A couple of years ago, when the Purple Rain remaster seemed to be going sour, there was a thread discussing whether Prince would ever actually release the content of the vault.

I had a crazy preference/dream/notion. I loved the idea that Prince already had a plan, and at that on his death, the entire contents of the vault would simultaneously upload to all corners of the internet, matrix style. Prince is dead, the vault is open. No one would ever own his work; it was now free for everyone. New material in life, and free at last in death. The doves fly. You get the picture. I still think it would have been a cool move but obviously it never happened.

Roll on to today, the vault is open and the entire contents lie hidden in some warehouse while people establish what it is they exactly have and how to monetize it. Reports seem to suggest that the tapes were ‘baked’ and digitally converted at some point in the past, which means a hard drive, somewhere, may now have the entire contents of the vault on it.

My question is this.

Would you be happy if the entire vault was hacked / leaked /or set free and suddenly appeared on torrents and other download sites? So many terabytes that it could take you years just to listen to it once. Fans discussing what they have found in the depths. Then its over. No more. Ever.

Or would you rather it be withheld and drip fed, like luxury chocolate, with artwork and packaging for you to buy, propping up the estate finances and keeping you hooked for more purple drug?

luxury chocolate. ONLY the estate should be entitled to release Vault material imo

Absolutely not. Though I want to see his work come out, it should/needs to be released legitimately. There we will have (I hope) the best quality and most complete (I hope again) work.

SquirrelMeat said:

Are you giving the hackers ideas?

laurarichardson said:

SquirrelMeat said:

A couple of years ago, when the Purple Rain remaster seemed to be going sour, there was a thread discussing whether Prince would ever actually release the content of the vault.

I had a crazy preference/dream/notion. I loved the idea that Prince already had a plan, and at that on his death, the entire contents of the vault would simultaneously upload to all corners of the internet, matrix style. Prince is dead, the vault is open. No one would ever own his work; it was now free for everyone. New material in life, and free at last in death. The doves fly. You get the picture. I still think it would have been a cool move but obviously it never happened.

Roll on to today, the vault is open and the entire contents lie hidden in some warehouse while people establish what it is they exactly have and how to monetize it. Reports seem to suggest that the tapes were ‘baked’ and digitally converted at some point in the past, which means a hard drive, somewhere, may now have the entire contents of the vault on it.

My question is this.

Would you be happy if the entire vault was hacked / leaked /or set free and suddenly appeared on torrents and other download sites? So many terabytes that it could take you years just to listen to it once. Fans discussing what they have found in the depths. Then its over. No more. Ever.

Or would you rather it be withheld and drip fed, like luxury chocolate, with artwork and packaging for you to buy, propping up the estate finances and keeping you hooked for more purple drug?

// You realize that if the estate taxes don't get paid everything will get auctioned off.

Of course. But I'm being more basic at this point.

Personally, I'm torn, but I think I'd go for drip feed, because I love the idea that Prince will keep delivering me joy way beyond his passing, with probably enough material to see me off this mortal coil.

But....when the estate/siblings get their millions from initial assest sales (land/property), then a bit of me says, let Prince's music truely be free. He never made it so that a future purchaser could make money on his back. If he did want that, he would have made a will.

All we know is that he felt the artist should get paid, and that music should be freed. So my head says Prince would want it free, my heart says every year it is delayed / staggered is another year I get to hear fresh jelly and live in a form of comfortable denial about his passing.

SquirrelMeat said:

A couple of years ago, when the Purple Rain remaster seemed to be going sour, there was a thread discussing whether Prince would ever actually release the content of the vault.

I had a crazy preference/dream/notion. I loved the idea that Prince already had a plan, and at that on his death, the entire contents of the vault would simultaneously upload to all corners of the internet, matrix style. Prince is dead, the vault is open. No one would ever own his work; it was now free for everyone. New material in life, and free at last in death. The doves fly. You get the picture. I still think it would have been a cool move but obviously it never happened.

Roll on to today, the vault is open and the entire contents lie hidden in some warehouse while people establish what it is they exactly have and how to monetize it. Reports seem to suggest that the tapes were ‘baked’ and digitally converted at some point in the past, which means a hard drive, somewhere, may now have the entire contents of the vault on it.

My question is this.

Would you be happy if the entire vault was hacked / leaked /or set free and suddenly appeared on torrents and other download sites? So many terabytes that it could take you years just to listen to it once. Fans discussing what they have found in the depths. Then its over. No more. Ever.

Or would you rather it be withheld and drip fed, like luxury chocolate, with artwork and packaging for you to buy, propping up the estate finances and keeping you hooked for more purple drug?

I don't think he would have ever released music from the vault while alive. No I wouldn't want the vault to be hacked. I just don't wish that violation on his life's work. Besides, without making money the estate would be sold.

I want to say get it all out there. Can you imagine the marvellous chaos on the Org? It would make a wonderful ride for a while. But binge listening, while perhaps appropriate for the world we live in today, wouldn't be the best way to appreciate and remember his work.

On the other hand, I'm concerned that the estate are really going to drag their feet with releases. I don't want to be here in twenty, thirty years (assuming I am still here) waiting for the next vault release, especially if that release contains material we have today. Interest will inevitably diminish, Who knows what the state of the music business will be, and interest will inevitably diminish. There's only a relatively short window in which the work can be truly monetized.

While getting leaked initially sounds great, and it really does to me, there's a whole lot of disorganization and loss of info and quality that comes from that process.

You can easily dump terabytes of info online. That's not a big deal. We would all get it and probably ooh and ahh over it as we buy a new hard drive just for all the Purple goodies.

But what you won't have is someone, with knowledge, who handled the works with care, ensured the best quality was released, took time to label, date, footnote and connect each piece to Prince and his collaborators.

The details gets lost when someone just dumps stuff online. That's for all types of media too. I mean, what if someone was able to access the vault, found a collection of photographs Prince personally took and the fool decides to scan them with his inkjet home printer to share. No data on when and where and why Prince took those images while we click through some blurry jpegs. lol

I'm also not interested in 30 years of waiting for the works either. But I would prefer someone to be appointed, with knowledge and experience, to take the time to put his work together and release it in a timely fashion.

And I'm all for giving my money to charity. I would have less problem forking over a couple of bills every year for unreleased works as opposed to someone collecting on Prince music who isn't Prince.

I want it all out, onbe way or another, but since it's very unlikely that most of the tapes have been digitalized, it simply can't be leaked, and if/whenever it'll be digitalized one can imagine the security protocols will be pretty intense.

I've said it before, I'd like to see everything that was available as of April212016 released OFFICIALLY in high quality, then for the estate to elease the rest of The Vault contents OFFICIALLY in high quality releases at regular intervals.

I think P would want the estate to profit from his lifetime work.

I just want it all organized and OFFICIAL so I know where to send my $.

I woud have to rush out and get more hard drives

seriously though, I rather it comes legit and as it should in a logical sequence.

oliviacamron said:

Yes I would. Reason, I'm worried some will be never be heard. I'm worried some will be given to other artists to redo. I'm worried some songs may tell truths and someone may put a stop to its release. Some songs may even be prophetic. I am so worried the vault will be mishandled, stolen, destroyed, exploited . So yes, I would be happy if it was all released right now, exactly how Prince created it.

WTF?

roxy831 said:

I'd be all for it.

The hardcore fans are a dying breed (unreleased Hendrix albums barely broke the top 100), and we know from experience that when faced with this kind of situation record companies turn to producers. (Elvis: A little less conversation). Nobody cared, until the remix.

Bottom line, Prince didn't want the vault "out there" if he did, he'd have done it. Equally, there is no chance in hell the estate is going to turn down the millions of dollars the vault can generate.

The estate is talking about another hits album late 2016 & "new" music in 2017. Neither will sell millions of copies. I'd also guess that the new music will come in the form or deluxe remasters. Because "PURPLE RAIN REMASTERED" is going to sell better than "THESE SONGS PRINCE DIDN'T PUT ON PURPLE RAIN".

At that rate, we could be looking at 10 - 20 years before any releases with a bit more meat on the bone.

Paisley Park Music Club anyone?

How would I feel? Conflicted. That's how I'd feel.

Noodled24 said:

Paisley Park Music Club anyone?

That'd be great BUT all the NPGMC tracks were online right for free right after they were released. I found that sad and maddening. The logic of people that paid to join and then leak them for nothing?

[Edited 9/24/16 9:28am]

A slow release through the years would be better.

Noodled24 said:

I'd be all for it.

The hardcore fans are a dying breed (unreleased Hendrix albums barely broke the top 100), and we know from experience that when faced with this kind of situation record companies turn to producers. (Elvis: A little less conversation). Nobody cared, until the remix.

Bottom line, Prince didn't want the vault "out there" if he did, he'd have done it. Equally, there is no chance in hell the estate is going to turn down the millions of dollars the vault can generate.

The estate is talking about another hits album late 2016 & "new" music in 2017. Neither will sell millions of copies. I'd also guess that the new music will come in the form or deluxe remasters. Because "PURPLE RAIN REMASTERED" is going to sell better than "THESE SONGS PRINCE DIDN'T PUT ON PURPLE RAIN".

At that rate, we could be looking at 10 - 20 years before any releases with a bit more meat on the bone.

Paisley Park Music Club anyone?

Agreed and also who is to say that Prince wanted anyone who is going to profit from the releases to actually be involved in the first place. Shit we are not even clear on what his relationships were with these people profiting from his work and we damn sure aren't cleat as to whether or not any of these people contributed to his death.

When some folks say that he "wouldn't have wanted it out when he was alive", of course not. That's his inventory of thoughts and musical ideas. He was still alive to mine through it and create newer, more well-crafted musical works from it. There will be no more new music. Those stored thoughts and musical ideas will remain as they were from now until the end of time. I would like all of his work to be categorized in some form or fashion should it all be put out into the world. If not, oh well.

I will buy the official releases when they come out.

[Edited 9/24/16 23:37pm]

derrick31 said:

Shit as long as we've been wanting and waiting--at this damn point-- I'm straight up #TeamByAnyMeansNecessary