Prince has said that, at some point, someone will release the Vault tracks but it probably won't be him.

So...it 'ain't happening in our lifetime. Ok, that's a shame. Future generations wil get everything. BUT, look at this way, I bet these future generations would have loved to have been there at the time. Yunno, at that moment, when a new album was released. There at the time. We're lucky, in that sense.

Prince says a lot of things and changes his mind every 5 minutes.

Between 1997 and 2001 he was obviously very much inclined to open the gates to the vault and it seems, though this is unconfirmed, that WB stopped him from doing so.

Prince is currently focused on newer material, but he may one day decide to establish some online store again and include vault material in it, or to release vault material compilations on a regular basis.

Or not.

Let's not lose hope, and we'll see.

Remember when the Internet was dead?

I do like your positive attitude about being there though.

If it doesn't happen, it doesn't. If it does, it does --- either way, it's one hell of a ride (in every sense of the word "hell").

Meanwhile, in other parts of the music world:

.

Though it has yet to be confirmed on Dylan's end, Ultimate Classic Rockreports that The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 will hit stores November 6 via Columbia/Legacy. The box set will land in three different versions: a standard two-disc set, an expanded six-disc edition, and a deluxe package that comprises 18 discs worth of rare Dylan material.

.

Twelfth volume. Eighteen discs.

.

Yet some Prince fans insist that a deluxe Purple Rain wouldn't be profitable. That a deluxe multi-disc set would be impossible.

.

Note that Dylan's Bootleg series so far consists of 25 discs. That's on top of his 36 studio albums and 11 live albums. And then there are compilation albums that sometimes also include outtakes (e.g. Biograph,...). His Complete Album Collection box set ("Volume One"!) is 47 discs, and yet it still is incomplete. Note that this collection included fourteen albums that were remastered especially for this release.

Apparently Dylan is still releasing good music [I don't follow him myself]
and somewhere deep down, in spite of his severe dementia,

Prince must know that he's been releasing crap for 20 years.

He fears the comparisons, if he opens the vault. And he should.

The vault is probably the only interesting thing left about him.. I doubt he'll ever share anything from it and rely only on the new stuff to keep the fans in anticipation.

Prince knows that he can't write good songs anymore, only funk jams. So I think he will use his old vault material to fill his "new" albums. Of course not the original material but re-recorded versions like the more than 20 year old 1000 Hugs and kisses, which is by far the best song on Hitnrun.

I'm pretty sure that a few songs on Musicology and the following albums are old outtakes.

[Edited 9/24/15 6:28am]

maybe no one will pay him enough to put out a compilation such as Dylan's

luvsexy4all said:

maybe no one will pay him enough to put out a compilation such as Dylan's

if that's the issue, then he's not an artist

luvsexy4all said:

maybe no one will pay him enough to put out a compilation such as Dylan's

I think it's more about him keeping what the fans want the most to keep them engaged..

[Edited 9/24/15 6:15am]

Pentacle said:

luvsexy4all said:

maybe no one will pay him enough to put out a compilation such as Dylan's

if that's the issue, then he's not an artist

its not economically viable

luvsexy4all said:

Pentacle said:

if that's the issue, then he's not an artist

its not economically viable

I struggle to believe this...

There's a lot of interesting stuff on Superdeluxeedition.com ,if you dig a bit, on the economic and politics around re-issues.

Here's one piece...

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/feature/saturday-deluxe-8-august-2015/

luvsexy4all said:

Pentacle said:

if that's the issue, then he's not an artist

its not economically viable

What would it cost to put it on iTunes? Nothing.

Studio costs have all been paid in the '80s.

FunkyD said:

luvsexy4all said:

maybe no one will pay him enough to put out a compilation such as Dylan's

I think it's more about him keeping what the fans want the most to keep them engaged..

[Edited 9/24/15 6:15am]

How so, when very few buy his new product?

Pentacle said:

FunkyD said:

I think it's more about him keeping what the fans want the most to keep them engaged..

[Edited 9/24/15 6:15am]

How so, when very few buy his new product?

We are still engaging in way though.. by having another Prince vault discussion

you take the vault away from Prince.. not much left interesting with Prince in 2015

This is why i think he'll wait until he passes for others to hear the stuff in there..

He wants us to keep wondering about what's in there and whether he'll ever release music from it or not.. until he dies

[Edited 9/24/15 9:10am]

FunkyD said:

Pentacle said:

How so, when very few buy his new product?

We are still engaging in way though.. by having another Prince vault discussion

you take the vault away from Prince.. not much left interesting with Prince in 2015

This is why i think he'll wait until he passes for others to hear the stuff in there..

He wants us to keep wondering about what's in there and whether he'll ever release music from it or not..

[Edited 9/24/15 9:01am]

You might be right, although I wouldn't call it 'keeping us engaged' but 'torturing us'.
He has built a world-wide Guantanamo Bay...!

It's definitely NOT ok, least for me. He will likely destroy the vault contents when he passes. I would not be surprised if something like that is already legally in place.

[Edited 9/24/15 9:12am]

leadline said:

It's definitely NOT ok, least for me. He will likely destroy the vault contents when he passes. I would not be surprised if something like that is already legally in place.

[Edited 9/24/15 9:12am]

I highly doubt that.. He holds on to it more than he lets on.

He'll probably put together albums from the vault for posthumous releases.. to keep his name out there after he passe away

[Edited 9/24/15 9:49am]

when you think about it prince has already made the decision of what will happen to the vault in his will

There is hardly anyone surrounding Prince right now who, if he was to die tomorrow, I would trust with his vault. The only persons I can think of would be Alan Leeds, Wendy & Lisa or Susan Rogers but they are no longer in the inner circle.

So having said that, if Prince did indeed die tomorrow, in the years to come, some person (Lord knows who that would be) would do to his vault work what they did to MJ's and add some "rapper" or other singer that doesn't fit into context to a song like Adonis and Bathsheeba.

So Prince.....hear me out. It would be great if you dealt with some of this vault stuff now before you travel onto the great beyond. People who are life-long fans and who love your life's work want to see this stuff preserved and not turned into something that you may not have intended.

Heck, I'd help you for free.

Not even a Tony M. rap could save Adonis And Bathseba...

Anyway, Prince being a controlfreak means burning the vault (in his own lifetime)

is the best option.
Unless he can put his wishes down in an ironclad will.

Kirk Johnson probably has been around the longest now in the Prince-camp.
Let him be the curator.

Don't kid yourself, most of us will be dead years before he buys old man Johnson's farm.

Aerogram said:

Don't kid yourself, most of us will be dead years before he buys old man Johnson's farm.

True, he will prob live to 200, or, will be cryo frozen and thawed out during a period of time where time does not exist, to be cured of old age and bring back the funk to a brand new generation. (who also wont get the vault)

[Edited 9/24/15 16:37pm]

leadline said:

Aerogram said:

Don't kid yourself, most of us will be dead years before he buys old man Johnson's farm.

True, he will prob live to 200, or, will be cryo frozen and thawed out during a period of time where time does not exist, to be cured of old age and bring back the funk to a brand new generation. (who also wont get the vualt)

[Edited 9/24/15 14:57pm]

I konw! AOA is a futuristic album.

I quit thinking about the vault when he announced the Roadhouse Garden album project in 1998 and a short time later unceremoniously aborted it. It's folly to think he will keep his pledge with respect to unreleased material. I have enough bootlegs to keep me happy.