The more that I think of it the more that I think that one exclusive online source for all of his music would be what he wanted and would be what is best for fans. It would cut out the "middle man" and record companies to the largest extent possible. It would ensure that the people that are legally entitled to profit from his work are the ones that will get those profits. It will allow an easy and relatively inexpensive way to deliver his music, videos, concerts and other content. Perhaps, they could do some physical releases of the more commercial type of stuff, but this would be the way to release the voluminous material. I know they would get a lot of my money if they did it this way and I'm sure many others agree. It can be a la carte or have different levels of membership.

donnyenglish said:

Tidal will probably undertake this roll. Seems, he may have wanted them to.

injuredpinky said:

donnyenglish said:

The more that I think of it the more that I think that one exclusive online source for all of his music would be what he wanted and would be what is best for fans. It would cut out the "middle man" and record companies to the largest extent possible. It would ensure that the people that are legally entitled to profit from his work are the ones that will get those profits. It will allow an easy and relatively inexpensive way to deliver his music, videos, concerts and other content. Perhaps, they could do some physical releases of the more commercial type of stuff, but this would be the way to release the voluminous material. I know they would get a lot of my money if they did it this way and I'm sure many others agree. It can be a la carte or have different levels of membership.

Personally, I prefer physical releases. Super deluse verdions.

Me too, but those were few and far between when he was here. I think there should be some of those, but an exclusive online destination would be the way he would want it to be. I think he would be saddened to know that his music ended up on Apple or some other big business provider after Tidal gets sold.

AnonymousFan said:

Tidal will probably undertake this roll. Seems, he may have wanted them to.

I am all for it if they are viable and don't bread crumb us with bits and pieces for the next 50 years. I just don't think they are viable.

AnonymousFan said:

PurpleMusic07 said:

AnonymousFan said:

Tidal will probably undertake this roll. Seems, he may have wanted them to.

tidal would make the most sense. the average casual listener is not shelling out $ for npgmc when they are already paying for a service or using spotify which has a free tier. the estate will probablyy establish a vevo account which generates ad revenue i believe.

Perhaps the membership could be free. That would be a way to generate a HUGE database of Prince fans, who could be notified of each and every upcoming release, with the option of pre-release orders.

FlyOnTheWall said:

PurpleMusic07 said:

AnonymousFan said: tidal would make the most sense. the average casual listener is not shelling out $ for npgmc when they are already paying for a service or using spotify which has a free tier. the estate will probablyy establish a vevo account which generates ad revenue i believe.

Perhaps the membership could be free. That would be a way to generate a HUGE database of Prince fans, who could be notified of each and every upcoming release, with the option of pre-release orders.

I like that. I'd pay to be a member though, I signed up for all his stuff in the past I just want the music, just make sure I get it

injuredpinky said:

donnyenglish said:

The more that I think of it the more that I think that one exclusive online source for all of his music would be what he wanted and would be what is best for fans. It would cut out the "middle man" and record companies to the largest extent possible. It would ensure that the people that are legally entitled to profit from his work are the ones that will get those profits. It will allow an easy and relatively inexpensive way to deliver his music, videos, concerts and other content. Perhaps, they could do some physical releases of the more commercial type of stuff, but this would be the way to release the voluminous material. I know they would get a lot of my money if they did it this way and I'm sure many others agree. It can be a la carte or have different levels of membership.

Personally, I prefer physical releases. Super deluse verdions.

I'm not a big fan of verdions.

PurpleMusic07 said:

AnonymousFan said:

Tidal will probably undertake this roll. Seems, he may have wanted them to.

tidal would make the most sense. the average casual listener is not shelling out $ for npgmc when they are already paying for a service or using spotify which has a free tier. the estate will probablyy establish a vevo account which generates ad revenue i believe.

I see no reason why they would not just put the music videos on Tidal too. Pretty much all of Prince's content can be put on Tidal - from writings, music videos, music, and maybe even his movies in the future - and still be in line with his view on artist ownership and fair payment. One of Tidal's selling points is access to music, music videos, and exclusive content all in one place. I can't see why he would want or trust his art and writings anywhere else.

donnyenglish said:

injuredpinky said:

donnyenglish said: Personally, I prefer physical releases. Super deluse verdions.

Me too, but those were few and far between when he was here. I think there should be some of those, but an exclusive online destination would be the way he would want it to be. I think he would be saddened to know that his music ended up on Apple or some other big business provider after Tidal gets sold.

Tidal is not being sold.

donnyenglish said:

AnonymousFan said:

Tidal will probably undertake this roll. Seems, he may have wanted them to.

I am all for it if they are viable and don't bread crumb us with bits and pieces for the next 50 years. I just don't think they are viable.

For what reason?

FlyOnTheWall said:

PurpleMusic07 said:

AnonymousFan said: tidal would make the most sense. the average casual listener is not shelling out $ for npgmc when they are already paying for a service or using spotify which has a free tier. the estate will probablyy establish a vevo account which generates ad revenue i believe.

Perhaps the membership could be free. That would be a way to generate a HUGE database of Prince fans, who could be notified of each and every upcoming release, with the option of pre-release orders.

Why? I don't understand why people act like music should be free. It's indicative of a total lack of respect and appreciate for music as an individual's livelihood and work of art. You pay for cable, you pay for netflix, why not pay artists to listen to their music? People are entitled to nothing and this idea that music should be free, but other forms of art should not needs to be beaten out of all cultures. If you aren't paying for anything, why do you think you deserve to be notified and given options? You don't even value the work enough to pay for it.

donnyenglish said:

The more that I think of it the more that I think that one exclusive online source for all of his music would be what he wanted and would be what is best for fans.

.

Nope. Look, not having your music on iTunes and other well-known platforms is just idiocy. Sure, there's a "middle man" that way, but 100% of $5,000 is still less than 20% of $1,000,000. Plenty of people are just married to one particular platform, and don't want to deal with whatever homebrew platform Prince's estate comes up with.

.

It would cut out the "middle man" and record companies to the largest extent possible.

.

Mark my words: Prince's estate will cut a deal with a major label, most likely WBR, to urgently release new product in order to earn much needed income to pay the huge tax bill coming their way. And considering the current state of litigation, I wouldn't be surprised if WBR or another company will become the owner of all the music.

BartVanHemelen said:

donnyenglish said:

The more that I think of it the more that I think that one exclusive online source for all of his music would be what he wanted and would be what is best for fans.

.

Nope. Look, not having your music on iTunes and other well-known platforms is just idiocy. Sure, there's a "middle man" that way, but 100% of $5,000 is still less than 20% of $1,000,000. Plenty of people are just married to one particular platform, and don't want to deal with whatever homebrew platform Prince's estate comes up with.

.

It would cut out the "middle man" and record companies to the largest extent possible.

.

Mark my words: Prince's estate will cut a deal with a major label, most likely WBR, to urgently release new product in order to earn much needed income to pay the huge tax bill coming their way. And considering the current state of litigation, I wouldn't be surprised if WBR or another company will become the owner of all the music.

I hope that you are wrong, but I fear that you are right. If the heirs cash out then the fans will ultimately lose because the big record companies won't answer to his most loyal fans. They will only do things that provide the biggest bang for the buck and bread crumb his catalog for the next 100 years. Sad.

donnyenglish said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Mark my words: Prince's estate will cut a deal with a major label, most likely WBR, to urgently release new product in order to earn much needed income to pay the huge tax bill coming their way. And considering the current state of litigation, I wouldn't be surprised if WBR or another company will become the owner of all the music.

I hope that you are wrong, but I fear that you are right. If the heirs cash out then the fans will ultimately lose because the big record companies won't answer to his most loyal fans. They will only do things that provide the biggest bang for the buck and bread crumb his catalog for the next 100 years. Sad.

.

Look, that's nonsense. Major companies can be excellent when dealing with archive releases. Plenty of great examples. Oh, and why bitch about major companies, when Prince has failed to deliver in this area over and over again?

AnonymousFan said:

FlyOnTheWall said:

Perhaps the membership could be free. That would be a way to generate a HUGE database of Prince fans, who could be notified of each and every upcoming release, with the option of pre-release orders.

Why? I don't understand why people act like music should be free. It's indicative of a total lack of respect and appreciate for music as an individual's livelihood and work of art. You pay for cable, you pay for netflix, why not pay artists to listen to their music? People are entitled to nothing and this idea that music should be free, but other forms of art should not needs to be beaten out of all cultures. If you aren't paying for anything, why do you think you deserve to be notified and given options? You don't even value the work enough to pay for it.

I'm not suggesting that the music should be free. Rather, I'm referring to the actual membership to the club where the music would be sold. It's like a free membership to a supermarket or pharmacy discount club. In exchange for your email and other contact information, they send you special offers or, in this case, (pre)release information. I hope that makes sense.

FlyOnTheWall said:

AnonymousFan said:

Why? I don't understand why people act like music should be free. It's indicative of a total lack of respect and appreciate for music as an individual's livelihood and work of art. You pay for cable, you pay for netflix, why not pay artists to listen to their music? People are entitled to nothing and this idea that music should be free, but other forms of art should not needs to be beaten out of all cultures. If you aren't paying for anything, why do you think you deserve to be notified and given options? You don't even value the work enough to pay for it.

I'm not suggesting that the music should be free. Rather, I'm referring to the actual membership to the club where the music would be sold. It's like a free membership to a supermarket or pharmacy discount club. In exchange for your email and other contact information, they send you special offers or, in this case, (pre)release information. I hope that makes sense.

There could even be a paid VIP upgrade that would even guarantee those VIP members some sort of premium, like early releases or even access to otherwise unavailable releases from The Paisley Park Vault.

BartVanHemelen said:

donnyenglish said:

I hope that you are wrong, but I fear that you are right. If the heirs cash out then the fans will ultimately lose because the big record companies won't answer to his most loyal fans. They will only do things that provide the biggest bang for the buck and bread crumb his catalog for the next 100 years. Sad.

.

Look, that's nonsense. Major companies can be excellent when dealing with archive releases. Plenty of great examples. Oh, and why bitch about major companies, when Prince has failed to deliver in this area over and over again?

I think WB/Rhino, etc could/would offer some incredible archival releases. Plus, they are plugged in to the necessary marketing channels. Personally, I'd be worried about some small-time independent music club. I'd have no confidence at all that it wouldn't be abandoned within a year or two - after having delivered only a handful of products. (This is not at all to say that I wouldn't join. )

Also, Prince has recently done business with big record companies (including WB), and it appears he didn't leave a will or protections regarding his master material. Having said that, I'm not so sure that he wanted it any particular way... not really.

[Edited 7/20/16 5:24am]