How was Prince able to put "Good Love" (a song he released in his Warner Bros. years, so I assume they "own" it) on his independently released Crystal Ball CD?
Did he have to get WB's permission?
If so, why would he go through the trouble for THAT song?
Anybody have a simple answer to this?

XtrueX said:

I have a possible theory. Perhaps Prince maintained the Master copy to "Good Love" like he did with the "Batman" album which was also released via Warner Brothers.

Have a simple answer...just don't know if it's the right one..

When Prince began hinting that he was going to re-record all his Warner masters, he explained the process saying all he legally had to do in order for them to be conseidered "new" masters was alter the original mixes in some way (however miniscule). The "Good Love" on CB was an edited version and (presumably) a different mix than the previously released Warner Bros. version, therefore, it's legally considered a new master...

As to why he would bother with this particular song, only he would know, but Hans told me that Prince completely handed the Crystal Ball project over to him, including track selection which Prince just stamped his approval on prior to mastering.

SWANGislongwinded

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that it has something to do with the way songs are licenced for soundtrack / compilation albums. Warners were merely given permission to use the the song for the 'Bright Lights, Big City' soundtrack, but Prince still retained ownership of the masters, and the ability to use the song himself on other projects. There may be have been some kind of clause that meant that he couldn't use Good Love in the exact form it appears on the soundtrack, so he might have HAD to change it (hence the slight edit), though that's just a guess on my part.

Thanks for all the good answers.
I also remember reading somewhere about having to change only a minor detail in a song in order to make a "new" master. The concept sounds totally insane to me though.

Hey, Prince...want to own a new master of "Delirious"? Just slice off the baby gurgle at the end & it's all yours buddy!

If it was that simple, why did he record that god-awful new master of "1999" when he simply could have sliced off the "Don't worry...I won't hurt u" speech & called it a day?

XtrueX said:

Because he wanted to put it out again and everyone and their mama has heard the old one. Not to mention WB also re-released the original master and his and theirs was actually out at the same time which explains why he had to seriously rework it.