Paramount acquires Warner...the middle

From what i understand, PR, Parade, Batman & GB, the movies AND the soundtracks now belong to Paramount.

So Warner Music Group will still own the unreleased recordings from 1978 to 1994 while the soundtracks will now be property of Paramount through Warner Discovery.

So let's welcome one more shareholder to this Prince Estate mess.

[Edited 3/3/26 9:01am]

fredmagnus said:

Paramount acquires Warner...the middle

From what i understand, PR, Parade, Batman & GB, the movies AND the soundtracks now belong to Paramount.

So Warner Music Group will still own the unreleased recordings from 1978 to 1994 while the soundtracks will now be property of Paramount through Warner Discovery.

So let's welcome one more shareholder to this Prince Estate mess.

[Edited 3/3/26 9:01am]

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I don't think it changes anything regarding the vault. In the case of songs used in movies (as opposed to specifically written film scores) it is usually the record company that licenses them to the film studio, so I guess the above mentioned albums are still owned by Warner Music.

I hope you're right, Kares.

Hopefully, this will be confirmed at some point.

I just asked GPT about it and it said the opposite but i know it's not a reliable source.

In my understanding is that only the scores are part of Paramount now.Some people speculated taht only the music released under WB's Watertower Records and were part of the PAramount deal. So WEA and Warner Sunset material (all teh Prince soundtracks including Girl 6 and Happy Feet) are still owned by WB records.

[Edited 3/3/26 10:47am]

Good news, then.

The situation is already complicated enough as it is.

It's all just talk for now. It could be a year or more before the Paramount WBD deal is done (if it happens at all).

For Prince fans it's probably better that Paramount get control of the movies than Netflix (Given their history with the Estate)

If you look at the indicias on streaming sites, all 4 albums say:

© YEAR NPG Records, Inc. under exclusive license to Warner Records Inc.

℗ YEAR NPG Records, Inc. under exclusive license to Warner Records Inc.

Before 2014, it used to just say Warner Records Inc.

Si IDK what rights WB may or may not have on those records, but likely little to none. The masters clearly always belonged to WR (and remained with them after WB sold the label), and now clearly belong to the Estate with an exclusive, possibly neverending licence with WR, a company that's had nothing to do with WB for over two decades.

Bottom line: I may be wrong, but I doubt this will change anything about anything.

Not that I care anyway, since I've had those records for decades.