redflag said:

jaawwnn said:

redflag said:

as per my earlier post why are we still speculating over whether or not Prince owns his masters when the recording copyrights on digital retailers like iTunes and Amazon clearly show the rights to the WB albums now belong to "NPG Records" even "Batman" which I didn't expect.

http://www.amazon.com/Bat...=&qid=

[Edited 12/5/14 9:27am]

Good point! I'd forgotten that. Batman is interesting alright, but there's a big differnce between owning the rights and actually re-releasing something. Here's a thing though, today for no reason The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale went to "unavailable" on Spotify, I wonder is this an indication of anything.

The Vault works fine for me on spotify...

feeluupp said:

udo said:

Owning the masters is not important:

P will not go back to his old stuff. (maybe sample once in a while but that is it)

P will not release remasters of old stuff. (not without edits etc)

P does not realize the money in these tapes nor can he fully exploit this value.

So P will just sit on the tapes.

Maybe not, but now they are licenced to NPG they can choose how his music is used, for example, adverts, movies or licenced out for official covers etc... are all good forms of bringing in revenue and it will all go to Prince.

I suspect the revenue is less important to him and the fact that he fully owns what he put so much work into is now his. Not just the music on the CD's we have heard, but the out takes that didnt make the albums, WB will have owned them also.


I guess its knd of like building yourself a huge mansion, living in it but not actually owning it or having full rights with regards to what you do with it.

[Edited 12/5/14 13:16pm]

There are still all the songs he gave away to various non-protégés artists, those he will likely never get back, and then there's the 6's, The Time and Sheila E. material that he won't get back without a fight

.

I was pretty sure he'd get Batman back alongside the rest but there was a legitimate doubt so it's good to know this is settled. A rerelease would involve lots of licencing from WB pictures/DC Comics, though (I think the samples aren't so much the issue than the artwork and album name).

fnksoul said:

Maybe not, but now they are licenced to NPG

Who licensed the materials to NPG?

Mr P? WB?

udo said:

Owning the masters is not important:

P will not go back to his old stuff. (maybe sample once in a while but that is it)

P will not release remasters of old stuff. (not without edits etc)

P does not realize the money in these tapes nor can he fully exploit this value.

So P will just sit on the tapes.

And they are worth less and less and less every day.

udo said:

fnksoul said:

Maybe not, but now they are licenced to NPG

Who licensed the materials to NPG?

Mr P? WB?

It's the other way round.

databank said:

udo said:

Who licensed the materials to NPG?

Mr P? WB?

It's the other way round.

NPG licenses to P?

Rather to WB?

In case of the latter: WB might have a monetary incentive to release something. ('remasters')

But how smart or stupid was the contract they wrote?

udo said:

databank said:

It's the other way round.

NPG licenses to P?

Rather to WB?

In case of the latter: WB might have a monetary incentive to release something. ('remasters')

But how smart or stupid was the contract they wrote?

U misunderstand the meaning of licencing I think. "Licencing" means giving permission to use, develop and promote something that belongs to you against a share of the pie.

Also, NPG Records is Prince.

PrinceNPG owns the masters and licences them to WB for release. How long he is obliged to do so isn't somthing we know.

paulludvig said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

He did a lot of such things in the late 1990s/early 2000s -- and then he stopped. He was clearly provoking WBR at that time and it is clear that at one point WBR decided to sic their lawyers on him. Hence the changes in NPGMC for year two.

No wonder he's mad at them.

.

Yes, how dare they protectt he content THEY PAID FOR.

His masters worth nothing except for PURPLE RAIN and TVBO. Some albums (LOVESEXY, DIAMONDS AND PEARLS) sells hundred a year in the USA. Who cares about this ? With his internet and "out of print" policies he killed his sales.

RODSERLING said:

His masters worth nothing except for PURPLE RAIN and TVBO. Some albums (LOVESEXY, DIAMONDS AND PEARLS) sells hundred a year in the USA. Who cares about this ? With his internet and "out of print" policies he killed his sales.

Where u got that 100 a year figure from???

databank said:

RODSERLING said:

His masters worth nothing except for PURPLE RAIN and TVBO. Some albums (LOVESEXY, DIAMONDS AND PEARLS) sells hundred a year in the USA. Who cares about this ? With his internet and "out of print" policies he killed his sales.

Where u got that 100 a year figure from???

"hundreds". From total soundscan sales. His sales are ridiculously low, with the decrease of album sales, most of his albums doesn't reach the thousand mark a year in the USA, that's my bet. And I suspect it's not better elsewhere, except ULTIMATE in the UK.

RODSERLING said:

databank said:

Where u got that 100 a year figure from???

"hundreds". From total soundscan sales. His sales are ridiculously low, with the decrease of album sales, most of his albums doesn't reach the thousand mark a year in the USA, that's my bet. And I suspect it's not better elsewhere, except ULTIMATE in the UK.

I don't understand: u have Soundscan figures or it's your bet?