By Kenneth Partridge | September 18, 2014

Cover for Janet Jackson's 1989 album "Rhythm Nation"

Courtesy of A&M Records

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If Janet Jackson's third album, 1986's Control, was a declaration of independence. The follow-up, Rhythm Nation 1814, was a constitution--a blueprint for the kind of country that this confident, sexy and newly independent 23-year old woman wanted to live in. At least it was for roughly a third of its runtime.

Released 25 years ago tomorrow, on Sept. 19, 1989, Rhythm Nation 1814 begins with a pledge: "We are a nation with no geographic boundaries, bound together through our beliefs." From there, it goes into the title track, a national anthem for this colorblind utopia Janet has imagined. The four digits in the album's title refer to the year "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written, and with the help of James "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Lewis -- the production team behind Control --Jackson gives Francis Scott Key's greatest hit a New Jack Swing remake.

Rhythm Nation stays political for a few songs and then segues into kinder, gentler relationship songs, many of which dominated radio and MTV. An unprecedented seven of the album's singles made the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and four of them -- "Miss You Much, "Escapade," "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" and "Black Cat" -- hit No. 1. The album, not surprisingly, topped the Billboard 200, vaulting Janet to a level of pop mega-stardom almost on par with that of her brother Michael Jackson.

Janet is starting to be missed. But she is about to come back & reclaim her throne again!!! She is an ICON!. She is the reason every female artist is revelant today!!!

http://www.billboard.com/...-jam-terry

[Edited 9/21/14 21:12pm]

Please tell me you added that last sentence....

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Anyway, It's always good to hear from the fellas. And for the record, I think "Lonely" is one of the best songs in her catalog. Just beautiful. I think back then it got overshadowed by the single ballad, Come Back To Me and the "oooh Janet finally giving it up song," Someday Is Tonight. Truth be told, I don't think she kept her legs completely crossed at the end of "Control" either

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I remember Jellybean working with her on "Black Cat" but I didn't know he played guitar.

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Thanks KCool.

[Edited 9/18/14 12:37pm]

Awesome!!! One of the best albums ever recorded...

Musicslave said:

Please tell me you added that last sentence....

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Anyway, It's always good to hear from the fellas. And for the record, I think "Lonely" is one of her best songs in her catalog. Just beautiful.

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I remember Jellybean working with her on "Black Cat" but I didn't know he played guitar.

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Thanks KCool.

Your welcome!! JJ & TL have much respect for Janet. They always give her credit, for not just being a studio artist. But a producer,writer,composer & singer. You right "Lonely" is a beautiful song. It could have easily been another single. In fact EVERY song on that album could have been.

Jellybeen is actually a better guitar player than drummer. He is a multi instrumentalist. He still performs whole sets, with his band in the twin cities weekly. Jimmy also was originally not a keyboard player believe it or not.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Musicslave said:

Please tell me you added that last sentence....

-

Anyway, It's always good to hear from the fellas. And for the record, I think "Lonely" is one of her best songs in her catalog. Just beautiful.

-

I remember Jellybean working with her on "Black Cat" but I didn't know he played guitar.

-

Thanks KCool.

Your welcome!! JJ & TL have much respect for Janet. They always give her credit, for not just being a studio artist. But a producer,writer,composer & singer. You right "Lonely" is a beautiful song. It could have easily been another single. In fact EVERY song on that album could have been.

Jellybeen is actually a better guitar player than drummer. He is a multi instrumentalist. He still performs whole sets, with his band in the twin cities weekly. Jimmy also was originally not a keyboard player believe it or not.

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I think they've rekindled their friendship after they completed the Dupri Cleansing Program. Can't wait to hear new music from their trinity and the duo. Any word on their first solo project? I've been looking out for that since the "Mo Money" soundtrack.

I really wish Janet would invest more in her back catalog. She could have came out with a Rhythm Nation tv special today or a behind the scenes DVD or never before seen footage of the RN era DVD. . I never understood why she never took a page out of Michael's book when it came to that. It is a great way to stay relevant, pleases the die hard fans as well as make some money. Even if she never came out with another album, she has a great back catalog where she could invest more in it but she doesn't seem to want too. I know Janet is underrated but there is alot she could do to keep her legacy relevant to the new generation.

Musicslave said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Your welcome!! JJ & TL have much respect for Janet. They always give her credit, for not just being a studio artist. But a producer,writer,composer & singer. You right "Lonely" is a beautiful song. It could have easily been another single. In fact EVERY song on that album could have been.

Jellybeen is actually a better guitar player than drummer. He is a multi instrumentalist. He still performs whole sets, with his band in the twin cities weekly. Jimmy also was originally not a keyboard player believe it or not.

-

I think they've rekindled their friendship after they completed the Dupri Cleansing Program. Can't wait to hear new music from their trinity and the duo. Any word on their first solo project? I've been looking out for that since the "Mo Money" soundtrack.

I've learned not to reveal too much on this site. Its too many haters here.

mjscarousal said:

I really wish Janet would invest more in her back catalog. She could have came out with a Rhythm Nation tv special today or a behind the scenes DVD or never before seen footage of the RN era DVD. . I never understood why she never took a page out of Michael's book when it came to that. It is a great way to stay relevant, pleases the die hard fans as well as make some money. Even if she never came out with another album, she has a great back catalog where she could invest more in it but she doesn't seem to want too. I know Janet is underrated but there is alot she could do to keep her legacy relevant to the new generation.

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Apparently she doesn't care about that stuff. But I always thought she was waiting for the time to pass so she could have the full ownership rights of her A&M catalog. I think she should own her masters by now if I'm not mistaken. At least the A&M records. "Own your masters, if not, your masters will own you."

mjscarousal said:

I really wish Janet would invest more in her back catalog. She could have came out with a Rhythm Nation tv special today or a behind the scenes DVD or never before seen footage of the RN era DVD. . I never understood why she never took a page out of Michael's book when it came to that. It is a great way to stay relevant, pleases the die hard fans as well as make some money. Even if she never came out with another album, she has a great back catalog where she could invest more in it but she doesn't seem to want too. I know Janet is underrated but there is alot she could do to keep her legacy relevant to the new generation.

Maybe Janet is doing a . Waiting until she completely owns her Masters before she does such a deal. Then she can collect the majority of the profits.

I've noticed also! Janet is very picky on who she lends her image to for endorsements. Your rarely see her, on every other commercial for cover girl, perfumes, etc.. Like Beyonce, Mariah & J-lo. She is a very good business woman. She knows not to overexpose herself. is the same way.

Rhythm Nation is musically more interesting than one third of Thriller, all of Bad, and the last

half of Dangerous. For example, I can't remember hearing anything as interesting as the

bridge to "Miss You Much," where it goes from the I major of the verse and chorus to V minor

(I think there's a 9th thrown on top in there somewhere too) and back to the I major, that you

hear on Bad. Then again, I haven't listened to Bad since the 20th century.

But is Janet Jackson entitled to those masters? Why would she be? Wouldn't Harris and Lewis

be the copyright holders/publishers since they wrote the tunes?

duccichucka said:

Rhythm Nation is musically more interesting than one third of Thriller, all of Bad, and the last

half of Dangerous. For example, I can't remember hearing anything as interesting as the

bridge to "Miss You Much," where it goes from the I major of the verse and chorus to V minor

(I think there's a 9th thrown on top in there somewhere too) and back to the I major, that you

hear on Bad. Then again, I haven't listened to Bad since the 20th century.

But is Janet Jackson entitled to those masters? Why would she be? Wouldn't Harris and Lewis

be the copyright holders/publishers since they wrote the tunes?

the record label owns the masters. some artists are able to gain ownership of their own masters after awhile. janet should own her virgin masters as of last year, her contract called for her to own them 7 years afterher contract expires. her virgin contract expired in 2006, she shouldhave got control of her masters in 2013. i dont know about the a&m masters but i doubt she will get them since she didnt have any clout when she got her deal with them, matter fact joe got her a&m deal without her even knowing about it.

mjscarousal said:

I really wish Janet would invest more in her back catalog. She could have came out with a Rhythm Nation tv special today or a behind the scenes DVD or never before seen footage of the RN era DVD. . I never understood why she never took a page out of Michael's book when it came to that. It is a great way to stay relevant, pleases the die hard fans as well as make some money. Even if she never came out with another album, she has a great back catalog where she could invest more in it but she doesn't seem to want too. I know Janet is underrated but there is alot she could do to keep her legacy relevant to the new generation.

i actually agree with you here. she never does anything when it comes to self promoting and maintaining her musical legacy.fans have been asking for tour dvd's,remastered albums, recertifications,unreleased songs, you name it.janet seems to only care about her career when she has something new going on, and in recent years even then it seems half hearted. so many of these young artists say they were inspired by her, these articles celebrating the anniversaries of her albums, and her music being sampled by an artist like kendrick lamar are great opportunities for janet to expose younger audiances to her back catalog, instead her people are removing her videos from vevo and youtube and threatening blogs for using her likeness, i really dont get it but i guess thats how she wants it.

duccichucka said:

Rhythm Nation is musically more interesting than one third of Thriller, all of Bad, and the last

half of Dangerous. For example, I can't remember hearing anything as interesting as the

bridge to "Miss You Much," where it goes from the I major of the verse and chorus to V minor

(I think there's a 9th thrown on top in there somewhere too) and back to the I major, that you

hear on Bad. Then again, I haven't listened to Bad since the 20th century.

But is Janet Jackson entitled to those masters? Why would she be? Wouldn't Harris and Lewis

be the copyright holders/publishers since they wrote the tunes?

I heard Janet is already eligible to get her Masters back! if not already has them....

lowkey said:

mjscarousal said:

I really wish Janet would invest more in her back catalog. She could have came out with a Rhythm Nation tv special today or a behind the scenes DVD or never before seen footage of the RN era DVD. . I never understood why she never took a page out of Michael's book when it came to that. It is a great way to stay relevant, pleases the die hard fans as well as make some money. Even if she never came out with another album, she has a great back catalog where she could invest more in it but she doesn't seem to want too. I know Janet is underrated but there is alot she could do to keep her legacy relevant to the new generation.

i actually agree with you here. she never does anything when it comes to self promoting and maintaining her musical legacy.fans have been asking for tour dvd's,remastered albums, recertifications,unreleased songs, you name it.janet seems to only care about her career when she has something new going on, and in recent years even then it seems half hearted. so many of these young artists say they were inspired by her, these articles celebrating the anniversaries of her albums, and her music being sampled by an artist like kendrick lamar are great opportunities for janet to expose younger audiances to her back catalog, instead her people are removing her videos from vevo and youtube and threatening blogs for using her likeness, i really dont get it but i guess thats how she wants it.

I agree with this post. To me I think the industry underrates her legacy but I also think Janet doesn't seem to care about her legacy or at least exposing it to the younger audience which really makes me sad. She doesn't fight for it and just allows them to erase her legacy.Maybe she doesn't care but who ends up getting hurt the most are her fans. I think it is 50/50. I think Janet doesn't care about the music industry anymore and I also think there is a industry conspiracy to wipe her legacy out. Her own fans had to fight to get her listed on that Billboard number one charts. She was not exempt by accident I will just say that.

mjscarousal said:

lowkey said:

i actually agree with you here. she never does anything when it comes to self promoting and maintaining her musical legacy.fans have been asking for tour dvd's,remastered albums, recertifications,unreleased songs, you name it.janet seems to only care about her career when she has something new going on, and in recent years even then it seems half hearted. so many of these young artists say they were inspired by her, these articles celebrating the anniversaries of her albums, and her music being sampled by an artist like kendrick lamar are great opportunities for janet to expose younger audiances to her back catalog, instead her people are removing her videos from vevo and youtube and threatening blogs for using her likeness, i really dont get it but i guess thats how she wants it.

I agree with this post. To me I think the industry underrates her legacy but I also think Janet doesn't seem to care about her legacy or at least exposing it to the younger audience which really makes me sad. She doesn't fight for it and just allows them to erase her legacy.Maybe she doesn't care but who ends up getting hurt the most are her fans. I think it is 50/50. I think Janet doesn't care about the music industry anymore and I also think there is a industry conspiracy to wipe her legacy out. Her own fans had to fight to get her listed on that Billboard number one charts. She was not exempt by accident I will just say that.

it's real......

as early as the late 80s, Billboard was misrepresenting record sales of R&B artists......

i would like to hear the songs she did with bryan loren, remember john mcclain didnt wanna pay jam/lewis and had her working with loren on the control follow up

lowkey said:

duccichucka said:

Rhythm Nation is musically more interesting than one third of Thriller, all of Bad, and the last

half of Dangerous. For example, I can't remember hearing anything as interesting as the

bridge to "Miss You Much," where it goes from the I major of the verse and chorus to V minor

(I think there's a 9th thrown on top in there somewhere too) and back to the I major, that you

hear on Bad. Then again, I haven't listened to Bad since the 20th century.

But is Janet Jackson entitled to those masters? Why would she be? Wouldn't Harris and Lewis

be the copyright holders/publishers since they wrote the tunes?

the record label owns the masters. some artists are able to gain ownership of their own masters after awhile. janet should own her virgin masters as of last year, her contract called for her to own them 7 years afterher contract expires. her virgin contract expired in 2006, she shouldhave got control of her masters in 2013. i dont know about the a&m masters but i doubt she will get them since she didnt have any clout when she got her deal with them, matter fact joe got her a&m deal without her even knowing about it.

Janet Jackson owning the masters to her A&M recordings can't be true: why in the hell would

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis give her 100% of the copyrights to songs they wrote? Either they

are kind hearted souls or unbelievably stupid.

duccichucka said:

lowkey said:

the record label owns the masters. some artists are able to gain ownership of their own masters after awhile. janet should own her virgin masters as of last year, her contract called for her to own them 7 years afterher contract expires. her virgin contract expired in 2006, she shouldhave got control of her masters in 2013. i dont know about the a&m masters but i doubt she will get them since she didnt have any clout when she got her deal with them, matter fact joe got her a&m deal without her even knowing about it.

Janet Jackson owning the masters to her A&M recordings can't be true: why in the hell would

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis give her 100% of the copyrights to songs they wrote? Either they

are kind hearted souls or unbelievably stupid.

jimmy and terry has nothing to do with the master recordings, the label owns the masters. jimmy and terry are just the producers, they got paid for their tracks and a percentage of album sales, as songwriters they own publishing and they split publishing with janet on songs they co-wrote.

mjscarousal said:

lowkey said:

i actually agree with you here. she never does anything when it comes to self promoting and maintaining her musical legacy.fans have been asking for tour dvd's,remastered albums, recertifications,unreleased songs, you name it.janet seems to only care about her career when she has something new going on, and in recent years even then it seems half hearted. so many of these young artists say they were inspired by her, these articles celebrating the anniversaries of her albums, and her music being sampled by an artist like kendrick lamar are great opportunities for janet to expose younger audiances to her back catalog, instead her people are removing her videos from vevo and youtube and threatening blogs for using her likeness, i really dont get it but i guess thats how she wants it.

I agree with this post. To me I think the industry underrates her legacy but I also think Janet doesn't seem to care about her legacy or at least exposing it to the younger audience which really makes me sad. She doesn't fight for it and just allows them to erase her legacy.Maybe she doesn't care but who ends up getting hurt the most are her fans. I think it is 50/50. I think Janet doesn't care about the music industry anymore and I also think there is a industry conspiracy to wipe her legacy out. Her own fans had to fight to get her listed on that Billboard number one charts. She was not exempt by accident I will just say that.

What?

This is crazy, Carousal. You can't dispute history; and Janet Jackson is a historically significant

recording artist. The music business could not blot her name out of the record books. Her

legacy as a seminal recording artist is safe. What. . . you guys want her to go on musically into

infinity? At some point, the circus drops the big tent and shuts it down.

A reason why she does not produce tour DVDs, remastered albums, unreleased songs, etc. could

be because there is no overwhelming demand for them, despite the clamoring from her hard core

fans.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

duccichucka said:

Rhythm Nation is musically more interesting than one third of Thriller, all of Bad, and the last

half of Dangerous. For example, I can't remember hearing anything as interesting as the

bridge to "Miss You Much," where it goes from the I major of the verse and chorus to V minor

(I think there's a 9th thrown on top in there somewhere too) and back to the I major, that you

hear on Bad. Then again, I haven't listened to Bad since the 20th century.

But is Janet Jackson entitled to those masters? Why would she be? Wouldn't Harris and Lewis

be the copyright holders/publishers since they wrote the tunes?

I heard Janet is already eligible to get her Masters back! if not already has them....

Like I said in an earlier post, I find it hard to believe that Harris & Lewis have given 100%

complete copyright control to Janet Jackson for songs they were at the very least of it,

50% responsible for.

duccichucka said:

mjscarousal said:

I agree with this post. To me I think the industry underrates her legacy but I also think Janet doesn't seem to care about her legacy or at least exposing it to the younger audience which really makes me sad. She doesn't fight for it and just allows them to erase her legacy.Maybe she doesn't care but who ends up getting hurt the most are her fans. I think it is 50/50. I think Janet doesn't care about the music industry anymore and I also think there is a industry conspiracy to wipe her legacy out. Her own fans had to fight to get her listed on that Billboard number one charts. She was not exempt by accident I will just say that.

What?

This is crazy, Carousal. You can't dispute history; and Janet Jackson is a historically significant

recording artist. The music business could not blot her name out of the record books. Her

legacy as a seminal recording artist is safe. What. . . you guys want her to go on musically into

infinity? At some point, the circus drops the big tent and shuts it down.

A reason why she does not produce tour DVDs, remastered albums, unreleased songs, etc. could

be because there is no overwhelming demand for them, despite the clamoring from her hard core

fans.

what she said is very true, the media tries very hard to erase janet's place in pop music history.tour dvd's and things like that are for the fans,that goes for any artist.people are starting to notice and write about the revisionist history directed at janet's career.

Please don't turn this thread into a catfight on Janet's worth! I will have it shutdown like the other thread that tore her completely apart... This thread is about\

Janet's 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF HER HISTORICAL RHYTHM NATION 1814 CLASSIC!!!!!!!!!!!

that broke her brothers record...

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Please don't turn this thread into a catfight on Janet's worth! I will have it shutdown like the other thread that tore her completely apart... This thread is about\

Janet's 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF HER HISTORICAL RHYTHM NATION 1814 CLASSIC!!!!!!!!!!!

that broke her brothers record...

well so far this thread is calm but you know eventually all janet threads turn into a bash fest.

duccichucka said:

Janet Jackson owning the masters to her A&M recordings can't be true: why in the hell would

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis give her 100% of the copyrights to songs they wrote? Either they

are kind hearted souls or unbelievably stupid.

Master recordings & publishing/copyrights are two different things. That's why you don't have to get permission to remake a song, but you do to sample a song. Jam and Lewis have nothing to do with masters to songs they produced or wrote. They belong to the record company. Jam & Lewis are workers for hire. Jam & Lewis owning the publishing is irrelevant to the masters. It's Janet's records, not theirs. Just like the stuff Jam & Lewis did for Human League would not go to them. If the masters were given back, they would go to the act, not the writers or producers. For example, Paul McCartney owns the publishing to Buddy Holly songs & some Broadway showtunes and Michael Jackson owns the publishing to songs by many writers and acts including songs Paul wrote for The Beatles and Elvis Presley songs too. But Paul and Mike do not own the master recordings to any of the songs. There are cases where a producer can own the masters, if the act is signed to a production company, and not directly to a label. In a few cases the act owns owns the masters and lease them to labels like Genesis (except the 1969 album) and Motley Crue.

.

Masters do not automatically go back to the act. They have to put in a request or take the label to court after the time is up. The label can fight the act. It also depends on what kind of contract the act had. Some of Sam Cooke's masters belong to RCA/Sony and the others belong to ABKCO. None belong to Sam's estate.

Oh joy. Yet another thread where people don't understand the difference between song publishing rights and recording rights. Jam & Lewis ownership of the copyrights of the songs have nothing to do with ownership of the master recordings. As has been said if the record label doesn't have ownership of the masters it's usually the recording artist it reverts to, not the songwriters/producers.

lowkey said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Please don't turn this thread into a catfight on Janet's worth! I will have it shutdown like the other thread that tore her completely apart... This thread is about\

Janet's 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF HER HISTORICAL RHYTHM NATION 1814 CLASSIC!!!!!!!!!!!

that broke her brothers record...

well so far this thread is calm but you know eventually all janet threads turn into a bash fest.

Just like 's threads....

Never knew that about those Prince plans with "Love Will Never Do Without You". Janet Jackson always had some of the best videos and catchy pop songs. Back in the school year of '87-'88, regular folks liked "Control" better then "Bad" or "Sign O the Times" as a pop album.

lowkey said:

duccichucka said:

Rhythm Nation is musically more interesting than one third of Thriller, all of Bad, and the last

half of Dangerous. For example, I can't remember hearing anything as interesting as the

bridge to "Miss You Much," where it goes from the I major of the verse and chorus to V minor

(I think there's a 9th thrown on top in there somewhere too) and back to the I major, that you

hear on Bad. Then again, I haven't listened to Bad since the 20th century.

But is Janet Jackson entitled to those masters? Why would she be? Wouldn't Harris and Lewis

be the copyright holders/publishers since they wrote the tunes?

the record label owns the masters. some artists are able to gain ownership of their own masters after awhile. janet should own her virgin masters as of last year, her contract called for her to own them 7 years afterher contract expires. her virgin contract expired in 2006, she shouldhave got control of her masters in 2013. i dont know about the a&m masters but i doubt she will get them since she didnt have any clout when she got her deal with them, matter fact joe got her a&m deal without her even knowing about it.

-

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Truth. This is what I was referring to except I got the label wrong. It was her Virgin deal where she negotiated her masters, not A&M.

-

You're right about the timing of the A&M deal. She wasn't the hot commodity she became with Virgin back then. I wonder if she ever tried to get those masters though.

-

Speaking of masters, its going to be interesting to see what Prince does with his

MickyDolenz said:

duccichucka said:

Janet Jackson owning the masters to her A&M recordings can't be true: why in the hell would

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis give her 100% of the copyrights to songs they wrote? Either they

are kind hearted souls or unbelievably stupid.

Master recordings & publishing/copyrights are two different things. That's why you don't have to get permission to remake a song, but you do to sample a song. Jam and Lewis have nothing to do with masters to songs they produced or wrote. They belong to the record company. Jam & Lewis are workers for hire. Jam & Lewis owning the publishing is irrelevant to the masters. It's Janet's records, not theirs. Just like the stuff Jam & Lewis did for Human League would not go to them. If the masters were given back, they would go to the act, not the writers or producers. For example, Paul McCartney owns the publishing to Buddy Holly songs & some Broadway showtunes and Michael Jackson owns the publishing to songs by many writers and acts including songs Paul wrote for The Beatles and Elvis Presley songs too. But Paul and Mike do not own the master recordings to any of the songs. There are cases where a producer can own the masters, if the act is signed to a production company, and not directly to a label. In a few cases the act owns owns the masters and lease them to labels like Genesis (except the 1969 album) and Motley Crue.

.

Masters do not automatically go back to the act. They have to put in a request or take the label to court after the time is up. The label can fight the act. It also depends on what kind of contract the act had. Some of Sam Cooke's masters belong to RCA/Sony and the others belong to ABKCO. None belong to Sam's estate.

-

Truth

Musicslave said:

lowkey said:

the record label owns the masters. some artists are able to gain ownership of their own masters after awhile. janet should own her virgin masters as of last year, her contract called for her to own them 7 years afterher contract expires. her virgin contract expired in 2006, she shouldhave got control of her masters in 2013. i dont know about the a&m masters but i doubt she will get them since she didnt have any clout when she got her deal with them, matter fact joe got her a&m deal without her even knowing about it.

-

-

Truth. This is what I was referring to except I got the label wrong. It was her Virgin deal where she negotiated her masters, not A&M.

-

You're right about the timing of the A&M deal. She wasn't the hot commodity she became with Virgin back then. I wonder if she ever tried to get those masters though.

-

Speaking of masters, its going to be interesting to see what Prince does with his

She definitely has the clout now to negotiate a deal. With her new wealth that is. She reminds me of Diana Ross, who married into a huge fortune and is set the rest of her life!!!

[Edited 9/19/14 8:53am]