paid him to re-distribute his remastered vinyl catalog. That's all really covered...her thread.

Wow...window displays and purple lights. I expect something more substantial than symbolic. How about a foundation in his name, sponsorship of a tribute tour, active involvement in his continuing legacy through outreach to family and band mates and promises to cooperate with the dissemination of the Vault. "Picture of him on their website"...lol...give me a break!

To be fair to WB (a phrase you might not see too often on a Prince fan site), they've been around for almost a century, and Prince wasn't exactly the tentpole. They released - I'm estimating - 300 films in the 1980s alone, and Purple Rain wasn't even their biggest hit of 1984. He was among WB Records' biggest recording acts, but it's not like he didn't become rich and famous from the deal. Whether or not they owe him anything is a matter for debate, but I imagine outside parties (ie. the estate, the acts involved in a tribute tour) would have to initiate the conversation for the tributes you have in mind. Unless they smell substantial dollars.

Shockedelicus said:

We could do much worse than WB. They let Prince push envelopes with extremely progressive sounds and lacivious lyrics. They green-lit two borderline avant garde Batman films, they dominated the 90's with sophisticated animations like Animaniacs, they recently allowed the incredibly risky Mad Max: Fury Road to theaters, they're nailing it with the Harry Potter franchise and they rebooted the long-dead Godzilla franchise in the US. In music, they let everyone from Gorillaz to LCD Soundsystem do whatever the hell they want. I'm fine with WB over other studios.

Not to mention releasing the first sound film (!), introducing the social problem film as arguably Hollywood's first film genre centered around social realism and critical debate, and Casafuckingblanca. On the other hand, I don't think the Godzilla reboot (nor the accompanying soundtrack, blegh) is anything to brag about, and a few years back they declared they were going to stop giving women lead roles (I guess that's changed since Mad Max: Fury Road should have been called Furiosa: Intersectional Feminism for NRA Gun Nuts).

Prince came around at a time shortly after the Hollywood studios went into profound upheaval - by 1978, they were still righting themselves and negotiating a process of corporate conglomeration. So whereas Jack Warner or Darryl Zanuck were once heads of production (at WB and Fox, respectively), that era was gone, and suddenly you had buyouts and sell-offs and construction magnates or Vegas-based enterprisers running a show they knew nothing about, only that it was profitable. Moreover, a more fragmented, politicized, media literate and countercultural American public were now their primary demographic. So the business strategy became give the artists carte blanche, because the people at the top had no idea how to make movies or records, and they were out of touch with consumers (Zappa has a different take - he thinks young A&R men were hired to decide what the youth wanted, that's true too, and he saw this as a stultifying influence). My point is, Prince benefited from WB Records' willingness to let him do his thing, similar to how they acquired Sire Records and distributed a lot of punk/new wave material to a wider audience.

jdcxc said:

Wow...window displays and purple lights. I expect something more substantial than symbolic. How about a foundation in his name, sponsorship of a tribute tour, active involvement in his continuing legacy through outreach to family and band mates and promises to cooperate with the dissemination of the Vault. "Picture of him on their website"...lol...give me a break!

It's not Warner Bros' responsibility to start a foundation using Prince's name, nor put together a tour. You have no idea of their involvement, if any, of his legacy. Your statements are based in conjecture, not fact. Hell if they did before you thought of it, you'd probably be yelling "See, Warner Bros is just using Prince's name to make more money!" It's a no-win situation.

I don't know what it is with Prince fans, that expect everyone to react as they do. Some people probably think you're overracting (present company included). Grief, loss, and mourning is everyone's personal journey, even a former business partner. A fan's expectations are their own, and no one is obligated to live up to those.

The solution sits in what you can do to continue is philanthropic legacy. Maybe you could organize a book drive for a local library, or have a fund raiser. Maybe you could get some grocery stores to donate left over bagels, and rolls, etc., from their bakery, and do the same with a deli, and make sandwiches and go feed the streets. Dear Mr. Man - what are you doing to give others a break? Just a challenge, not a slam.