There’s a particular kind of quiet delusion that looks like loyalty on the surface but is, in truth, just time leaking away. It’s the act of investing hope N2 a system that has shown—repeatedly and without ambiguity—that it has no intention of delivering. People dress it up as patience, as faith, as “just waiting 4 the right moment,” but the pattern is already written.

When something is structurally broken, indifferent, or misaligned with its audience, no amount of wishing, refreshing, or speculation is going to bend it N2 action. U’re not waiting—U’re stalling your own attention on something that has already made its decision.

Look at the handling of Prince’s estate. It’s not a mystery. It’s not a slow burn toward some grand reveal. It’s a case study in mismanagement and indifference 2 the very audience that keeps the legacy alive. Fans keep circling the same drain—hoping 4 releases, parsing rumors, convincing themselves that “this time will be different.” It won’t. At some point, continuing 2 care becomes a choice 2 waste U'rer own energy.

The smarter move is 2 redirect that attention toward things that actually respond—art that’s alive, creators who engage, and experiences that give something back. Hope is only valuable when there’s evidence it has somewhere 2 land.

Welcomed 2 the Purple Shit Show.

[Edited 4/3/26 17:32pm]

On top of that, or better, the basics of it all - the tangled mess we inherited from Prince; no will, no clear order of affairs, and no catalog of his creations.

Plus the enormous complexity surrounding the rights and ownership of everything Prince created and everything associated with him, before and after his passings...

On that note:

https://jefferym.substack.com/p/an-open-heartfelt-letter-to-the-prince

"About the Author

Matthew Jeffery is a lifelong Prince fan and cultural advocate who has followed Prince’s work across decades, continents and creative eras. He has attended more than one hundred concerts worldwide, from landmark tours such as Lovesexy to the 21 Nights residency and after shows at London’s O2, along with performances across Europe, the Middle East and the United States, including Dubai and Montreux. His perspective is shaped by long-term, first-hand engagement with the music in live settings as well as recorded form.

His connection to Prince’s world extends beyond the audience experience. Matthew has attended multiple events at Paisley Park, including the final Piano and A Microphone performance period and has spent time close to the creative ecosystem Prince built around collaboration, experimentation and artistic independence.

While working at SAP, he helped commission one of the earliest major corporate events held at Paisley Park, titled Women Who Rock. The event was intentionally designed to reflect Prince’s values and artistic principles rather than dilute them for brand convenience. It featured performances from Prince collaborators and protégés including Shelby J, Donna Grantis, Judith Hill, Liv Warfield and Sheila E, alongside other musicians from his extended creative circle and was curated by Kirk Johnson, a close friend and long-time collaborator of Prince.

Choosing Paisley Park as the venue was a deliberate statement of intent. The aim was to support a living legacy, not a themed backdrop and to treat the space with creative and cultural respect. Each element of the event was shaped around a simple internal test of alignment with Prince’s standards and spirit.

Matthew writes from a position of deep respect, sustained engagement and lived experience rather than distant commentary. His viewpoint is grounded in decades of listening, attendance, collaboration and observation of Prince’s cultural impact. This letter reflects that long relationship and a consistent belief that a legacy of this scale deserves stewardship that matches the artist’s originality and courage.".

ElGorillos said:

On that note:

https://jefferym.substack...the-prince

"About the Author

Vannormal said:

On top of that, or better, the basics of it all - the tangled mess we inherited from Prince; no will, no clear order of affairs, and no catalog of his creations.

Plus the enormous complexity surrounding the rights and ownership of everything Prince created and everything associated with him, before and after his passings...

100% agreed........but I'm of the opinion that his will was done away with.

Just an opinion.There isn't a single person named in the final courts judgemnet that would have gotten a dime in a will...again, just an opinion.

ElGorillos said:

On that note:

https://jefferym.substack.com/p/an-open-heartfelt-letter-to-the-prince

"About the Author

Matthew Jeffery is a lifelong Prince fan and cultural advocate who has followed Prince’s work across decades, continents and creative eras. He has attended more than one hundred concerts worldwide, from landmark tours such as Lovesexy to the 21 Nights residency and after shows at London’s O2, along with performances across Europe, the Middle East and the United States, including Dubai and Montreux. His perspective is shaped by long-term, first-hand engagement with the music in live settings as well as recorded form.

His connection to Prince’s world extends beyond the audience experience. Matthew has attended multiple events at Paisley Park, including the final Piano and A Microphone performance period and has spent time close to the creative ecosystem Prince built around collaboration, experimentation and artistic independence.

While working at SAP, he helped commission one of the earliest major corporate events held at Paisley Park, titled Women Who Rock. The event was intentionally designed to reflect Prince’s values and artistic principles rather than dilute them for brand convenience. It featured performances from Prince collaborators and protégés including Shelby J, Donna Grantis, Judith Hill, Liv Warfield and Sheila E, alongside other musicians from his extended creative circle and was curated by Kirk Johnson, a close friend and long-time collaborator of Prince.

Choosing Paisley Park as the venue was a deliberate statement of intent. The aim was to support a living legacy, not a themed backdrop and to treat the space with creative and cultural respect. Each element of the event was shaped around a simple internal test of alignment with Prince’s standards and spirit.

Matthew writes from a position of deep respect, sustained engagement and lived experience rather than distant commentary. His viewpoint is grounded in decades of listening, attendance, collaboration and observation of Prince’s cultural impact. This letter reflects that long relationship and a consistent belief that a legacy of this scale deserves stewardship that matches the artist’s originality and courage.".

Matthew's article is a steller one - if they see it, The Estate would do well to use it as a blueprint as to what to do.
Well worth a read - though be warned it is a long one

From Jon Bream's The Minnesota Star Tribune June 8, 2025 article.

What Londell McMillan & Charles Spicer said then:

"The panelists were McMillan, Charles Spicer and Prince’s nephew Johnny Nelson of Prince Legacy LLC, and Zach Hochkeppel, a marketing vice president from Sony Music which owns the distribution rights to about half of Prince’s catalog.

Hochkeppel, who also works with the catalogs of Bob Dylan and Miles Davis, said Prince has way more unreleased material than any artist and that his estate is less “dictatorial” than others he’s dealt with.

Only 45% of the material in Prince’s vault has been archived and digitized, McMillan said. Spicer added that it’s necessary and time consuming to convert music and video from old formats like 8-track, cassettes and videotape to modern technology.

There have been fewer posthumous musical releases — three albums and four boxed sets — partly because, McMillan said, the appropriate video footage to accompany them has been unavailable since Netflix had first access to them. That arrangement ended last year.".

-----

This is what Londell McMillan told Jon Bream in an article that was published today:



"McMillan acknowledges that his team is understaffed. In January, the estate hired a new cohort of archivists and engineers to catalog and digitize the remaining 55% of the vault that’s undocumented.".

https://www.startribune.com/prince-estate-londell-mcmillan-paisley-park-primary-wave-charles-spicer-purple-rain/601587515

-----

My apologies to those who stated that this process had been stopped.
I found that hard to believe considering that IM have their own staff that could deal with this.
You were obviously right.

TTC has again shown their true colors...

"Rome wasn't built in three years"
"In short, it’s more complicated than fans realize to secure agreements and produce new projects."

That's funny, the previous team were able to put out Purple Rain: Deluxe, Originals, and 1999 SDE all within the first 3.5 years after Prince's passing. Maybe Londell just fucking sucks at business.

bozojones said:

Oh look, they are incompetent clowns, just like us naysayers have said for years.

.

Just imagine the nerve to wring yourself into the Prince estate, be responsible for a massive fraud early on where the courts have to get involved, still get to keep your job, do fuck-all except take credit for other people's work (and boast about that) and be obnoxious on Twitter, and then years later say in an article that you're too busy with other things to competently run Princde's estate.

.

We've lost years and years, and the torment still isn't over.

These folks are full of s***. Next question.

ElGorillos said:

From Jon Bream's The Minnesota Star Tribune June 8, 2025 article.


https://www.startribune.com/prince-estate-londell-mcmillan-paisley-park-primary-wave-charles-spicer-purple-rain/601587515

.

BTW.... Musicology Deluxe? So the remixed b-sides they streamed some years ago will be released in a new "deluxe"?

And 3121? Mah...

What a terrible communication of their projects with the fan base!

Maybe the managers don't overarchingly "suck at business" but are lacking the combination skill sets of intuition, analytical acumen and creativity required to chart myriad pathways for Prince's works to actualize a shaping of culture, avoid a stagnant state of heritage legacy and maximize its revenues to fuel the estate's vitality. These folks' skill sets seem rather to qualify them as minmum-level producers of legacy-maitenence product. Some of their shortcomings seem apparent to me partially through reports of the estate's neglect to communicate their plans for material to the people who care the most and count most toward preserving Prince's legacy! By what I've read of what's been reported by Mr. Spicer and McMillan's public disclosures I presume these have not been funny, nor cute, nor really useful to most of us; that we can only feel LUCKY (if at times disappointed) to have received the material that we've gotten thus far under their assignment; and that the future of Prince estate output has infinite improvement potential.

I can't say that I'm being mean here--this is just the way things appear by what we're seeing of what's happening and what's been delayed under the present people. Some product develompent delays are due to legal challenges generated by the abiding ownership matrix and some problematic contractural arrangements. What seems like a lack of plans and visions by the top brass that could flow around the roadbumps indeed appears more vexing to me with the passage of time!

I read Matthew Jeffrey's long Substack letter. I agree with his top prioritization to digitize and index the Vault. From here a heirarchy framework can be set to generate all other project cultivation. It is surprising to read that only around 45% of the Vault content has been digitized one decade into the project! That alone makes you wonder how much material preservation may be lost from the more aged magnetic tapes loss of viability to transfer.

Ultimatey, I feel that some well-heeled, talented, intrepid group or individual will need to step up and purchase all of the component interests of the estate to consolidate them in a single house in order to build the productions that we wish to be borne from Prince's unreleased treasures.

bozojones said:

"Rome wasn't built in three years"
"In short, it’s more complicated than fans realize to secure agreements and produce new projects."

That's funny, the previous team were able to put out Purple Rain: Deluxe, Originals, and 1999 SDE all within the first 3.5 years after Prince's passing. Maybe Londell just fucking sucks at business.

themanfromneptune said:

Meanwhile: The Grateful Dead’s New Streaming Service Is the ‘Largest Tape-Transfer Project in Rock History’ --> https://www.rollingstone....235548128/