How much does P pocket ($) from old WB releases? How much $ from the Ultimate and DVD?

A %, maybe nothing. Anybody Know?

setyrmindphree said:

Prince and WB

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[Edited 8/22/06 11:43am]

langebleu said:

Touche'

Would be interesting to know. Thought it may have leaked or be known by now.

All the fighting over ownership must have made for an interesting settlement.

I bet it wasn't anywhere near 50/50. Have no idea who gets the majority. Maybe P for the old records and WB for the "New" (i.e. Very best, Ultimate) stuff.

setyrmindphree said:

I only know of one record company who did a 50/50 deal with their roster of acts on a hand shake - they went bust!

I've never seen any figures circulate about %s.

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Around Emancipation time Prince was saying his share of albums like Purple Rain was so small he would actually earn more from selling just a million or 2 copies of albums like Emancipation.

Whether that was really true or Prince just having a dig, who knows? Still, all that money from Purple Rain set Prince up in the lifestyle he became used to.

Back when Crystal Ball came out I read an interview and he said he made more off that album than he did on purple rain and he only sold 100,000 copies of that. Hard to believe, but I guess it depends on his deal with Warner Brothers

metalorange said:

I don't think he meant his share from Purple Rain was small, but his share from Emancipation was so big. For Emancipation there is not a record company involved that gets a percentage. I think Prince was clearing something like $7 and album with Emancipation, where a normal share for an artist like Prince with a record company is something between $1 or $2.

So Prince would have to sell about 7 times more copies of Purple Rain to make what he would from Emancipation.

i doubt that it was ever anymore than 10% total.. and that is WHOESALE.. and that doesn't count the free ones that WB gives to major chains.

Sowhat said:

Emancipation was released through EMI.
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langebleu said:

If I understand it correctly, it was a distribution deal only with EMI. Not a traditional contract where the record company basically owns you and gets a major cut of the profits.

Sowhat said:

they sure as heck did not do it for free...

Prince keeps his royalties up by keeping his loyalties down.

Frederick96 said:

LETS NOT FORGET THAT THEY PAY PRINCE UPFRONT LIKE A HUNDRED MILLION $ FOR 5 ALBUMS WHICH MEANS 20 MILLION $ FOR EACH ALBUM THATS B4 HES SOLD ANY DID HE MAKE THIS MUCH FOR CRYSTAL BALL ETC.

lotus said:

Well, it was $100 million for 6 albums, but in reality he supposedly got a $10 advance on royalties for the first album after D&P, with a condition that if the albums sold less than 5 million copies the next album advance would be considerably less. He never actually received $100 million upfront and would only have achieved that amount by selling over 5 million copies of each of the 6 albums, which he never came close to doing.

Let's say that you're right and that Prine did manage to sell five million copies of each subsequent release after D&P - he would have netted a cool $100 million dollars?


So my question is, how much would have Warner Brothers made? That's what's scary - if Prince can make $100 million optimally, dear god in heaven, that means that Warner Brothers at least had to make twice as much!

SlamGlam said:

No they did not do it for free, but it is about 6 or 7 times less than a "traditional" deal.

Distibution costs are going to be there regardless....but if you take out the record company or "Middle Man" so to speak, that share goes to the artist or Prince in this case.