Mr Warner Brother, if you're out there reading this post please do the following;

Release remasterd versions of all of Prince's 80's output. I don't care if they come with no extras, just as long as i get a decent sounding 'Sign o the Times' into my stereo soon

Or are you just taunting us with releasing 'Graffiti Bridge' on dvd?

Remaster everything

I hope this works!

Sly said:

yeah!
does any one know how to set up a proper online petition. (i dont)

michaelemm said:

Get Brendan and NuPwrSoul to write up a letter that includes content of the profit WB could make

Come on people we can do this! People Power!


Shame we're all so damn apathetic

Sly said:

yo man..it's hard to fight the machine...especially when u supposedly have the artist in question seemingly.."seemingly" being the operative word..not helping any lol

An interesting find at www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_R..._ahead.htm courtesy of AMP. The most notable part is at the bottom:

Warner hit a real purple patch in August with a trilogy of Prince musicals including a two disc special edition of the mega-hit Purple Rain, based on his best-selling album plus it's sequels Under the Cherry Moon and Graffiti Bridge.

It does say on the company's site that WB is a client of theirs. They are a media relations and editorial coverage company. We'll see what turns up out of this, if anything.

Do you think Warner's likes not having better quality versions of Prince's albums to sell?

Prince has 100% legal control over whether remasters ever get issued, and he's not going to give Warner's permission to do them.

If you want remasters, go over to the NPG Music Cult and do a petition there. Warners has no legal rights to release any remasters without permission.

BanishedBrian said:

Interesting... care to explain why they don't have any control and Prince 100%?

btw: good to see you Brian!

Abrazo said:

Hi Abrazo--good to see you too... just making a rare appearance at the org. Hope all is going well with you.

Just to clarify my point, and feel free to correct any of this that you think is wrong, but releasing a remastered album essentially constitutes releasing a new "master" (or at least an alteration of the original "master" recording)--i.e., a new "album". WB has the rights to release the masters to the songs/albums that they own in their current audio condition, but nothing else, at least until rights ultimately revert back to Prince one-by-one in the upcoming years--I think it's 35 years after the date of original release?

It's the same principle that requires people to get Prince's permission for sample clearance, not WB's, even though the samples are contained on recordings to which WB owns the complete master.

For instance, WB could not choose to mix and create a new version of a "Purple Medley" and sell it, because even if it solely contained portions of recordings to which they own the master, it would constitute an alteration of those master recordings to which they have no legal license and right. The same is true for remastering SOTT, 1999, or anything else. WB owns the original masters in the quality they were recorded and provided to them by the artist. They can't go back and adjust the mix... that is Prince's sole right because WB only owns the masters to each song as a "whole", not the masters to the vocals, bass, drums, etc. separately.

Can Prince release remastered versions of these albums on his own without WB's permission? No, he would have to either get WB's consent, or re-record the albums entirely (which would be permissible because he would be "covering" the albums). However, were he agree to remaster the recordings (or give permission for someone else to do it) and allow WB to sell the remastered recordings, WB would obviously not object, so the ball is 100% in Prince's court, which is why people should direct their complaints towards him.

Some might believe that the reason this has not yet happened is that WB refuses to sufficiently compensate Prince for granting remastering permission. However, considering the fact that WB's large investment in Prince has underperformed for well over a decade now, I very much doubt it. My guess is that WB would gladly cut Prince a larger portion of revenues in exchange for permission to remaster and repackage some of the old albums (especially if Prince agreed to give WB license to release some outtakes).

I think the real issue is that Prince does not want his older albums--which contain material that is contrary to his current religious beliefs--to be sold. If Prince had his way, albums like Dirty Mind would not still be available in stores for purchase. He would rather wait until legal right to these albums reverts to him, at which point he will likely take these albums permanently off the market, and release remastered and "edited" versions of selected songs in his catalogue that do not run afoul of his faith.

BanishedBrian said:

That explains why I've never heard "Adore" without either the crowd noise from "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night", or just faded in... Thanks for that.