To start with: I own copies of the Black Album - first on bootleg vinyl, and then CD - but wanted to listen to it on my way back from work today - only to find it is not available on Tidal or Spotify (don't know about the other streaming services).

Anybody in the know why this is the case? There are some older threads on this, but no clear answer ("limited release, only once for the CD, then never again.." ...and one thread got sidetracked into "you should not depend on streaming services"...

So - are the streaming services somehow following Prince's original wish that the Black Album should not be released ?

I find it strange, it is the only P album not available,,, Anybody knows why?

Krid said:

To start with: I own copies of the Black Album - first on bootleg vinyl, and then CD - but wanted to listen to it on my way back from work today - only to find it is not available on Tidal or Spotify (don't know about the other streaming services).

Anybody in the know why this is the case? There are some older threads on this, but no clear answer ("limited release, only once for the CD, then never again.." ...and one thread got sidetracked into "you should not depend on streaming services"...

So - are the streaming services somehow following Prince's original wish that the Black Album should not be released ?

I find it strange, it is the only P album not available,,, Anybody knows why?

.

It was the estate's decision to stop licensing the Black Album.

Kares said:

Krid said:

To start with: I own copies of the Black Album - first on bootleg vinyl, and then CD - but wanted to listen to it on my way back from work today - only to find it is not available on Tidal or Spotify (don't know about the other streaming services).

Anybody in the know why this is the case? There are some older threads on this, but no clear answer ("limited release, only once for the CD, then never again.." ...and one thread got sidetracked into "you should not depend on streaming services"...

So - are the streaming services somehow following Prince's original wish that the Black Album should not be released ?

I find it strange, it is the only P album not available,,, Anybody knows why?

.

It was the estate's decision to stop licensing the Black Album.

That is the obvious answer - thank you...

Kares said:

Was it ever on streaming platforms?

Se7en said:

nosajd said:

Se7en said:

Was it ever on streaming platforms?

It was on Tidal at one point

Gotcha - thanks! I used the Tidal Store for downloads, but not the streaming service.

I would recommend just using a streaming service where you can upload your own songs into. I uploaded THE BLACK ALBUM into my account on Youtube Music so I never have this issue and it plays along with all the officially available records seamlessly.

lurker316 said:

Kares said:

.

It was the estate's decision to stop licensing the Black Album.

Well, of course. But do we know the Estate’s rationale? Was it because they believed Prince didn’t want it reissued?

Yeah, which is just ridiculous. They could market the fuck out of the infamous Black Album, only released once in limited quantities, is back and Blacker than ever! Them sticking w/ that bullshit he was on at the time is stupid from a business stand point. It's out there, and we all have it or can get it.

It does deserve to be cleaned up and remastered. But DeadPrince™ apparently doesn't want that to happen.

Ndorphinmachina said:

^ Does seem they're quite selective in which of his wishes they follow. All the swearing and overtly sexual lyrics are fine now. The Black Album, no, Prince wouldn't want that out there.

Yeah, and it's stupid because there's nothing that bad on TBA. There were those stories about Prince wanting to literally destroy the masters to things like Dirty Mind because he was so convicted about it, but why would we do that now? Hell, the album was remastered in 2011, well before he died. But it was out there.

And what was the other streaming that had some songs edits, but others not on one album? Just stupid shit, and zero reason for it. ZERO.

TrivialPursuit said:

Ndorphinmachina said:

^ Does seem they're quite selective in which of his wishes they follow. All the swearing and overtly sexual lyrics are fine now. The Black Album, no, Prince wouldn't want that out there.

Yeah, and it's stupid because there's nothing that bad on TBA. There were those stories about Prince wanting to literally destroy the masters to things like Dirty Mind because he was so convicted about it, but why would we do that now? Hell, the album was remastered in 2011, well before he died. But it was out there.

And what was the other streaming that had some songs edits, but others not on one album? Just stupid shit, and zero reason for it. ZERO.

The sexual content isn't worse than any of this other albums. However, his diss of Cindy Crawford is pretty personal and meanspirited. I could see him feeling guilty about that.

Also, later in his career Prince tried (without much success) to court hip-hop fans. He might not have wanted them to her him diss of rap in Dead On It. It would be like me making a song ridiculing country music, and a few years later trying desperately to be a country-western star.

[Edited 6/17/23 1:33am]

TrivialPursuit said:

lurker316 said:

Kares said: Well, of course. But do we know the Estate’s rationale? Was it because they believed Prince didn’t want it reissued?

Yeah, which is just ridiculous. They could market the fuck out of the infamous Black Album, only released once in limited quantities, is back and Blacker than ever! Them sticking w/ that bullshit he was on at the time is stupid from a business stand point. It's out there, and we all have it or can get it.

It does deserve to be cleaned up and remastered. But DeadPrince™ apparently doesn't want that to happen.

You could argue he wouldn't be that against it as he signed off on it's release in 94.

.

But you could in turn say he was still 'spiritually against' it and only agreed as part of getting out the WB deal. And the $1 million may have been a persuader.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

I think he only ever agreed to the early 90s release as he was desperate to get out of the contract

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https://musicfans.stackex...a/3719/129

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And im glad he did tbh or we wouldnt have it in good quality.

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There were direct CD rips on bootlegs.

lurker316 said:

dodger07 said:

You could argue he wouldn't be that against it as he signed off on it's release in 94.

.

But you could in turn say he was still 'spiritually against' it and only agreed as part of getting out the WB deal. And the $1 million may have been a persuader.

I agree on both counts. He had to sign off for the 500K copes in 1994. I forget if that was part of his exit-deal with WB or not. I don't think it did, (?) which added to his 'slave' stance. They were wanting albums, but not counting them toward his contract fulfillment. *

As far as his pseudo-spiritual stance, it was folklore. He had a moment and just rode hard for it in the long run for the sake of it. He didn't care about those songs as if they were spawned from evil. He was tripping drugs when he had that alleged epiphany. And even the widow-wannabe Sheila E. said it was just meant to be party music or something. Private use. So even those two story lines never gelled.

*there used to be a link somewhere laying out the $100M deal, but I can't find it.

lustmealways said:

Black is a masterpiece that deserves to be part of the 80s pantheon even though it wasn't

Let's be honest - it's not a masterpiece. It's good, but not great. It doesn't rise above SOTT or Lovesexy, Parade or Batman, albums on either side. If anything it's a sidechick to SOTT. But it ain't a masterpiece. It does belong in the 80s pantheon, though. That's where it came from and where it holds a spot.

TrivialPursuit said:

lustmealways said:

Respect but also I'd rank Black higher than Parade and much higher than Batman. That's just me tho.

I second that.

lustmealways said:

Respect but also I'd rank Black higher than Parade and much higher than Batman. That's just me tho.

Replace Parade with Lovesexy and, baby, you got yourself a stew going.

dodger07 said:

Always thought When 2 R In Love was a strange inclusion on TBA

Seems stranger on Lovesexy, but to me the Linn pattern and arrangement has a more stark Black Album vibe. If it was truly a Lovesexy track he'd have cluttered it with another 30 multi-tracked layers of colorful fx nonsense.

Just to add to this one - I don't think it's just The Black Album either - New Power Soul disappeared off Tidal earlier this week...not sure if it returned. There's very rarely a moment where the entire released catalogue is there. Individual titles seem to disappear / re-appear often.

T