I read in another thread that Warner Bros. is supposedly working on putting together an album of Prince music remixed by House artists.

Do you think that this will benefit Prince? I think that it's better for Warners to do this than to put out another lame greatest hits CD. With the 20th anniversary of Purple Rain coming up, WB is definitely going to be doing something with the Prince catalog.

If you had to vote on WB's next move with the Prince catalog, which would you choose:

A.) Prince in Da House remix CD

B.) Prince Greatest Ballads

C.) Purple Rain 2004 remaster

D.) Prince rerecords the entire Purple Rain album and releases it on his own NPG Records label.

No. That all sounds pointless.

I think D would be kinda interesting. I'd like to hear what he'd do with PR 20 years later.

COMON said:

Even if it is pointless, it is for sure that Warners will be doing something with the catalog. WB is hungry for cash. They are not going to just sit on the Prince catalog. They're going to keep mining it for gold.

I'd want them to put together a collection with the b-sides that wasn't on "The Hits" package + extended versions from the 12" singles.

But I doubt it'll happen.

nope. none of those options are interesting to me.It's ok to hear new remixes of old songs, but you'll ALWAYS go back to the original in the end.

I don't want WB to use Prince for their gain.Fuck 'em.

LittlePill said:

I think with his new found religion and his style being more of a jazzy sound that he may actually ruin it if he were to re-record it. Also since he won't say nasty things anymore I would hate to think what he would do with Darling Nikki. Sure I would buy it, but this in my opinion wouldn't do very well at all.

Just my 2 cents.

GoldNigga said:

WB can't screw with Prince's masters. They can't remix Prince's songs without his permission. They can't even remaster his songs without his permission.

ZAZA2 - can you just explain why WB can't do any of what you mention?

I think the best (and only) thing that should ever happen to that masterful body of work is to have it all digitally re-mastered. No tinkering, remixing, anything, just improve the sound quality...PLEASE!!!

As I said on the thread I started re: Lets Work house remix, I think an album that gathered together all the DJ remixes that are starting to surface ow would eb a good thing.

I have never liked remixes (with a few exceptions) but I think unleashing some amazing Prince trax into the club scene with the appropriate house beats under them would expose a whole new generation to Prince's music - and that can't be bad!

Those people who don't want it shouldn't buy it.

Anyway it is just a rumour (the house mixes that are circulating are all on white label anyway)

I hope they do C. Remaster it. Also they could put on the B-sides or other songs from the film as extra tracks.
They should re-release it on DVD too, with nicer packaging and loads of extras (commentary's, deleted scenes, trailers, videos, etc).

Not much to ask !

The only thing I would ever want from Warner is a collection of extended versions off 12"s and B-Sides. When a few years ago (1996 if I'm not wrong?) it was announced that Warner Japan was going to release EVERY Prince 12" (both US and different UK/European versions) as a CD-Single I was already saving as a rat to lay my hands on the whole collection. I'm not an expert, but I think Warner would be entitled to do so. A 2CD compilation would do at least ... don't you think?

Oh, one more thing. Re-issues of Madhouse "8" and "16".

I wouldn't mind if any of these aren't digitally remastered, just put the damn thing out on CD.

...mmh... getting excited here just to imagine such thing ever happens!

I would hope Prince and WB could put aside their differences just this once and release a Purple Rain 20 Yr Edition of the album or movie, but it's not going to happen.

i'd like 2 see D come 2 fruition

ZAZA2 said:

In fact, I don't think they can even put out any more albums by him. The deal in 96 was "Girl 6," "C&D," "The Vault," and a compilation album to be named later ("Very Best Of").

I don't get it. If WB can't do anything more with Prince's masters, why do they want to hold onto them?

If they own them, but can't use them, wouldn't it make more sense for them to sell them to the highest bidder? Wouldn't it be wild if the highest bidder for Prince's masters turned out to be Michael Jackson ?

Batdance said:

It's a little complicated, but from what I gather, Prince has the publishing rights(sheet music, lyrics...royalties from radio play, etc) to his WB catalog, while WB has the original copies of his masters.

Because WB has his masters, they can print and sell more albums of previously released songs without his permission--for ex: the greatest hits cd from last yr--but they can't remaster those songs without his permission...nor can Prince release those songs without their permission, because they own the master recordings.
He can re-record them, but who really wants re-recorded albums(like the 1999 New Master)? Not me.

Anyway, 35 years from the release of a particular album, the masters automatically go back to the artist, so starting with "For You" in 2013(1978+35), Prince will be getting his masters back.

Ok, i don't think Prince would redo Purple Rain, it would take up to much time. remember "We are not intersted in what you know, but what you are willing to learn".
***I would rather see a dvd of a collection of his best concerts, on 2 or more discs.***
[This message was edited Tue Jan 21 13:59:42 PST 2003 by Jem]

Because they still make money from the rights they do own. This discussion very much circles on the rights which Warner owns and the rights that Prince owns. To be fully informed about that you need to know what the contracts between Warner and Prince state, and a specialised lawyer's advice on it.

Nevertheless there are some things that can be assumed with quite some certainty. Zaza and Aaron already pointed at that. One thing you can safely assume is that Warner at least owns the following rights: the rights to reproduce and distribute Prince's sound recordings (up untill "The Vault, old friends") on cd, lp and cassette..

The rights to digitally reproduce and distribute the sound recordings on mp3, dvd, digitally remastered, internet distribution and or other new technology is most likely not covered by the contracts. This assumption holds grounds, because Warner released The "Very best of Prince" a couple of years ago, but the sound recordings were not digitally remastered. That is a clear indication that the contracts Prince signed didn't transfer these rights to Warner. Warner does own the rights to reproduce and distribute prince's sound recordings on cd, lp and cassette and therefore prince can't release digital remaseters on cd without their permission. He can however do that on mp3. That is also what prince did in year 1 of the club. There were several downloads of remastered versions of of songs, for example Annastesia.

However one can only be sure about that when one knows for sure what the contracts actually state.


I think they can sell the rights they do own. And I don't think it would be a good idea if it were Michael Jackson. But what good would it do anyway to sell them, when more and more new technology needs to be applied to new releases, but they don't own the rights? If Warner decides to apply new technology without Prince's permission, I think, Prince can sue them and win. And if they do I think he should.

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[This message was edited Tue Jan 21 17:49:54 PST 2003 by Abrazo]

I'd like to see NONE of the above options to happen but what I'd love is:

EVERY SINGLE RE-RELEASED AS A DELUXE BOX SET AND (OR) AVAILABLE TO BUY INDIVIDUALLY.

Each single would feature a replica of the original artwork, printed on high quality laminated card Digipak covers.

The 5" CDs would be gold-plated and feature the original remixes, single edits, extended versions and B sides. There would be some disparity with the tracklistings as some songs were released as singles in some territories but not others (the extended mix of Paisley Park could be featured on the Raspberry Beret single and so on)...

I'd also like the CDs to feature an MPEG to play on PCs and DVD players with the original video. Where no video exists, they could include a slideshow of pictures from that period or concert footage (if WB owned rights to concert footage of the specific song).

I would buy EVERY SINGLE ONE.

BinaryJustin said:

XNY said:

While I agree that publishing rights have to do with it too, Warner probably still has a publishing license. The heart of the problem however lies in the contracts which, assumably, don't contain a "future"- or "new technology clause".

That's also correct, but don't speak in 'masters", speak in "rights". 35 years after transfer of rights do the rights return to the original owner.

PEOPLE WAKE UP, WARNER BROS. & PRINCE ARE DEAD. D-E-A-D. NO ONE CARES (OUTSIDE OF US DEDICATED PRINCE FANS) CARES ABOUT PRINCE ANYMORE. AND WARNER BROS. KNOWS IT.

I mean, come on did you see how many albums he sold of Come and Chaos & Disorder?

For Chirst's sake, I live in MPLS and no one, I mean no one talks about Prince anymore. It would great to see a Purple Rain Special Edition DVD, but guess what? It ain't gonna happen.

WB

'nuff said.

Abrazo said:

That's also correct, but don't speak in 'masters", speak in "rights". 35 years after transfer of rights do the rights return to the original owner.[/quote]So, what happens to the masters of each album? Do they go up for sale like the Beatles catalog? Or do WB or Prince get them?

XNY said:

You mean what happens to the rights.
US copyrightlaw gives the original owner (Prince in this case) of copyright (or any right falling under the scope of a copyright) the right to re-claim the transferred rights 35 years after the initial transfer.

Like I explained above Prince probably only transferred the rights to reproduce and distribute his sound recordings on cd, lp and cassette, not on mp3, digitally rematsered etc. These transferred rights will return to him after 35 years if prince sets in the procedure described by law.
There is no bidding involved in this , no public sale.
35 years after first transfer Prince will therefore start to own all the rights there are.

DVD!!!

PURPLE RAIN SPECIAL EDITION 2-DISC SET!!!

-Digitally remastered in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
-Widescreen Transfer
-Deleted scenes
-Commentary by Prince, Morris Day and Jerome Benton
-Making of Documentary with interviews of Revolution memebers, Billy Sparks, film's director, Spike Lee and Nelson George on the cultural influence the film had, etc.
-Original Theatrical trailer
-Clips from various award shows, including performances from American Music Awards, Grammys and Oscar win.

Um...yeah. That's what Warner Brothers AND Prince should do...TOGETHER. Truly, all would benefit, the most being the fans, but alas this will never happen and it's really a shame.

I DRIVE TRUCKS,AND HAVE HAULED LOADS 4 WARNER BROS.STAGE EQUIPMENT,PROPS,CONCERTS,VIDEO CAMARAS ECT.I WAS TALKING WITH A GUY WHO WORKED AT THE OFFICE IN BURBANK,CA.WE HAD THIS VERY SAME CONVERSATION ABOUT PRINCE,AND HE SAID WARNER WAS PLANNING 2 RELEASE A DELUXE BOX SET BASED ON HITS,BUT SINCE THE VERY BEST OF PRINCE DIDNT DO WELL THEY SCAPPED IT.

crs350 said:

TVBOP Prince may not have been a huge commercial succes, but it wasn't a huge investment either. The real problem is that they don't have the rights. They don't want to give Prince his rights back and Prince won't give permission to do anything new and special to his recordings. So they don't release anything.
Just by looking at this thread there seems to be enough demand for a commercially succesful special release. I doubt that Warner doesn't want to make more money.