I was reading through the thread about Alan Leed’s thoughts on bootlegs, and it got me wondering who’s gonna mind Prince’s mine of master tapes after he’s gone. I don’t think we’re gonna see any significant amounts of vault material making its way on to official releases any time soon. I don’t think Prince is as interested in having that material see the light of day as we fans are. Remember Prince saying a while back that he was planning a sequel to Crystal Ball with more discs of vault material? I think he’s lost interest in that idea for good.

So anyone want to speculate what happens to all the unreleased material after Prince is gone. I don’t think Warners has any claims on the songs he didn’t release under his contract with them, so whoever inherits the vault will have control. I’m hoping Prince doesn’t have anything in writing prohibiting the release of his vault material, and I hope that whoever it's entrusted to treats his legacy with respect and isn’t just out to make money off half-assed, sloppy compilations.

Prince isn’t married and doesn’t have children, so does anyone know who may be next in line to inherit the royal kingdom of Prince—at least as far as the master tapes are concerned?
[Edited 4/10/07 12:47pm]

well we may never know that.

According to the documents I have artfully forged, it's me!

Very good question. In the wrong hands, managing postumous releases could be a disaster to fans and to his legacy. Jimi Hendrix's catalog was all over the place, and in various states of quality before everything was turned over to his sister.

My guess is that Prince wants to be burried with his masters and vault tracks.

^ That is kind of scary to think about.

I asked a similar question in recent threads- the whole James Brown mess, and to a lesser extent, the Anna Nicole drama got me thinking about it. First off, I must say again- I hope to never learn the true answer to this question as Prince MUST outlive me. That being said, I truly hope he has someone he trusts to take care of things however he would like.
Since he is such a control freak, I'd like to hope he has directives set in stone for whatever he wants done. And I'd like to hope that includes periodic release of pre-chosen vault material. (of course, I'd also like to hope plans are made for a send-off of "former President" and/or Royalty levels! )

If he hasn't designated someone else in charge, his next of kin would be Tyka at this point since his parents have passed.

UCantHavaDaMango said:

and depressing...and scary ...and sad.....so.....

just kidding

Come on you guys. Prince has plenty of time in front of him.

The topic sounds like the end. Hip surgery, divorce, new business gone bad,...won't stop Prince from making music. He'll be playing and producing music for the rest of his life.

Who knows, maybe he'll meet someone else, maybe he'll adopt children, we never know but hey he's only 49 years old, not 69...hmmm wonder why I chose that number

I think he possibly could have Mayte's name in the Will. I'm sure he has something in place should something suddenly happen to him.

I hate talking about wills/estates, death,...etc..etc...

luv4u said:

I sure hope so. One would have thought JB could get buried in less than a month too.

malbena said:

Not trying to be morbid, but no one is guaranteed time or a future. Regardless, of if it's Prince, Tupac, Aaliyah, or the average Joe, it is vital that everyone have an up to date will, medical directive, and trusts that clearly specify how they want their assets and personal effects handled when, not if, they die. (That's me doing my best Suze Orman imitation, that's my girl! ) So if Prince is smart, and I think we all agree that he is, he'd better have all that stuff spelled out to a "T."

Just think about the circus and shenanigans that ensued after Tupac, JB, and Anna Nicole's death. (I'm sure Tupac didn't want all those mediocre outtakes coming out as full fledged albums every 3 months. There's a reason they're outtakes, because the artist did not think they were worthy of being released on an album when they were alive.) Much of this would have been avoided if they'd just planned ahead. I'm a 34 year old control freak, with no husband or kids and I've had a will since I was 29 because I don't want just anybody to get my very valuable shoe and purse collection or my Prince music, posters, magazines, buttons, guitar picks, pictures, etc.

SCNDLS said:

and a good one at that!
LOVE Suze too!!

SCNDLS said:

Not trying to be morbid

That's where we diverge. I try to think positive for his future. 49 years old is still young inside (physically he's starting to show his age) but musically, he's got plenty of time.

paisley16 said:

THAT was a hot ass mess right there. Absolutely ridiculous that it would take 76 days for him to be buried, all because he didn't have a will and had a bunch of kids fighting over his estate. Same thing with Anna Nicole, I mean two weeks to embalm the body????? Come on now! When the coroner was like, "Uh, she's decomposing ya'll!" I was TOO through.

So sad. . . but as my wise old Aunt Sylvia always says, "Money is NOT the root of all evil. . . the love of OTHER people's money is." And unfortunately, this is most evident when someone dies.

malbena said:

Would you suggest Prince not have insurance on his belongings? Assuming you would not, why shouldn't he have "insurance" on his legacy? You can think positively about the future and still be smart.

Several Things 2 Consider here:

1. Prince may not even care what happens to his recordings after he passes.

2. The fanbase that will fork over lots of money for unreleased material is getting smaller each day. Basically every year a few die hard fans die, never getting the chance to hear what is in the vault. This is why he should just release the stuff now, while there are enough of us alive who care. The love that artist's from the 60's still get will be gone by the time Prince is in his 60's. The younger generation doesn't have as much exposure to real music in our "Microwave" society. (Quick results, no substance.)

3. Crystal Ball was overblown with 90's stuff. A new collection now would probably focus on 2000's material like the NPG Club. I really think he's done with the 80's Prince.

4. Bootleggers and whoever are making tons of money off of Prince on ebay, and other websites. If prince really cared that much, he would've done something about this by now.

5. If you're a fan, you just have to hope someday he'll follow the song he gave to the time "Release it Boy"

malbena said:

I don't think planning and preparing for the inevitable to avoid a complete circus is morbid. People die untimely deaths every day, it's part of life. I'm a very positive person, but I'm also practical. And watching all of the wackiness unfold around Anna Nicole because she didn't have a current will made me sick to my stomach and I would hate for anything like this to happen when, not if, Prince passes regardless of whether he's 50 years old or a 100.

Besides, Tupac and Biggie were 24 years old when they died (Aaliyah was only 21) and I'm sure that a lot of the things that were done and produced in their names, musically and otherwise, to make others rich had them spinning in their graves. Why not do what you can to curtail the drama, especially when it's almost 100% preventable?
[Edited 4/10/07 20:02pm]

babooshleeky said:

I really wasn't' trying to be morbid at all when I started this thread. Notice that I didn't even use the "d-word" in my original post. I just read the comments about bootlegs from Alan Leeds, and it just got me thinking about who is going to have control over the music in the vault someday.
[Edited 4/10/07 19:55pm]

stillwaiting said:

Good points. Let's say Prince never releases much of his vault recordings and lives to be 90 years old. I'll be in my '70s then, and I doubt I'll have as much interest in music in general when I'm that age. So even if someone does take over his vault and release Prince tracks posthumously, even I won't likely have much interest in them at that point in my life.

It would be nice if Prince would release his vault recordings as little "side albums" the way Ani DiFranco has started selling her "bootleg" concert CDs. He could release them strictly online to a smaller audience (his die-hard fans) and at the same time continue to release albums of new material which would be available in stores.

Sure, Crystal Ball was a plagued with distribution and logistical problems, but I'm willing to bet that Prince could do something like that again without any problems this time around.
[Edited 4/10/07 19:57pm]

PicassoFace said:

I don't think the thread is morbid as I've often wondered the same thing too, as far as what happens to the music when he's gone. He's often called his songs his children and for his own reasons actively controlled when, how, and if they saw the light of day. Which leads me to believe that he would take care to exert his control and will in perpetuity. (That's Suze talking again.)

I'm sure Prince has it all planned out with lawyers.

babooshleeky said:

It's a fact of life. Not many people do a Will.

babooshleeky said:

I wish that you hadn't said that

We are talking classics. Standards.

Can you imagine what his catalog will be worth?

Maybe he's grooming one of his nieces/nephews, of course I do get the impression he isn't really that close to his siblings, but stranger things have most definitely happened. I mean his nieces/nephews are adults for the most part now aren't they?

Prince has said many times that the only intention he has for the vast majority of material in his "vault" is personal use only. So if this "vault truly does exist materially, I'm sure there are instructions to destroy it upon his demise. And, consider this...perhaps his "vault" is not a material entity.

morningsong said:

This could all have been someone blowing smoke up my ass, but I was told once that Prince does indeed have a musically talented, fairly young nephew he's been encouraging in this direction. God only knows if that's true or not though.

drscoggin said:

Prince is nuts. That wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Whatever happens, I'm sure Prince already has things arranged the way he wants them. He's too much of a control freak in life to let his legacy all go to shit when he's gone. The man'll rule with an iron fist from the beyond.