Prince’s much-vaunted vault of unreleased music is being shopped for as much as $35 million by estate advisers Charles Koppelman and L. Londell McMillan, a source close to the situation tells Billboard. All three major labels are said to be in talks for rights to the music, the source said.

http://www.billboard.com/...xe-edition

Edited as there has been no confirmation of this beyond what the Billboard article announced.

[Edited 10/20/16 11:19am]

I guess this is a good thing,right?

I hope this is just a rumour.

Why would they do that?

It has got to be worth more then 35 mil.

Great timing....big freakout for people right before the tribute

If labels are bidding im sure i will be bought for more than that. TO BE HONEST as much as Prince may have disliked Warner for a while, but I would bet they or Universal BMG would do right by his releases and honor it the right way.

nonames said:

rogifan said:

nonames said:

This feels an incredibly low amount... But then I am a fan, and I guess his last albums sold in the tens of thousands.

We've seen estimates of his estate all the way from $100M to $300M to even $500M. No way his music is only worth $35M. If it is than all these estate estimates are way off.

Almost everyday lately there has been a new bit of Prince related news that's bothersome. Insanity to even consider selling Prince's material for 35 million.

rogifan said:

nonames said:

This feels an incredibly low amount... But then I am a fan, and I guess his last albums sold in the tens of thousands.

We've seen estimates of his estate all the way from $100M to $300M to even $500M. No way his music is only worth $35M. If it is than all these estate estimates are way off.

nonames said:

rogifan said:

We've seen estimates of his estate all the way from $100M to $300M to even $500M. No way his music is only worth $35M. If it is than all these estate estimates are way off.

I think it refers only to unreleased music, not the whole catalogue though. Still, I find it very low - and a bit depressing. Although if it means we get unreleased music soon... Bittersweet, I think is the word.

I don't know what this means, but I feel it's not good.

rogifan said:

Hmm...not sure what to think aside from $35M being awfully low.

I think we need to wait for more information. You can't sell something without knowing what it is, and the companies won't buy for the same reason, unless they judge they are getting the rights at a greatly undervalued amount.

I wouldn't like to see the catalogue broken up more than it is. If they separate the released, unreleased as well as video and music, things might get messy. But there's no point speculating until we get the details.

Terrible

NinaB said:

exactly

rogifan said:

Awesome! It needs to be sold and when it's sold, the buyers will have to release it for sale in order to make back their investment.

I won't bore you with all my math but seat-of-the-pants calculations tell me that it would take around 64 sellable songs to make this a profitable deal. I think that's highly doable. Can't wait!

rogifan said:

nonames said:

I think it refers only to unreleased music, not the whole catalogue though. Still, I find it very low - and a bit depressing. Although if it means we get unreleased music soon... Bittersweet, I think is the word.

How can anyone know what the vault is worth if it hasn't even been fully catalogued yet?

indeed. they haven't catalogued it yet so there's no telling what is in there exactly.

they're probably negotiating with labels as to who gets to work with the estate on
future releases, re-releases, remasters etc.

the 35 mil is probably a licensing/distribution deal?

i can't imagine they would be selling the vault without knowing exactly what is in it
or how much that might be worth. you can only start to reasonably put a price on
it once it's all catalogued.

morningsong said:

I don't know what this means, but I feel it's not good.

No joke, I feel the same...

IstenSzek said:

rogifan said:

nonames said: How can anyone know what the vault is worth if it hasn't even been fully catalogued yet?

indeed. they haven't catalogued it yet so there's no telling what is in there exactly.

they're probably negotiating with labels as to who gets to work with the estate on
future releases, re-releases, remasters etc.

the 35 mil is probably a licensing/distribution deal?

i can't imagine they would be selling the vault without knowing exactly what is in it
or how much that might be worth. you can only start to reasonably put a price on
it once it's all catalogued.

AMEN!!!

The article also says Purple Rain deluxe edition finally coming next year.

I had sent a tweet to Londell asking if this was true along with a link to the article. He tweeted back "This is absurd!" About a minute later his response along with my tweet and everyone else who had retweeted disappeared. Can't find it anywhere so he must have deleted. Guess we'll see what happens next.

Mumio said:

I had sent a tweet to Londell asking if this was true along with a link to the article. He tweeted back "This is absurd!" About a minute later his response along with my tweet and everyone else who had retweeted disappeared. Can't find it anywhere so he must have deleted. Guess we'll see what happens next.

He aint trustworthy either