I am still not 100% on how he gets them back...something like 30 yrs or so... so what does he own now and would he really want anything after 1987??

Once he gets them back?? what will he do with them??

according to the law none--the law says 35 years. but he said had had gotten a few back a year or two ago. If he telling the truth and WB agreed to give them back at 30 years then he would have For You through 1999.

But I doubt that. I think the law will be tested next year when it is suposed to start and it could take years to resolve.

avasdad said:

I am still not 100% on how he gets them back...something like 30 yrs or so... so what does he own now and would he really want anything after 1987??

Once he gets them back?? what will he do with them??

The law says 35 years and IIRC it needs to be ruled by a judge, case by case, at the artists' demand.

Prince has stated that it had been reduced to 30 years and that he already had some stuff back in late 2010 but there is no proof that this statement is true. As far as we know he has nothing back so far from his "Prince" catalogue, and won't before claiming For You next year. We also know that he doesn't own the Sheila E. and The Time albums either, but most of Paisley Park's catalogue reverted back to him in 1994, and we know for a fact that he owns the George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Madhouse, Eric Leeds and Ingrid Chavez albums among others.

There have been some speculation that he may own the masters to The Gold Experience as well, and of course he owns Gold Nigga, Exodus, Child Of The Sun and everything elsethat was released by NPG Records since 1993.

I think you don't realize that just because YOU don't value them, Prince has no reason to dislike his post-1987 albums, not to mention the fact that they were a couple of major hits in these years (Batman and D&P to name the biggest ones).

No one knows what he'll do with the masters when he gets them back but for what it's worth Prince has stated that he'd release them in remastered form, with bonus tracks.

databank said:

but most of Paisley Park's catalogue reverted back to him in 1994, and we know for a fact that he owns the George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Madhouse, Eric Leeds and Ingrid Chavez albums among others.

Oooh, I missed this - when did we find that out?

NouveauDance said:

databank said:

but most of Paisley Park's catalogue reverted back to him in 1994, and we know for a fact that he owns the George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Madhouse, Eric Leeds and Ingrid Chavez albums among others.

Oooh, I missed this - when did we find that out?

Alan Leeds revealed it here last year. I'd always thought Hey Man... and The Voice had been rereleased by Edel as part of a special arrangement between P & WB, but then that guy from Edel one day revealed that before changing his mind, Prince planned to rerelease several PP records on Edel in 1995, including the ones above (and probably some others I can't recall) and when Mr. Leeds came to discuss the fDeluxe come-back I asked him "how is that possible if WB owns the masters?" and he said that the deal with WB stipulated that Prince would get the rights to most of the label's albums back if and when WB would shut down the label, which they did in 94.

The fact that most of Sheila E.'s and The Time's back catalogue's are still in print and/or available on i-Tunes indicates that WB own these, which makes sense as their contracts were signed before PP was founded. WB probably also own V6 and A6. The status of The Family's and Mazarati's albums (earliest other PP releases) are unknown but Prince is known to have claimed a copyright on both names (alongside "Good Question"). The 2 Kahoru Kohiruimaki albums are most likely the property of TDK or someone else in Japan, and we're not sure wheither the Reprise Records releases have a special status or not, but fact is that most if not all of the other releases on the label are now in Prince's hands.

Alan Leeds also revealed that, contractually speaking, Prince's "own" albums were never officially released on Paisley Park: the label was just stuck on the cover art to give the label some visibility.

Prince doesn't own the masters rights to his WB records yet, not untill 35 years after.

At least that's not likely. It could be true tho' that WB agreed to reverting them back to him sooner, but there is no evidence that they really did.

More likely to the contrary since nothing has been officially announced nor undertaken in that respect.

The situation is most likely underestimated by most. It could very well become or already be a highly complexed matter that takes years to figure out, in or outside of court.

We can only hope and pray it won't.

[Edited 9/25/12 12:59pm]

Apart from that, yet also very much part of it:

Prince obviously has the power to stop digital remasters of his WB records.

He owns the George Clinton albums?????? Those need a reiusse so bad it isnt funny, those things have been out of print forever now.

ManlyMoose said:

He owns the George Clinton albums?????? Those need a reiusse so bad it isnt funny, those things have been out of print forever now.

Indeed. The very thing is that, regarding all the PP recordings he wasn't involved with, Prince may himself find himself in WB's position at some point: being asked to give back the masters to the artists.