It's been four days since music legend Prince passed away, and we're still left with more questions than answers.

Theories about Prince's cause of death began circulating just hours after news of his passing went public, but it may be weeks before autopsy and toxicology reports are released to the public.

However, multiple insiders have confirmed that the enigmatic entertainer was struggling both emotionally and physically in his final days and may have even known his death was coming.

TMZ reported last week that Prince overdosed on Percocet just days before his death, forcing his private plane to make an emergency landing so that EMTs could restart his heart.

Now, the site is reporting that in addition to his alleged substance abuse issues, the iconic singer and songwriter was struggling with financial issues in his final days.

Insiders tell TMZ that Prince was cash-strapped mainly as a result of his refusal to license any of his music.

For artists with catalogs as large and beloved as Prince's licensing and royalties can bring in millions a year.

The sources claim Prince's notions about artistic integrity led him to refuse virtually every lucrative financial opportunity that came his way in his final years.

That meant that his primary source of revenue was concerts.

The problem there was that Prince was so impulsive he would often put on performances with little notice or fanfare, which severely limited his profits.

It was originally reported that the singer's sister Tyka Nelson would inherit his $300 million estate but those closest to Prince believe that figure to be way off base.

Industry experts have slashed the number in half, and even a $150 estimate is based on how much Prince would've profited if he'd sold the rights to his music, which again - he rarely did.

So Tyka might be inheriting one of the most valuable bodies of work in the history of pop music, but in order to profit from it, she may have to go against her brother's ideals.

Source: TheHollywoodGossip.com

Could there be some truth to this report?

Key points worth discussing include:

1. As fans we all know Prince loved to talk about money, and how artists aren't getting paid for their work.

2. As this report suggests, we also know Prince was notoriously selective in allowing his music to be licensed out, almost to the point where he simply didn't do it. This decision would have gone against his desire to make more money off his music as highlighted in the previous point, and he would have forfeited hundreds of millions over a decade in potential earnings.

3. We know Prince has, in the past, launched into lengthy concert tours to boost the coffers when the cash started to dry up a bit. The classic example of that was the 1990 Nude Tour which was done as a stripped back concert tour with lower costs but larger net profits, in order to cash Prince up again.

4. Paisley Park is likely to be quite costly to operate and maintain. Given that album sales for Prince in recent years were not what they once were, this would have meant his only real revenue stream for the most part, was concert tours.

With all his activity post 2004, where we count the Musicology Tour, The Las Vegas residency and the O2 Residency, the 20Ten newspaper deal, Planet Earth newspaper deal, and the Welcome 2 America and P&AM tours, I find the "broke" story a bit hard to swallow.

I doubt it...

DFUNK said:

laurarichardson said:

DFUNK said:

Source: TheHollywoodGossip.com

Could there be some truth to this report?

Key points worth discussing include:

1. As fans we all know Prince loved to talk about money, and how artists aren't getting paid for their work.

2. As this report suggests, we also know Prince was notoriously selective in allowing his music to be licensed out, almost to the point where he simply didn't do it. This decision would have gone against his desire to make more money off his music as highlighted in the previous point, and he would have forfeited hundreds of millions over a decade in potential earnings.

3. We know Prince has, in the past, launched into lengthy concert tours to boost the coffers when the cash started to dry up a bit. The classic example of that was the 1990 Nude Tour which was done as a stripped back concert tour with lower costs but larger net profits, in order to cash Prince up again.

4. Paisley Park is likely to be quite costly to operate and maintain. Given that album sales for Prince in recent years were not what they once were, this would have meant his only real revenue stream for the most part, was concert tours.

--// He had assets that he could liquidate at any time. He could license out the music or sell the catalog. He has 15 properties in Carver County worth 30 million.If you have assets you have money.

Depends on what your circumstances are. Just prior to Michael Jacksons death he had a reported $500 million in debts and a relatively small amount in available cash. In his case, passing away was the best thing that happened to him from a financial point of view because the post death rush on albums and memorabilia cleared his debt.

TraSoul82 said:

violectrica said:

TraSoul82 said:

As I said in the other "was prince broke" thread: May we all one day be as broke as he was. Good luck, everyone.

Haha yes. Rich people broke. Not you and me broke. But just for the record, he deserved to be as Rich as Beyonce and JayZ, considering his work. But he wasn't. If we're comparing people. But I guess there demographic is younger and therefore is a larger buying pool soo..

Its hard to say. The peak of Prince's career was still within the era in which a successful album was still immensely profitable. That is less so the case these days, which means that for Beyonce to earn as much as she does, she needs to rely more heavily on touring, merchandise and commercial endorsements. The dynamics of the music industry for an artist have changed considerably in the last decade or so.

<My sister at one time worked for Russell Simmons' ..a rstory broke mid 90's that he was broke ..As my sister stated then and i am sure it holds true for Prince was , lee, understand, their vapors are 180 degrees ddifferent than our vapors..Prince nor his estate will never be broke. Further, there was a movie with alex baldwin and anothy hopkins where they are lost 9in the wilderness and hopkins goes to baldwins character; never feel sorry foer someone who gets around on a private aircraft

[Edited 4/29/16 11:02am]

He just did about 15 concerts and assuming he made $500K from each one, taht is $7.5 million right there. Or even if half that, he still cleaned up.

DFUNK said:

Paisley Park would not be cheap to run, and he funded it all himself... that's why he constantly toured.

What money there is will be drained fast now he's gone.

.

As much as the family might think they're going to inherit a fortune, they'll also inherit a lot of costs!

Also, someome else quoted a former associate saying he didnt know about financial issues wht he did knwo was that Prince was paying a lot of people mortgages ion th MPLS area

FunkiestOne said:

He just did about 15 concerts and assuming he made $500K from each one, taht is $7.5 million right there. Or even if half that, he still cleaned up.

Sure, $7.5 million is alot of money to us mere mortals. But if Prince was in a situation where he was touring because he "needed to" rather than just "wanting to" that $7.5 million might nowhere near enough to shore up his finances, if indeed he needed to do that.

I remember similar rumours popped up around the time of the Musicology Tour. The story was that his finances needed "CPR" and so he and the New Power Generation hit the road and did a major stadium tour playing the hits.

Fury said:

Pain issues aside ... He could have sold out Atlanta and every major city in America ten times each.

Believe me, nobody is disputing his marketability and performance quality as a live performer. I just recently saw him in Melbourne Australia on his Piano & A Microphone shows and he was stunning and well and truly on point.

If he was ill even at this point, there was certainly know sign of it. Prince was well and truly on top of his game, even with nothing more than a piano, microphone and a couple of candlebras.

think about the inescapable weight of being responsible for all those people in his employ and the upkeep on his studio and.. everything. all the trappings. must have been a constant scramble. i always felt a little sorry for him.

He wasnt broke, but I dont think he had "cash in hand". His "estate" is in those damned vaults, and we all know how "tight" he was with his music. Only way his family is going to "inherit" money is to release the music.

Probably not as broke as all of his haters.

He had enough money for a private jet to shuttle him across the globe for his Piano and a mic performances so that tells me he wasn't buying quarter waters and Cup o' Noodles for lunch.

UncleJam said:

He wasnt broke, but I dont think he had "cash in hand". His "estate" is in those damned vaults, and we all know how "tight" he was with his music. Only way his family is going to "inherit" money is to release the music.

This is patently false as at the very minimum, he had real estate and royalties. These royalties were getting thinner, but with his passing, it's likely they'll be much higher for a while just with the released material as it is available right now.

Now if his heirs get organized, it's very likely the released albums will get the remaster treatment with a few key released tracks that were originally B-sides or extended 12". WB could do that with their permission without touching anything in the vault. And if some legendary unreleased tracks are added, then you have a very interesting proposition for the public out there -- just using probably less than 5% of what is in the vault. The repackaged released albums could sell well, especially Purple Rain and 1999 -- with or without a few unreleased tracks, considering what was released but has been hard to find for a while could make them interesting.

In terms of his attitude toward money, it seems to me he was interested in having enough to do what he wanted as an artist, keep the lights on at the Park, hire the musicians he wanted, buy gear like his new guitar and new piano, charter private planes and that sort of thing but he wasn't in it to be super wealthy. "Cash strapped" Prince was paying a few mortgages around town and making many donations without claiming them for deductions at tax time (apparently he stopped claiming anything for his taxes in 2007).

He was interested in getting paid appropriately for his work as a matter of principle, because he famously thought artists were not getting a fair deal. He could have taken a less principled view and cashed in with more streaming, licensing and augmented remasters, relenting on YT and playing the PR game like a standard artist, but we all know he passed on all that for the most part. If it was because he was holding off for what he thought was an appropriate advance, then that fits into getting properly paid.

It's obvious to me his attitude toward wealth, his work ethic and getting paid, his discreet donations and his willingness to help out are very informed by his faith, but he was also fairly careless financially at various points in his career, living to regret costly decisions. Many times, he could have done the obvious commercial move, like wait two years after Purple Rain, release albums full of potential singles like MJ did, but he chose his art over his bank account balance.

I wouldn't doubt he had some cash flow problems from time to time, we've been hearing this since the 90s. But as has been said, he was "rich people broke". He was basically living in a rock n roll mansion with his own personal chef and assistants running around, we could all hope to be that broke.