Do Warner Bros still have any rights to release unreleased Prince material, such as tracks like "Welcome 2 The Rat Race", "Purple Music" and "Extra Loveable" to name a few?. If not, does Prince have the rights to release them (in their original form)?. I heard that the Miles Davis "Last Word" Box-Set was cancelled because Prince refused to let them put "Can I Play With U" on there, and that would have been one of its major selling points. Anyone have any info on that?

toejam said:

the title is called " in a large room with no light... not welcome to the ratrace"

I can't imagine that Warner's have any control over unreleased material since The Vault was released.
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (song) was recorded in the Warner days and he released that okay, likewise everything from Crystall Ball.

Or maybe he needed their permission to release those songs?

i believe prince has rights over everything he never delivered to WB, that is all the unreleased stuff. notice how on CB, the stuff that already existed on WB albums was altered: so dark, good love, p control. likewise the most beautiful girl in the world. people have complained about the version that appeared on gold, that is was significantly different, and inferior, to the single he had released earlier. but think about it: why would prince want to deliver the master recording of his biggest independently released song to WB? it makes sense that he would give them an alternate mix.
then again, i'm talking out of my head , so if anyone else has any legitimate insight on this topic, it would be much appreciated.

WB only own the rights to Prince's released back catalogue, recorded under contract. Prince owns the rights & masters for all material past and present not already released under his WB contract.

This means, yes, Prince is free to release tracks like 'In A Large Room With No Light' 'Wonderful Ass' 'Moonbeam Levels' etc. as he wishes, WB have no say in the matter.

Also WB only own the recordings of the songs in Prince's released back catalogue, not the songs themselves. This means that Prince is perfectly free to make a new recording of any of his WB songs and release it (as he did with 1999-The New Master). This also applies to live recordings.

WB also cannot alter Prince's existing back catalogue of albums in any way without Prince's permission. This is why WB can't 're-master' his albums or add bonus tracks.