Something is seriously wrong if Prince ever has to worry about making or losing money from one year to the next for the rest of his life, even if he lives well past 100.

I read somewhere that Bruce Springsteen received 100 million dollars over the course of his record deal with Sony (Sony made $71 million). Did Prince get a similar amount from WB, IDK? There is no question that Prince's current ventures aren't very profitable, but if he is getting Springsteen's level of royalties, he may not really care.

I doubt Prince is strapped for cash. The 30th anniversary Purple Rain remaster that was hinted at last year would have been an easy cash grab for Prince, and we still don't have it. He has plenty of stuff from his golden era stashed away in his vault that he could make money off of, but he chooses not to let it sit and collect dust. Paisley Park itself might be losing money, but he could always open it back up as a public recording/production studio like he did in the 80s and make money that way. If he were in danger of being in financial trouble, he's got plenty of options that would keep in the black.

Prince learned from his past close calls with bankruptcy... His business operations are very lean/tight these days: he razed both homes in Chanhassen to reduce property value & taxes, he runs with a minimal staff--no manager, no promoter--outsources on an as needed basis for services, builds in most of his costs into tour packages/concerts, so his overhead is covered. And he has been doing this for at least the last decade, when he grossed 90+ million dollars in revenue from the Musicology tour.

And as for his retirement--one suspects that is what his vaults/remasters are for. He has said as much in interviews: "Those are my retirement options... when I can no longer do what I'm doing now."

NuPwrSoul said:

NorthC said:

Prince is presently way richer than you'll ever be so focus on your wealth, not his.

Aerogram said:

I would have a hard time believing that he's going broke with all the records he sold, royalties, tour income, etc. That said, you can't assume that people act rationally (especially Prince:). What I mean is that we shouldn't attempt to interpret his financial situation based on his actions - specifally, that he must be doing well financially because he's not launching a US stadium tour or releasing a remastered Purple Rain, for example. He could make way more money playing stadiums as opposed to The Fox in Detroit or The Louisville Palace, so it doesn't appear that he's making touring decisions solely based on making the most money per show.

Money? No. Fans? Hell Yeah!