Here's an interesting story from Foxnews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/st...41,00.html

Prince Slave-ing Away at Warner Music?

The buzz is pretty strong and no one will confirm or deny anything, but here's a story out of Grammy week. Prince may be signing with the Warner Music Group.

If it's true, this would be a record industry story for all time. Prince, you see, recorded for the old Warner group from the beginning of his career in 1977 to around 1990, when he declared himself the company's "slave," painted that word on his face, and changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol.

Reborn as The Artist Previously Known as Prince, the diminutive rocker with the Sly Stone licks launched into a decade or more of releasing his own records while decrying the major labels. He did put out the triple-CD "Emancipation" on EMI Records and another album on Arista. But his last hit single was "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" in 1991.

Prince's appearance at the Grammy awards led some to speculate that he was shopping for a new deal, and one in which he could retain ownership of the master recordings. I'm told that the new Warner Group run by Edgar Bronfman, Jr., and Lyor Cohen would be interested in making such a deal for several reasons: it reunites Prince with his extensive back catalog, for one. And it slaps in the face the old Warner execs, some of whom will get the axe shortly.

This would be amazing.....only if both parties worked the fuck out of the reunion.

I sure hope he does reunite with WB, on terms that are agreable to both parties. This would certainly mean that his back catalogue would get the remaster treatment and many of his album would benefit of this treatment. Maybe add some outtakes to these remastered albums and the casual fans, possible new (young) fans and the hardcore fans would be very satisfied. I know I would be!

Although I don't really care in the end, it would also be nice if possible new albums would be promoted properly, so they get the attention they deserve....

Wow! Eventhough the day isn't officially here yet (unsure if it actually will be), I never thought I see it... Prince back with Warners. Nothing but good could come out of it. Prince is on a hell of a streak. It's only Feb and he's already tearing it up! We've (fans) have had more to talk about in two months, than we have for years. I keep watching the Grammy performance over and over. THe more I watch it, the hotter it gets! I have a feeling we're in for much more. Prince is now under some hefty pressure to deliver an ass kickin' album, which he's more than capable.

Blue
"Did ya'll see Rhonda, she's so fine!"

wizong2001 said:

"Damn I hate to say this N*%$# PLEASE... " back in the 90's
"would you rather be dead or be sold?" Prince... The Rainbow Children
Ahhh... I would like to be sold now... Prince 2004

What's next "Pick up the Needle...Pick up spoon" !!

funkaholic1972 said:

I HATE 2 SAY THIS...SELL OUT! (But when then got you by the balls and can't get airplay and Napsters Dead, your approaching 50 and shiit hasn't gotten noticed in 10yrs ....what the fk do you do on 4th and 14???? Punt



-MoneySad


THE WORLD ODOR WINS

ONE THING & ONE THING ONLY MATTERS TO PRINCE ....

The master recordings.
If he resigns with Warners then he gets his children back.

Strange rumor heard during the Tennessee blizzard of 04....
J Records would merge with Warners and Clive Davis would become CEO. of Warners.

WARNING THIS IS A CRAZY RUMOR !
25% chance of being true .

Oh please. It's Fox News! Connie must have real done their homework too as TMBGITW came out in 1994!

Fox News...where real facts come after spin (or sometimes not at all)!

I'd only discount Fox News if there was some political angle to the story. Can't see why they'd make something up about Prince...

Hey, what if he gets control of his masters and then trashes them in a fit of JW piety?

well I gotta hear it all before I die , so he, they who eva betta git in gear and start releasing these recordings

This is from the Fox 411 online column by Roger Friedman. He tends to get some pretty big entertainment related scoops that turn out to be true. I wouldn't just dismiss this as pure rumor, he's got the inside track on lots of stories that turn out to be true...

Well if he gets the scoop he need to get his dates correct!
This story reads false all over it!

1990- declared a slave/WRONG!!!
CORRECTION: declared a slave after he changed his name in 1993


CORRECTION: His last major hit was in 1994 with TMBGITW...

Emancipation was a moderate hit with the pop charts!

For those of you quick to yell "sell out", there are a couple of things to keep in mind about this RUMOR.... and that is that if Prince is able to keep ownership of his master recordings for anything new in addition to somehow gainging at least a majority share of ownership in the master recordings of his back catalog, then Prince would be a fool not to take such an offer. Also, keep in mind that if the "old heads" from the previous WB executive regime are gone, then at that point, Prince is essentially dealing with another company. Under those terms, such a move would hardly be a "sell out" for Prince.

But I'll wait and see what actually transpires before I make any other comments on this subject.

NPD313 said:

Yes, whoever wrote this article is lazy or stupid or both. He recorded with WB until about 1996, not 1990! And of course TMBGITW was from around 1994 as you point out.

MoneyMade said:

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How is he a sell-out if he gets his master recordings? Keep in mind he would be working for a
whole new set up suits in a brand new company. Prince is getting the last laugh.

TonyC said:

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This guy may be a little lazy but his column is usually right on the money. One of the only things on the fox site worth checking out.

DownTheNeedleDownTheSpoon said:

This is cool. Prince is back in a wide spotlight where he belongs. And we're all following it.
Oh, and, I know this is anal (lol) but isn't it "spool" not spoon, as in "put down the needle, put down the spool?" Okay, I'm off in search of a life now, thank you.

VinaBlue said:

I agree! I have to say that all signs point to this. The DVD re-issue, the Wendy interveiw, his coy statment of an announcement, or press release coming soon....the thought of a back catalog re-issue, spearheaded with, oh, let's say a two-disc major re-issue of the CD with re-mastered outtakes, exetended versions etc....Wow!
The dollar signs are in the eyes of the WB & P, and frankly, I'm too excited at the potential bonanza of "new" old material to care.....

Eugnj420

The "owning of the masters" thing is about money. What's in question is the actual tape, not the songs themselves as music. Prince wrote them, owns the publishing (which is administered by another company for a piece of the action), gets paid when they are covered or played. He's free to do what we wants with those songs, play them, not play them... always has been.

Let's say Prince gets his much-sought-after ownership of these tapes. So what then? What could he do with them, what would he want to do with them that is not possible now? Reissue them for a larger piece of the pie. But how much value, really, is there in a reissued 1999? Perhaps enough to wage this battle for ten years, perhaps not. Synchronicity was recently reissued. It was the biggest record of 1983. I'd be surprised if the re-release goes platinum.

Prince realizes it takes huge amounts of money to move the huge of amounts of records he'd like to move. In exchange for this money, record companies want a piece. Whatta surprise. The irony is, Prince is in the perfect position to make the conventional business model work in his favor -- he can demand (and will get) high royalty rates and marketing support and nobody tells him what to record. Sting is worth $300 million and has recorded for the same company his entire career. They don't tell him what to record and you don't hear him complaining about master tapes. What's the problem?

"If U're douwn with H.I.S.T.O.R.Y and all this B.S progpogandi"

'dre

The issue with the master recordings. Warner Brothers',and Prince has nothing to do with Sting and his situation.I dont know the Sting situation so I will not comment further than this.

Prince on the other hand is a different case.Prince did not have a major problem with Warners until the upper management who was Prince friendly was forced out.Prince now found himself at odds with people who "hated" his guts running the show.These "people" destroyed Warner's music division and it is surprising that they have lasted this long in those positions.When Prince left Warners his problem was that his creations would have to stay at WB without following him .It took me a long time to understand Prince's feelings about this.I am in complete agreement with Prince and other recording artists on this issue.A person should retain at least partial ownership over their music.

I think it would be great if Prince could be reunited with his master tapes but I'm also afraid that if he is given total control over the reissues, he's going to make changes to them. And I don't mean good changes.

I cannot believe that anyone would have the nerve to call Prince a sellout for resigning with Warners. GROW UP!!!! First all of this is business and you can't be so far gone that you can't see that. Prince has the right as a musician, husband, American to do what is best for him and his and few could deny that resigning with Warners, reuniting with that old catalog is what's best.

There's no war to fight here. No point to prove. He's one one the best performing artist of our time and there's a whole generation that doesn't know it. He belongs to the world's stage.

I could go on but I'll make it short and simple, the best move he could make would be to resign with the new Warner Bros. Group. Prince is what missing from today's music and it will take a major label to get him where he should be.

I don't care that he's changing his mind....it's his to change.

funkaholic1972 said:

I am 100% with you. This would be so cool. The people at WB will certainly want to reissue the older recordings AND properly promote a new album. We would have the remastered albums and visuals, and new recordings...

I would be in ...

Hey IF Prince is getting his master from his old music.. thats ALL he ever wanted.. so if they can work something out cool! That was his only problem with the old warners bros.

IF the new guys that run it make something Prince likes.. cool for him he did the art/aork he should get to own it.

FutureShock said:

ooohhhh... don't ever assume that you are dealing with another company, even if the management has changed. This is big business in which you can never trust people.

muleFunk said:

And what would "partial" ownership bring you? You think an artist has a good deal when he gets to keep 50% of the ownership? Think again. You think an artist owning his masters doesn't at least need to license his rights exclusively and for decades to his record company to make them willing to invest in the necessary production, distribution and promotion? Think again.

Prince knew all the time that the rights to the recordings made at Warner would stay with Warner. That was the deal between them, several times, regardless of the people at WB who made them. Also, these recordings aren't exclusively Prince creations. He had band members with rights too.

What should be the goal is a new and reasonable deal, cuz it will be a good thing for everybody if the dispute between the parties is solved with a deal all parties can live with. But I do mean all parties and I do mean too that Prince can't ask for everything and eat the cake too. He couldn't before and he sure can't now. If he tries that again and gives in to the greed and control he will, once again, lose.


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[This message was edited Wed Feb 18 6:05:20 2004 by Abrazo]

XtrueX said:

I share this fear and would not be surprised if he did that. I hope WB will arrange with him that he will not edit the originals and further butcher his "children".