Thiis recent Deliverence EP debacle has raised a lot of questions for me. They had music, a website, a fake video. What is the official Prince website now? What website represents Prince's estate? Also, can Warner Bros just release whatever Prince music they want whenever they want (based on the last contract they signed with Prince) or do they have to co-ordinate with Prince's estate?

This happened with Jimi Hendrix's estate too -- so many different releases, from different companies.

The family regained ownership and started putting out "official" releases that had their logo on them. Maybe Prince's estate does the same thing?

I guess the one certain rule of thumb is that if his estate is suing those responsible for a release, it's not "official."

Se7en said:

This happened with Jimi Hendrix's estate too -- so many different releases, from different companies.

The family regained ownership and started putting out "official" releases that had their logo on them. Maybe Prince's estate does the same thing?

Tupac as well.

I remember buying this not too long after he died, not knowing it was a bootleg. The song hadn't been heard before, and it turned out to be a stolen vocal track with remixed music under it, released on a random label. It was in major record stores in the UK like HMV and Virgin Megastore!

Militant said:

Se7en said:

This happened with Jimi Hendrix's estate too -- so many different releases, from different companies.

The family regained ownership and started putting out "official" releases that had their logo on them. Maybe Prince's estate does the same thing?

Tupac as well.

I remember buying this not too long after he died, not knowing it was a bootleg. The song hadn't been heard before, and it turned out to be a stolen vocal track with remixed music under it, released on a random label. It was in major record stores in the UK like HMV and Virgin Megastore!

That's INSANITY. Wow

Everyone pretty much knew the Deliverance EP was not official.

You can almost tell when there's no mention of Paisley Park, WB, Universal, NPG, etc.

What made it weird though is how many "official" channels were picking it up -- iTunes, Google, Apple Music, Amazon were carrying it, and Billboard, Rolling Stone, USA Today, etc. were reporting about it.

Se7en said:

Everyone pretty much knew the Deliverance EP was not official.

You can almost tell when there's no mention of Paisley Park, WB, Universal, NPG, etc.

What made it weird though is how many "official" channels were picking it up -- iTunes, Google, Apple Music, Amazon were carrying it, and Billboard, Rolling Stone, USA Today, etc. were reporting about it.

And that's the rub. When it's in Rolling Stone magazine and every major distributor, most people would assume it's legit. I mean, can i release music and say it's Prince? This all has to be sorted out.

mano said:

jaypotton said:

Too many threads on this subject now so hard not to cross post and repeat so... If Prince were alive he would receive royalties on music he has written and performed. Now that he is dead the recipients of those royalties are his estate. So...will the estate receive any royalties from the Ian Boxill released Deliverance EP. The answer is clearly NO so that makes this unofficial and an attempt to cash in. Now if Ian Boxill had released this for FREE for fans to share then as others have said...that would be very cool of him! The issue is "show me the money" regardless of anyone's personal opinion about Prince's heirs and the way the estate are handling anything, it is theirs to handle and nobody else's!

Consider my thread here to be the definitive one. Lol. You make excellent points. And I think the songs are pretty much out there now, it's just a matter of who's sharing them and where. They can't unopen that door. Just sad I didn't get a copy.

[Edited 4/21/17 7:29am]

mano said:

Se7en said:

Everyone pretty much knew the Deliverance EP was not official.

You can almost tell when there's no mention of Paisley Park, WB, Universal, NPG, etc.

What made it weird though is how many "official" channels were picking it up -- iTunes, Google, Apple Music, Amazon were carrying it, and Billboard, Rolling Stone, USA Today, etc. were reporting about it.

And that's the rub. When it's in Rolling Stone magazine and every major distributor, most people would assume it's legit. I mean, can i release music and say it's Prince? This all has to be sorted out.

I almost understand the news aspect of Deliverance being picked up and spread so quickly through social media and the entertainment news outlets. Add some purple and nice graphics, and it really does look official. Wondering why it was not really vetted for accuracy from the Estate, but some outlets just feed off others for their news.

What's more shocking though is the retail outlets such as iTunes and Google Play. Someone (the producer most likely) had to have been in contact with these online retailers to be able to provide them with the actual PRODUCT and compensation information of where the money would go to.