Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/fi...ID=3882289

So MAYBE there is a chance for Bronfman to mediate in a subdeal with his former investment Universal.

Wolf

wsenges said:

Yeah maybe, just as there was always a possibility that Warners and Prince would reach agreement.

Let's see: Bronfman's consortium has purchased Warner Music. They have spent cash to acquire some assets including rights in master recordings to some of Prince's music.

If Bronfman and Co thinks the assets were worth purchasing, then they'll presumably try to leverage as much from them as possible to maximise a return on the investment. Depending upon the terms of the agreement between Prince and Warners, the consortium might think at the one extreme that the masters will generate the best return by being reassigned - and at the other extreme, they might want to milk them for all they are able to until the agreement expires.

.
[This message was edited Mon Nov 24 10:43:14 PST 2003 by langebleu]

Does this news really inspire wishful thinking? NPGMC.com seems to think so, or at least the moderators are alluding to it on their message boards...

I just can't see any kind of comprehensive re-issues of Prince's back catalog as long as ol' purplepants is in control, whether his music is "free" or not. He's too much of a self-defeating contrarian, as brilliant as he is, his asthetics kinda SUCK, and I'm afraid he's too into "that was then, this is now" to be able to give fair focus to an archival project.

If he worked with a team of designers, musicologists and other folks who know their shit, then we could talk. But we're talking about the micromanager of micromanagers, here.

Anxiety said:

lawd, please let mr. nelson's carrot-dangling cease...like right now...

Anxiety said:

i agree. the worst thing that could happen to Prince's music is for him to own it, as bad as that sounds...

AaronUniversal said:

sad, but true

langebleu said:

Obviously anything in that direction is pure speculation.

I think it's quite interesting Bronfman did try to get back a stake out of Universal but was outbid by NBC. Now, *IF* some of the rumours are true about the link between Universal and Mr. P (and at least there has to be some contract in terms of distribution) Universal might be interested to get some share of the Warner Music Unit.

Additionally, after the merger of Sony and BMG the remaining three big ones (Warner, Universal, EMI) will try to consolidate their business. EMI has been kicked out of the deal with Warner. Though Universal has been kicked out by EMI previously, they now might be back in through the backdoor - by the Bronfman link.

Bronfman is interested in regaining a stake in Universal and may offer parts of the Warner deal in exchange to Vivendi Universal so they are able to consolidate like Sony/BMG intend to.

It wouldn't be a surprise to me if Universal joined the Bronfman group.

On the other hand, loose contracts (though apparently fixed) like the Bronfman/Warner one might still not succeed. Over here in Germany there was a long on-going history of bidding & buyers for a large media corporation that broke (included in the package were several broadcasting companies).

Finally, Haim Saban (again involved in the Bronfman group) made it. Shortly after, the contract was cancelled. After another while, Saban got it again.

IMHO, the current constellation is more likely to be solved in a P-friendly way than the one before.

But...

Anxiety said:

Yep. Anx, you're right in this one. BTW, I didn't notice (since I didn't watch over) that NPGMC already mentioned it. As I said, P-friendly.

Let's wait and see for 2004. If Universal get their hands on it they seriously will try to make money.

Wolf

I work at Universal and actually miss the days of Eddy B. and the Uni-Crew. He had some wack ideas in the beginning, but turned it around in the end. Plus the booze was flowing!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

---
Gee, the artist who created the music should not own it because the goof ball fans will not get to hear the great re-issues. Failing to realize that we did not get any great re-issues under WB. Good Lord !!! you people will bring negativity to any topic on this board.

A select group of naysayers have been on this board singing about the greatness of the music industry and WB for years.
The entire time record sales continued to decline at all of the record companies but, none of the haters on this site would face reality.

Well the shit has hit the fan now and some of you still continue to leave in some fantasy world.

The music industry has put a continous shit for years and charged ridiculous prices and it is all coming to an end

Wake Up and deal with it.

Anxiety said:

Well put. A retrospective remaster by an uber religious self-professed forward thinker would be a disaster.

laurarichardson said:

so, we're in agreement? that this cranky hag needs to get laid?

langebleu said:

VERY WELL PUT!

AaronUniversal said:

Be nice.
[This message was edited Thu Nov 27 14:17:16 PST 2003 by whodknee]

laurarichardson said:

According to this analysis, they have spent less on promotion in recent years and gained more return on their dollar (I'm assuming by promoting less diversity to reduce costs). They are actually making more money than they ever did with regards to return on investment.
http://www.azoz.com/music.../0008.html