Universal Music Publishing Group and Prince Renew Long-Term, Exclusive Worldwide Publishing Administration Deal

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- In a landmark agreement, Universal Music Publishing Group today announced the renewal of a long term worldwide publishing administration deal with of one of music's royal elite -- PRINCE.

Commented David Renzer, Chairman & CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group: "Not only is Prince a legend, but he remains a world-class musician, considered by many to be the most prolific hit-maker of our generation as well as one of the best live artists. The fact that he is re-signing to Universal Music Publishing Group speaks to the dedication and commitment we can show to a world-class high caliber artist like Prince. We are thrilled to have concluded this deal and consider it a privilege to continue our long-term relationship with him."

The deal includes administration of Prince's numerous future works and his complete, extensive back catalog of more than 35 albums and compilations including landmark, multi-platinum albums Musicology, 1999, Sign O' The Times, Diamonds and Pearls, Parade, Around the World in a Day, Emancipation, Purple Rain, and Batman -- The Motion Picture Soundtrack.

In 2004, the incredible musical genius of Prince continued to reign with the success of what many consider the biggest comeback album of the year, Musicology (NPG/Columbia) and a sold-out tour named Billboard Top Earning Tour of the Year, grossing $90.2 million in ticket sales. Following his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Prince shined in the spotlight again when he opened the 46th annual Grammy awards with a show-stealing duet alongside Beyonce Knowles.

In his 20-year lustrous career as a vocalist, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, the Grammy and Oscar-winning artist has fourteen No.1 U.S. singles to his credit (including "1999," "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "Let's Go Crazy," "When Doves Cry," "Raspberry Beret," "Kiss," "Sign O' The Times," "Batdance," "Cream," "Gett Off," "Diamonds and Pearls," and more), and twenty-six No.1 single chart positions across the Pop and R&B charts, as well as four No. 1 albums (Purple Rain Soundtrack, Around the World in a Day, Batman, and Diamonds and Pearls) and over 36 Top 10 album positions, Prince is one of the few artists to simultaneously experience a No.1 single ("When Doves Cry"), album (Purple Rain Soundtrack), and movie (Purple Rain). Prince has also penned major hits recorded by Sinead O'Connor ("Nothing Compares To You"), and Chaka Khan ("I Feel For You") plus written and/or produced works for countless artists including some of the world's most successful including Madonna, Celine Dion, Sheila E., Paula Abdul, The Bangles, Sheena Easton, Tevin Campbell and Kate Bush.

About Universal Music Publishing Group

With 47 offices in 41 countries worldwide, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is part of the Universal Music Group and one of the industry's largest global music publishing operations. Owning or administering more than 1 million copyrights, UMPG's writers and catalogs include: U2, Mariah Carey, Ludacris, Shania Twain, 50 Cent, Dave Grohl, Ciara, Prince, Diana Krall, Godsmack, Ice Cube, Vanessa Carlton, Mary J. Blige, The Corrs, Eve, Musiq, Jill Scott, Brian McKnight, No Doubt, Blink-182, 3 Doors Down, Beastie Boys, Anastacia, Fatboy Slim, DMX, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Paul Simon, the catalog of Henry Mancini, among many others. For more information, visit:

http://www.umusicpub.com

http://www.umusicpub.com/...px?ID=3358




[Edited 12/13/05 13:59pm]

I hope all works out well for both, Prince and Universal

Thanx Serpan99 for the information.

The deal includes administration of Prince's numerous future works and his complete, extensive back catalog of more than 35 albums and compilations including landmark, multi-platinum albums Musicology, 1999, Sign O' The Times, Diamonds and Pearls, Parade, Around the World in a Day, Emancipation, Purple Rain, and Batman -- The Motion Picture Soundtrack.




i'm foaming at the mouth so bad someone is gonna take me out back
and shoot me if they see me like this. does this mean there will,
FINALLY be some remasters coming???

am i koo koo for cocoa puffs, or has this already been posted into the ground today?

IstenSzek said:

Ummm, no. This is a renewal of his PUBLISHING deal from 2000. It has nothing to do with his actual albums. He also signed a deal with Universal music for his next album, but the two are not connected to his master recordings done for WB.

The only way it could happen is if Universal was willing to put up the money to buy the masters from WB, or possibly negotiate a deal with them to share in royalties, etc.

Anxiety said:

I think your thinking of the press release for the album deal.

JediMaster said:

For real, and that would not come cheap.

OdysseyMiles said:

In order for Universal to go that route, they would have to have some major plans to put his music into commercials, films etc. I know a few years ago, there was a deal proposed where P and Universal would each put up half of the 90 million that the catalogue is supposedly worth. Needless to say, that deal never really got far. Just too many uncertainties for a company like Universal to gamble so heavily, and WB knows they are sitting on a gold mine. Word was, a few months back, that the new powers-that-be at WB wanted to come up with a different deal to get Prince back to working with them, even if it was just in regards to the back-catalogue.

Of course, when you have as unpredictable and controlling a person as Prince involved, no deal is ever easy.

serpan99 said:

5 isnt it , not 14 :
When Doves Cry , Lets Go Crazy , Kiss , Batdance and Cream

I've no idea about what singles were no . 1 on the other charts apart from
I Wanna be your lover which definitely was .

moonshine said:

I was gonna say the same thing. Throw in Raspberry Beret in there, but 14 number ones??

IstenSzek said:

Dammit...I just finished buying all his albums (and have moved onto outtakes & singles). Now I'm going to have to buy them all over in better quality!?! I'm going to need a 2nd job to support my Prince addiction!

My, oh, my.

This made my draw drop...

I hope it all comes through!

'...The deal includes administration of Prince's numerous future works and his complete, extensive back catalog of more than 35 albums and compilations...'

So what exactly does this mean? How could Universal administer his WB albums? Surely WB administer all the albums he released through them? Is this what's been negotiated over the past 20 months and hence why we've not had a P album? Has he been busy negotiating something that would see his old albums remastered?

My brain hurts.

Enigmoid said:

They are administering the publishing rights relating to all past and future recordings for as long as this agreement runs.

That means that Universal collect the monies due to Prince e.g. every time the songs he has written and recorded get played on the radio. Typically, an artist assigns these rights to a third party to collect the money in on the artist's behalf - and then they take a % for their work before handing over the rest.

As already stated above, Universal were signed to do this work 5 years ago after Prince's longstanding publishing deal with WB expired. The deal with Universal has now been renewed.

This is seperate from the recording contracts which Prince eneterd into with WB, under which he agreed that rights to the master recordings would only revert back to him after a significant period (believed to be 30 years after the recording release). It's also a separate agreement from other recording contracts or distribution deals (including the Universal deal also announced for the next album).

There's nothing in the recent announcements that indicates Prince or another party has reached any deal to vary the past agreement with WB. That means WB continue to retain rights to most master recordings whilst Prince was under recording contract with WB.



.
[Edited 12/13/05 23:36pm]

langebleu said:

Thanx 4 clarifying - it was very confusing!

serpan99 said:

serpan99 said:

"Numerous" future works? Are Universal suggesting they have visibility of Prince's releases beyond 3121?
[Edited 12/14/05 3:46am]

JamesS said:

No, that's another way of saying it's a long term publishing deal; that he will let Universal music publishing administer the rights to his songs for a certain period of time extending into the future, thus also including future works he hasn't made yet.

langebleu said:

Actually, the US Copyright Act provides the possibility of returning the rights to his master recordings to Prince 35 years after transferring the rights to WB. I don't think it's likely that the recording contracts with WB state anything along those lines.


"Most" recordings? Do you know something we don't?


--
[Edited 12/14/05 4:41am]

Enigmoid said:

When you want to make sense of it all you have to distinguish between "publishing rights" and "masters/ sound recording rights".

"Publishing rights" are the copyrights in songs/compositions and lyrics. These are usually "administered" by a large music publishing company (meaning that the company does not own those rights, but only collects the royalties from copies, airplay and other public performances of the songs/lyrics and then shares the earnings with the copyright owner of those songs, Prince).

Masters or sound recording rights are the copyrights in sound recordings which are usually owned by the record company a recording was made and paid for and not by the artist(s), exceptions provided depending on the type of deal; a recording contract usually lets the company own the rights, a distribution contract the artist(s) or another company.

Warner Brother records owns the copyrights to the recordings he made under the recording contract with WB up untill 1996 (plus the Vault: old friends for sale). Warner Chappel music publishing only administered the publishing rights of his songs/lyrics up untill 2000, but did not own those rights.

Since 1996, when he was "freed" from his recording contract with WB, Prince has one time distribution deals with record companies for his new sound recordings. This means these record companies do not own the copyrights to his new sound recordings, but have an (exclusive) agremeent with Prince to distribute the particular album/single in return of a share of the royalties. Warner brothers records still owns the copyrights to the recordings he made for WB up untill 1996.

Since 2000, when he was "freed" from his publishing deal with Warner Chappel, Prince has done his publishing business with Universal music publishing. Nor Warner Chappel, nor Universal oublishing own his publishing rights, Prince does. The companies 'only' administer them. This announcement therefore is merely an announcement that the business relationship with Universal music Publishing is continued.


--
[Edited 12/14/05 5:08am]

Abrazo said:

Doesn't Prince own the masters to The Gold Experience?

Abrazo said:

Thanks for the explanation.

How do they know Prince's future works are going to be "numerous"?
[Edited 12/14/05 5:39am]

Cloudbuster said:

I heard that before, but I sincerely doubt it. If you ask me TGE was part of his 100 m recording deal with WB under which he didn't own a single album. But that's just as far as I can see.

JamesS said:

I would think that's rather obvious since each new song he publishes is a work in itself. If he publishes 1 album with 10 songs in 2007 it are "numerous future works" we are talking about.

Abrazo said:

I should have said 'at least most' ...

I was bearing in mind the issue referred to above with 'The Gold Experience'



.

langebleu said:

I see. I think rumours about him owning TGE could have come up because it was around the time Prince openly started protesting/questioning that WB owns his masters. Then again, it may simply be true that there was a special deal with WB about TGE despite the evidence to the contrary. Who knows? Prince and WB do.

Abrazo said:

I think fans question ownership of TGE because the NPG Records logo is included on the albums artwork, as well as WB.

I always speculated if this only referred specifically to the inclusion of 'TMBGITW'.

And does anyone know why TGE was deleted? I've always been curious about that.

IstenSzek said:

Oh for crying out loud. Does this need to be re-explained EVERY GODDAMN FRIGGING TIME Prince's publishing contract is brought up? Can't you idiots READ? Too lazy to use wikipedia? "Oh I see a word I do not understand so I'll assume it is something that it cannot possibly be."

NouveauDance said:

the two logos could indicate that it is jointly owned, which could explain why it is out of print as well.