Really there are two big questions for anyone who knowledgeable in the media rights field.

If Warner Bros has the right to re-release the 1978-1994 Prince songs at their discretion, is the same true for the Warner-produced videos? Also what about the Prince/Paisley Park produced clips like Raspberry Beret for instance?

And then what about the TV clips from the Warners era? I assume Dick Clark Productions owns the AB clips, and Burt Sugarman has the Midnight Special performances but what about the live appearances (Purple Rain, Baby I'm A Star, Electric Chair, Gett Off, etc.)? Does it matter if the clip is lip-sync vs. live?

A lot of questions I know but with several of his vintage clips re-appearing online, I'm just curious as to whether or not Prince and his camp have a legal right to say who can release and/or distribute these video clips.

Anything done while he was under contract to WB is WB's property. SOTT might be the stand out situation there, or TMBGITW stuff on Bellmark. TV performance clips are owned by the network that originally aired them. The artist could easily get permission from the network to package them, but even networks wants to get paid, and could charge the artist for their own performance footage. A promo video sent to a station for viewing like "Raspberry Beret" or whatever is owned by WB.

NBC owns "Electric Chair" and "Partyup".
ABC owns the AMA's from 1985, etc etc.
MTV owns "Gett Off", etc and so forth

WB can't release anything at their sole discretion. Part of Prince's exit contract from WB was that he has final say in what WB releases. (This has been exampled a few times with ULTIMATE changing from an intended track list to the one that Prince wanted - go to wikipedia for the story.)

Anything Prince did from Emancipation onward is own solely by him, more than likely.

ernestsewell said:

After reading that on Wiki I wondered about that part, as far as how much say so did Prince have in releasing Ultimate. I always thought he had nothing 2 do with it,and WB wanted 2 release it 2 cut into the profits of 3121. But then I read that the tracklisting was changed cuz Prince didn't want the Erotic City or Sexy Dancer's 12" on there.

Mindbells9 said:

WB held off releasing Ultimate because of 3121. Prince had a small say in that, I believe. WB has no interest in "cutting into" his profits. They don't care. It's not a bitch fight anymore like that. Because think about it: New Prince album vs. Rehash. Who's gonna win that anyway? PRINCE. It's silly to think otherwise. Prince will win that battle. Prince also stands to make money on a greatest hits package like Ultimate. Prince fans are a lot smarter than Prince, and Warner Bros. Prince fans already own all that shit, and without a proper remastered (they weren't remastered, just EQ'd and turned up a bit), it's just a question of being a completest.

The guy who put together Ultimate originally had it in chronological order, and had songs like "Erotic City" and "Sexy MF" on it. Prince took those off, replaced them with others, and arranged the track list as you see it now. It's a corny set up. He's his own worst enemy with that stuff. Yeah, as if no one will ever hear "Erotic City" again just because he says no to ever releasing it again. What a tool.