[Edited 4/24/16 15:07pm]

[Edited 4/24/16 15:08pm]

Thizz said:

Prince is fully equipped to be the greatest posthumous artist of all-time. Say what you will but death is a certain way back to the top of the charts

"I've never said this before, but I didn't always give the record companies the best song. There are songs in the vault that no one's ever heard. There are several vaults; it's not just one vault" - Prince

I didn't want to say this yet but Prince has the potential to be the greatest posthumous artist of all-time - and I would suspect that his unreleased material is a lot more finished and put together than any other artists a majority of which would feature less collaborators and sampling so there will be very little red tape on getting his work out in it's original form

Keep in mind how large his catalog is now, it's been said over 70% of his work is unreleased. Conservative estimates say there's about 2,000 unreleased songs. From his unreleased material over the years I'm sure there's enough to be able to compile a whole project of Prince rapping . . I really like Prince as a rapper for the same reasons I like Madonna as a rapper. Slick and concise, and very precise with their words

As far as people already enlisting themselves as a prospective producer for the project. Please stand out boldly to dismiss this nonsense. These people are nothing more than graverobbers who want to add their touch on music that is already completed. The only thing need would be a final mix before sending it off for mastering. Prince left behind entire albums. He likely composed the entirety of the music and wrote all of the lyrics - probably even played most of it since most of these recordings represent music he made while hanging out at Paisley Park doing what he loved. It's not like he left behind unfinished materails and songs with samples that would be tough to clear

[Edited 4/24/16 15:07pm]

[Edited 4/24/16 15:08pm]

Co writers deserve their due. Time to credit those that deserve it. Many tracks were not done by just Prnce.

Thizz said:

Prince is fully equipped to be the greatest posthumous artist of all-time. Say what you will but death is a certain way back to the top of the charts

"I've never said this before, but I didn't always give the record companies the best song. There are songs in the vault that no one's ever heard. There are several vaults; it's not just one vault" - Prince

I didn't want to say this yet but Prince has the potential to be the greatest posthumous artist of all-time - and I would suspect that his unreleased material is a lot more finished and put together than any other artists a majority of which would feature less collaborators and sampling so there will be very little red tape on getting his work out in it's original form

Keep in mind how large his catalog is now, it's been said over 70% of his work is unreleased. Conservative estimates say there's about 2,000 unreleased songs. From his unreleased material over the years I'm sure there's enough to be able to compile a whole project of Prince rapping . . I really like Prince as a rapper for the same reasons I like Madonna as a rapper. Slick and concise, and very precise with their words

As far as people already enlisting themselves as a prospective producer for the project. Please stand out boldly to dismiss this nonsense. These people are nothing more than graverobbers who want to add their touch on music that is already completed. The only thing need would be a final mix before sending it off for mastering. Prince left behind entire albums. He likely composed the entirety of the music and wrote all of the lyrics - probably even played most of it since most of these recordings represent music he made while hanging out at Paisley Park doing what he loved. It's not like he left behind unfinished materails and songs with samples that would be tough to clear

[Edited 4/24/16 15:07pm]

[Edited 4/24/16 15:08pm]

Thizz said:

Keep in mind how large his catalog is now, it's been said over 70% of his work is unreleased. Conservative estimates say there's about 2,000 unreleased songs.

To be clear, these estimates are talking mostly about recordings we've already heard. As Prince said, "there are songs in the vault that no one's ever heard." In other words, while lots has leaked, there are some things we still haven't heard.

As for not always giving record companies the best song, this is mainly referring to the 93-95 period where WB was specifically asking for him to put songs on Come and the Gold Experience, and Prince just messed with them because he was so bitter. Same with C&D and The Vault...Old Friends For Sale.

In the earlier era, he gave WB his best material, he was just constantly frustrated by them not allowing him to put out more (e.g., forcing him to cut SOTT to 2 LPs).

The "best" of the vault material was already released for Crystal Ball. Sure, his selection was not always the best, so there are still some good tracks that were never officially released.

However, the notion that we're about to spend the next few decades being blown away by Prince recordings that will top the charts or sell lots of copies is wishful thinking.

[Edited 4/24/16 15:21pm]

BanishedBrian said:

Thizz said:

Keep in mind how large his catalog is now, it's been said over 70% of his work is unreleased. Conservative estimates say there's about 2,000 unreleased songs.

To be clear, these estimates are talking mostly about recordings we've already heard. As Prince said, "there are songs in the vault that no one's ever heard." In other words, while lots has leaked, there are some things we still haven't heard.

As for not always giving record companies the best song, this is mainly referring to the 93-95 period where WB was specifically asking for him to put songs on Come and the Gold Experience, and Prince just messed with them because he was so bitter. Same with C&D and The Vault...Old Friends For Sale.

In the earlier era, he gave WB his best material, he was just constantly frustrated by them not allowing him to put out more (e.g., forcing him to cut SOTT to 2 LPs).

The "best" of the vault material was already released for Crystal Ball. Sure, his selection was not always the best, so there are still some good tracks that were never officially released.

However, the notion that we're about to spend the next few decades being blown away by Prince recordings that will top the charts or sell lots of copies is wishful thinking.

[Edited 4/24/16 15:21pm]

A very small amount of people are out there chasing leaks. Those can definitely be packaged for retail. The very same thing happened with Tupac's music but it's not an official release until it's put out

BanishedBrian said:

Thizz said:

Keep in mind how large his catalog is now, it's been said over 70% of his work is unreleased. Conservative estimates say there's about 2,000 unreleased songs.

To be clear, these estimates are talking mostly about recordings we've already heard. As Prince said, "there are songs in the vault that no one's ever heard." In other words, while lots has leaked, there are some things we still haven't heard.

As for not always giving record companies the best song, this is mainly referring to the 93-95 period where WB was specifically asking for him to put songs on Come and the Gold Experience, and Prince just messed with them because he was so bitter. Same with C&D and The Vault...Old Friends For Sale.

In the earlier era, he gave WB his best material, he was just constantly frustrated by them not allowing him to put out more (e.g., forcing him to cut SOTT to 2 LPs).

The "best" of the vault material was already released for Crystal Ball. Sure, his selection was not always the best, so there are still some good tracks that were never officially released.

However, the notion that we're about to spend the next few decades being blown away by Prince recordings that will top the charts or sell lots of copies is wishful thinking.

[Edited 4/24/16 15:21pm]

I think there's a lot of stuff we haven'y heard. Not necessarily something for the charts though

Thizz said:

BanishedBrian said:

To be clear, these estimates are talking mostly about recordings we've already heard. As Prince said, "there are songs in the vault that no one's ever heard." In other words, while lots has leaked, there are some things we still haven't heard.

As for not always giving record companies the best song, this is mainly referring to the 93-95 period where WB was specifically asking for him to put songs on Come and the Gold Experience, and Prince just messed with them because he was so bitter. Same with C&D and The Vault...Old Friends For Sale.

In the earlier era, he gave WB his best material, he was just constantly frustrated by them not allowing him to put out more (e.g., forcing him to cut SOTT to 2 LPs).

The "best" of the vault material was already released for Crystal Ball. Sure, his selection was not always the best, so there are still some good tracks that were never officially released.

However, the notion that we're about to spend the next few decades being blown away by Prince recordings that will top the charts or sell lots of copies is wishful thinking.

[Edited 4/24/16 15:21pm]

A very small amount of people are out there chasing leaks. Those can definitely be packaged for retail. The very same thing happened with Tupac's music but it's not an official release until it's put out

It doesn't make a lot of logical sense to me that, once the current hype dies down, the market for Prince's music will be such that there's all this money in releasing Vault material, when Prince has already done this and it didn't sell.

paulludvig said:

BanishedBrian said:

To be clear, these estimates are talking mostly about recordings we've already heard. As Prince said, "there are songs in the vault that no one's ever heard." In other words, while lots has leaked, there are some things we still haven't heard.

As for not always giving record companies the best song, this is mainly referring to the 93-95 period where WB was specifically asking for him to put songs on Come and the Gold Experience, and Prince just messed with them because he was so bitter. Same with C&D and The Vault...Old Friends For Sale.

In the earlier era, he gave WB his best material, he was just constantly frustrated by them not allowing him to put out more (e.g., forcing him to cut SOTT to 2 LPs).

The "best" of the vault material was already released for Crystal Ball. Sure, his selection was not always the best, so there are still some good tracks that were never officially released.

However, the notion that we're about to spend the next few decades being blown away by Prince recordings that will top the charts or sell lots of copies is wishful thinking.

[Edited 4/24/16 15:21pm]

I think there's a lot of stuff we haven'y heard. Not necessarily something for the charts though

Agreed - there will be material that Prince completists will want to hear. It will not be material that produces a lot of revenue though - it will be the re-release of original albums in remastered form that will generate 99% of whatever revenue ultimately gets generated.

You people realize that the day he died cities around the world lit up their landmarks in purple right? Michael Jackson's last posthumous release was certainly a commercial success

Thizz said:

You people realize that the day he died cities around the world lit up their landmarks in purple right? Michael Jackson's last posthumous release was certainly a commercial success

At the time of his death, MJ had released two albums in the prior 18 years.

IMO, Prince is a far superior artist, however, the world has never been deprived of Prince recordings. The two situations are sort of apples and oranges.

keenly said:

Thizz said:

Prince is fully equipped to be the greatest posthumous artist of all-time. Say what you will but death is a certain way back to the top of the charts

"I've never said this before, but I didn't always give the record companies the best song. There are songs in the vault that no one's ever heard. There are several vaults; it's not just one vault" - Prince

I didn't want to say this yet but Prince has the potential to be the greatest posthumous artist of all-time - and I would suspect that his unreleased material is a lot more finished and put together than any other artists a majority of which would feature less collaborators and sampling so there will be very little red tape on getting his work out in it's original form

Keep in mind how large his catalog is now, it's been said over 70% of his work is unreleased. Conservative estimates say there's about 2,000 unreleased songs. From his unreleased material over the years I'm sure there's enough to be able to compile a whole project of Prince rapping . . I really like Prince as a rapper for the same reasons I like Madonna as a rapper. Slick and concise, and very precise with their words

As far as people already enlisting themselves as a prospective producer for the project. Please stand out boldly to dismiss this nonsense. These people are nothing more than graverobbers who want to add their touch on music that is already completed. The only thing need would be a final mix before sending it off for mastering. Prince left behind entire albums. He likely composed the entirety of the music and wrote all of the lyrics - probably even played most of it since most of these recordings represent music he made while hanging out at Paisley Park doing what he loved. It's not like he left behind unfinished materails and songs with samples that would be tough to clear

[Edited 4/24/16 15:07pm]

[Edited 4/24/16 15:08pm]

Co writers deserve their due. Time to credit those that deserve it. Many tracks were not done by just Prnce.

Personally I don't agree. Anyone could be in a room with Prince and they could hum a simple melody or play a couple of chords - Prince would turn it into something excellent. It really is all Prince.

There will certainly be more demand for the posthumous Prince albums than his last few albums while he was alive. First of all, the music will be better. And also he is just on more fans' minds..more casual fans. The first couple of albums at least, will be good sellers.

And btw, you can't just copy the tapes to a Cd and release them. They have to be mixed and sequenced first (although I'm not even sure what that is) and whoever does that will have some artistic effect on the end result. But Prince used engineers to do this in the past, so won't be anything new.

However I agree that they should not add instruments and otherwise alter them. We fans love the raw unpolished demos so I hpoe they are ok with those.

I just hope too many of the tapes haven't degraded and decomposed in there, because it sounds like Prince did not take care of many of them.

Keep Welton away from the vault.

All of this speculation relies on the right person having their hands on the keys. If Prince knew he was dying, as some suspect, then he may well have got his affairs in order and made plans with someone he trusts with his legacy. He may have even recorded, sequenced and mastered the next ten album releases with instuctions as to where, how and when to distribute them. That is not something anyone here would find hard to believe.

However, he may well have left instructions to keep everything archived and it shoud never see the light of day.

The worse scenario for me is if he really did die suddenly and had no idea it was coming and he had no will, had made no plans for the vault and left everything in limbo. Then the battles and fights over who owns what will begin. Music may get released that is bastardised and designed to maximise profit. The vault may get raped. It would then be up to us fans to be very vocal about it.

Greatest posthumous? What does that even mean? Who decides that? I don't know how anyone can think about chart positions and album sales right now.

And IMO nobody is the greatest anything. They all stand on the shoulders of giants. Was he one of the greatest music artists that ever lived? No doubt! But how could anyone say, who was the greatest?

Either someone has a great sense of clarity or they've been reading along

Prince's backlog would likely surpass that of icons such as Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson, Light says. "This is magnitude far beyond that, because he was a writer, instrumentalist, singer and producer," he says. "If not all of it is in a finished state, it’s in a much more developed state."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/04/27/prince-left-hundreds-unreleased-songs/83358306/