Well, you say that, but since you have to make the effort to download his podcast, then sit and listen to it... you're annoying yourself by listening to something you don't have to listen to.

DiamondsnPearls44 said:

I dont have to put up with shit...if I like it good if I dont then I'll pass. I did the same when P was alive and aint nothing changed.

And there it is...the straight up truth!

databank said:

Honestly I fail to see why everything in the vault can't be made available over time.

Of course there won't be a 50 CD's boxset of rehearsals and soundchecks.

But this is 2016: digital is an option.

Physical releases should focus on the most high profile, profitable releases. Your occasional greatest hits package or thematic compilation, remaster of the most popula albums with bonus material, a few live DVD's here and there, and the occasional high profile unreleased album or outtakes collection, with accessible and "finished" outtakes.

The rest could simply be put out online, with maybe the possibility of limited or on-demand physical releases.

While even releasing material online does require some workforce (the material still needs to be -at least roughly- mixed and mastered, then uploaded or sent to various online services) and therefore does involve some costs, it is negligible compared to the costs or printing, distributing and promoting a CD with artwork, liner notes and all.

Of course, flooding iTunes and Amazon with 250 releases may be a bad move, though: it is possible the estate will want casual listeners to find Purple Rain, The Hits or Diamonds And Pearls without having to face a ridiculously long list of rehearsals, soundchecks, live shows and outtakes collection in the iTunes store.

But there is always the possibility of a very simple online store on a very simple website. I mean they gonna have to have an official website at some point, won't they (most deceased rock stars have one)? I do not believe hiring a specialist to select the tapes, an engineer to clean them and a webmaster to put them online once a month or so would cost more than the money generated by the sales. An alternative service such as Bandcamp or the Tidal store could also successfully be used. Bandcamp is a truly wonderful platform for alternative music if you ask me.

I could be wrong though: in a tweet last year Prince suggested that running an online store was too much hassle for too little profit. But Prince was often picky. I believe a very simple tool can be designed and kept alive without that much effort or cost.

Of course some people will come and tell me that anything that sales less than 1 million copies is a flop and will be a no-go.

I'd like to remind those people that about 95% of the records released on professional labels nowadays sell less than 50,000 copies. And still they get released, physically even. And still the labels and artists keep going. I'd like to remind them that people like John Zorn or Buckethead manage to release, respectively, about an album every 3 month and about an album a week (!), even though their audience is very much a niche by comparison to Prince's. I'd like to remind them that obscure 80's albums by acts such as André Cymone or Wendy & Lisa have been rereleased those last few years, even though it's unlikely they sold more than 10,000 copies or so each. If there's a market for a record of noisy guitar and drum machine loops recorded in his bedroom by Buckethead every goddamn week, if there's a market for a reissue of André Cymone's Living In The New Wave (a wonderful album, but one that went completely unnoticed even at the time of its original release), I do believe there is a market for a Prince online store.

I find myself agreeing to everything you are saying.

They are going to put the music/CDs out that will make money for the estate. I also see the Tidal/streaming downloads as something for the hardcore fans to get obscure material.

This can work out well for everyone involved.