Hi everyone.

So I was vaguely aware about what was happening as far as the Sony distribution deal (Legacy releases) were concerned, however I hadn't looked into the specifics. Since the subject was brought up again in another thread I decided to look into it in more detail, and it turns out there wasn't much to see. After reading several articles and the copy pasted prepared statements therein I'm left with more questions than answers.


Here is a link to a news article which features that same statement put out by The Prince Estate and Sony / Legacy that every other news outlet pumped out at the time, but I'll summarise the key points:

Correction: What I mistook for a news article turned out to be the official statement...

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sony-music-entertainmentlegacy-recordings-sign-exclusive-distribution-deal-with-prince-estate-covering-35-essential-catalog-titles-from-1978-2015-300672798.html

1) The Prince catalog covered under the new agreement will be distributed by Legacy Recordings, a division of SME, with worldwide rights beginning immediately to 19 previously released album titles (originally released between 1995-2010). Emancipation, Chaos and Disorder, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic etc.

2) In addition to the album titles from the 1995-2010 era, the agreement also includes rights to other previously released material recorded post-1995 including singles, b-sides, remixes, non-album tracks, live recordings and music videos.

3) Starting in 2021, Sony/Legacy's distribution rights will be expanded to include 12 Prince non-soundtrack catalog albums, featuring iconic music recorded by the artist from the 1978-1996 era for distribution in the United States. 1999, Around The World In A Day, Sign O' The Times, Lovesexy etc.


Now I'm no expert so please correct me if I'm wrong here, but these are the facts as I can discern.

1) The Legacy deal is strictly a distribution deal. Sony take no ownership of the music itself or the master tapes. Their job is literally to stick the music on wax and put it in the shops. All other rights are retained by the Prince Estate.

2) This distribution deal only applies to previously released material. Nowhere in this literature is there any mention of Sony having the rights to distribute vault material, either now or in the future (at least not under this deal).

3) In just over a year's time Sony will have the right to distribute a large selection of Prince's Warner Brother albums (all the main line Prince albums minus four movie soundtracks), but only in the USA.


So here are the things I'm concerned about...

* As this deal only permits Sony to redistribute previously released albums, do they only have permission to release the previous editions of those albums? ie. Will they only be permitted to distribute the original master of 1999, as opposed to the recent remaster?

* Will Warner Brother still have the permission to release remastered albums, given that Sony will have exclusive distribution rights to those same albums in the USA? If not, will sets like 1999 Super Deluxe have to be withdrawn from sale in the USA as they contain the album 1999?

* Will this Sony deal put an end to Warner's super deluxe sets, at least as far as America is concerned?

* Will Sony have the opportunity to remaster these older Warner Brother albums themselves?

* If Warner Brothers will still have permission to publish remastered and vault material after 2020 (as they have done up until now), where do they stand when it comes to songs like Dream Factory, Crucial, Sexual Suicide and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic. All these songs were recorded while Prince was under contract with Warner, but were released by Prince independently on Crystal Ball and Rave. If Warner were to digitally remaster the original 2" tapes, does that mean they can now be released under Warner as remasters? The reason I bring this up is because 'Crucial' was edited short on Crystal Ball and the version of 'Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic' released in 1999 was an updated mix. As Sony won't have permission to release the full version of Crucial or the '89 mix of Rave (as they were never previously released), then who else will?

* As I understand it, if Warner have permission to release vault material that was recorded while Prince was under contract them, and Sony have no distribution rights to unreleased material at all, then what is happing with Prince's post Warner vault tracks? Are they just left in limbo for the time being?

Sorry if I'm covering old ground but I wasn't a forum member back when this was news. Can anybody shine any light on these issues or are we all in the same boat speculating what the future holds?


Many thanks in advance.


[Edit: Minor Correction]

[Edited 12/7/19 18:52pm]

I don't think the distribution deals have been explained sufficiently for anyone here to give an authoritative answer, but, I hope I'm wrong and someone provides you (us) with more details.

prnewswire isn't some news website, it's a site that puts out PRESS RELEASES. It's literally in their name. So you didn't read an article, you read the press release from Sony/Legacy.

Here's what I could piece together.

.

The Estate owns all of the rights to Prince's post WB albums. The rights to all the WB albums, outside of the soundtracks (and maybe The Black Album?), at least in America, revert to the Estate in 2021 according to the 2014 deal that Prince made. WB has an exclusive license to the soundtracks (Purple Rain, Parade, Batman, Graffitti Bridge) in perpetuity. It's also rumored that WB has an exclusive license to a number of albums in different regions, also in perpetuity.

.

The Sony deal is the Estate licensing all those albums and previously released post-95 items to Sony. It doesn't include vault material from post-95.
.
The interesting thing about all this is it seems like the 2014 deal let WB have a finger in the pie regarding studio vault material recorded while Prince was under contract with them. That's why the Universal deal fell apart. They thought they were getting everything by 2018 with unfettered access to the vault in it's entirety.

.

So could Sony release a super deluxe of one of the WB albums in 2021 without bringing WB on as a partner? It doesn't seem like it. And you'd have to assume that 1999 Deluxe will go out of print in 2021 unless WB and Sony reach some sort of agreement.

.

In theory, Sony could remaster the albums or pair them with non-studio vault material (aka live content) if they make an additional deal with the Estate but, so far, we've only seen straight repackagings from Sony.

[Edited 12/7/19 16:16pm]

Strive said:

Here's what I could piece together.

.

The Estate owns all of the rights to Prince's post WB albums. The rights to all the WB albums, outside of the soundtracks (and maybe The Black Album?), at least in America, revert to the Estate in 2021 according to the 2014 deal that Prince made. WB has an exclusive license to the soundtracks (Purple Rain, Parade, Batman, Graffitti Bridge) in perpetuity. It's also rumored that WB has an exclusive license to a number of albums in different regions, also in perpetuity.

.

The Sony deal is the Estate licensing all those albums and previously released post-95 items to Sony. It doesn't include vault material from post-95.
.
The interesting thing about all this is it seems like the 2014 deal let WB have a finger in the pie regarding studio vault material recorded while Prince was under contract with them. That's why the Universal deal fell apart. They thought they were getting everything by 2018 with unfettered access to the vault in it's entirety.

.

So could Sony release a super deluxe of one of the WB albums in 2021 without bringing WB on as a partner? It doesn't seem like it. And you'd have to assume that 1999 Deluxe will go out of print in 2021 unless WB and Sony reach some sort of agreement.

.

In theory, Sony could remaster the albums or pair them with non-studio vault material (aka live content) if they make an additional deal with the Estate but, so far, we've only seen straight repackagings from Sony.

[Edited 12/7/19 16:16pm]

Then it would make even more sense for WB to release SDEs between now and the expiry of albums that are NOT theirs in perpetuity - so things like ATWIAD, SOTT, etc. I am hoping they consider this and do not release the Parade SDE next.