So I guess this might be meant to go in the Estate thread even though it probably deserves a thread of its own being specifically about the music. But getting confused as several threads were nuked and told to post in a sticky on the estate but that is getting hijacked by talk about siblings and legal claims etc.

So at the risk of getting this thread nuked too...

The Universal Music Group announcement included the following statement...

http://www.universalmusic...ecordings/

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Under the terms of the deal, the Estate is licensing to UMG the 25 albums that Prince released through NPG Records, a label founded by the artist that includes Double Platinum- and Gold-certified albums Emancipation, Musicology and 3121. The agreement also provides for UMG and the Estate to collaborate with regard to Prince’s vault of prized unreleased works from throughout his career, including outtakes, demos and live recordings. In addition, beginning next year UMG will obtain U.S. rights to certain renowned Prince albums released from 1979 to 1995.
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So in part that is totally explicit:

1. UMG have a multi year rights over all of Prince's albums from Emancipation onwards (barring AOA and PE)

2. We already knew that Universal Music Publishing had the publishing rights (or licensing and collection of royalties) for ALL Prince's songs (hence WB thanking them for making Purple Rain remaster possible)

3. UMG have rights to the vault (doesn't say exclusive but assume for a period of time that is the same as point 1 will apply).

But is still a little esoteric in other parts:

4. From 2018 they BEGIN to obtain US rights to CERTAIN renowned Prince albums from 1979 to 1995? So not all the WB albums? Only US rights?

So that leaves me asking some questions (sure there are folks here who are more clued and can explain)...

5. We know that from 2014 Prince would have started to get ownership over his masters one by one starting with For You based on the 35 year rule. However, Prince cut a deal with WB that gave them a licence for his WB albums (but returned the master to Prince I think). Was this licence time bound, ie. Did it expire?

6. That deal with WB included the Purple Rain remaster. Was that time bound?

7. I am assuming that as the PR remaster is going to feature previously unreleased songs that WB had to secure agreement from Universal Music Publishing? Does his also mean that WB have had to licence those vault tracks from UMG?

8. Why don't ALL of the WB albums revert to UMG from next year? I expect there are a few special circumstances such as Batman and TGE which had their own one off deals.

Thoughts and ideas folks?

Ha ha so the Billboard article might actually go some way to answering some of my questions...

http://www.billboard.com/...recordings

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Beginning next year, UMG will obtain the U.S. rights to what it describes as "certain renowned albums" released by Prince between 1979 and 1995 -- though that's as specific as they're getting. That time period comprises Prince's initial deal with Warner Bros. -- by far his most commercially and critically successful era, comprising some 19 albums including Purple Rain, 1999, Diamonds and Pearls, Sign O' the Times, Controversy, Parade and Batman -- although it seems likely that UMG would be licensing lesser-known albums such as 1995's Chaos and Disorder.

Warner announced a deal late last year to release some of Prince's most popular recordings from that era, including an expanded edition of Purple Rain featuring unreleased materlal. Warner's rights to that material are complex -- with differing terms for different territories (and different terms for film soundtracks like Batman and Purple Rain), and some rights being held in perpetuity and others set to expire in 2021, a source close to the situation tells Billboard.
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And then there was this statement in The Telegraph...

http://www.telegraph.co.u...sed-songs/

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Prince, who died in April 2016, was renowned for the many songs he recorded and then kept in the basement at his Paisley Park home in Minneapolis. He was the only person with the code to open the safe.

Much of the material dates from the latter part of Prince's career, after he parted ways with Warner Bros Records in 1996, and will be released next year.
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Which implies that the vault material is actually post WB vault material not 78-96?

jaypotton said:

And then there was this statement in The Telegraph... http://www.telegraph.co.u...sed-songs/ ----- Prince, who died in April 2016, was renowned for the many songs he recorded and then kept in the basement at his Paisley Park home in Minneapolis. He was the only person with the code to open the safe. Much of the material dates from the latter part of Prince's career, after he parted ways with Warner Bros Records in 1996, and will be released next year. ----- Which implies that the vault material is actually post WB vault material not 78-96?

?

And one more interesting snippet, this time from the NY Times...

https://www.nytimes.com/2....html?_r=0

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These deals give Universal a powerful position in the posthumous business of Prince, but it has competition: Warner Bros. retains many rights to release much of his most popular music for at least several more years in the United States, through its original contracts with Prince and a renegotiation three years ago. (For soundtrack albums like “Purple Rain,” the company has much more extensive rights.) But the unusual level of control that Prince maintained over his work — which is now in the hands of his estate — means that for many of those albums, Universal will eventually put them out, and profit from them.
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So that sounds like at some point all/most of the WB albums will eventually be coming out via UMG but that the golden goose of Purple Rain could potentially be with WB for a very long time!

Still leaves the question over who has rights to the vault material recorded during the WB years though right?
[Edited 2/18/17 4:36am]