Can anyone shed some light on how a deal for a label like Paisley Park Records works with regards to the "parent" company Warner Bros?

I understand that many artists get "vanity labels" as part of their deals. That in essence these vanity labels allows the artist to develop and nurture other artists and perhaps also make more money is they hit big (Maverick and Alanis for example).

In the case of Maverick I believe the label was a joint venture with Madonna (+ partners) owning 60% and Warner Bros owning 40%. Warners provided manufacturing and distribution plus funded (or part funded?) the label.

NPG Records is obviously 100% owned and funded by Prince and does manufacturing and distribution deals on a case by case basis.

So how did it work for Paisley Park?

It works like this:- you loss money hand over fist but you get to shg women like Carmen Electric and Mayte. So for from some peoples point of view its more than worth it.

Madonna record label is losing money big time

i think it has lost cose to 100mil since 99

Thats why there is a legal fight

becasue WB records which is a private company now

wants to get out when the contract runs out

ha ha but seriously does anyone know anything about how the PP/WB contract was structured?

jaypotton said:

See I do know that Prince's deal was different, because it involved a 10 million dollar recording studio PLUS a record company. And even at that time, this knid of deal was unheard of before Prince.

jaypotton said:

From the way I understand it,Paisley Park was solely Prince's record label from 1985-1992.During that time,he was in total control and was able to make all the decisions and sign whomever he chose.Warners were only in charge of distributing and promoting the music.But in 1992,when Prince re-signed with them,Paisley Park became a joint venture between Prince and Warners.That's really when the trouble began.With Warners pouring all that money into the label,they wanted a return on their investment.But albums by Carmen Elektra,Mavis Staples,Eric Leeds and George Clinton were less than successful and in early 1994,Warners terminated the label.

DavidEye said:

Hey David Eye good to hear from you. You been watching the Madonna feud with Warners?

Anyway to the point, if what you say is indeed true then Paisley Park was an independent (up to 92) nuch like NPG Records is and it had a P&D deal with Warners. BUT this cannot be completely the case as it would mean that Prince would own his masters for albums between 85 and 92 because his albums were released on Paisley Park Records? (interesting side point is that Batman was NOT released on Paisley Park but on Warner Bros)

I think Warners must have had some financial input and control over the label but this was increased in 92 in an attempt to turn PP into a proper label.

Further thoughts or facts anyone?

asg said:

According to Warners,Madonna's label (Maverick) has lost $60 million since 1999.But every record label is losing money these days.Despite their successes,Arista Records has lost over $100 million in the past two years,while Clive Davis' label J Records has lost over $60 million since it's inception.Madonna and Warner both agree that they should part ways at the end of the year,when the joint venture officially expires.The only disagreement is about how much Maverick should pay to buy their way out of the deal (Warner says $96 million).For their part,Maverick claims that Warners didn't fulfill their financial obligations (promotion,marketing,etc) to the label and they are suing Warners for $200 million.

Complicating matters even more is the fact that,regardless of what happens to Maverick,Maddy still owes Warners two more albums.But a reliable source claims that both sides are negotiaiting to release a Live album (from her upcoming tour) just in time for Christmas,and a career-spanning box set,which would fulfill her contractual obligations.She would then be free to sign elsewhere.She wants to take Maverick to another label,as well.

jaypotton said:

You bring up a good point.I wonder if somebody else could explain how that deal worked.

Where's Boris or Bart when you need them?

The warners and Batman thing is obviously why the Batman singles do not appear on the greatest hit releases!


NPG records seems pointless to me as nothing but Prince get released anyway!


Why the hell did Warners think they would profit from this joint venture with Paisly park? It was pretty much unsucsessfull to start with anyway! That 1992 deal seemed to be the worst major record label deal in history! (Though the best on Prince's side of course) I know he had tons of clout but his sales were pretty small really! But maybe because of "Diamonds and Pearls", Warners thought he would go on making 5 million selling records like that one!

I felt sorry 4 Warner during the slave thing! Prince was a real prock to them guys!

jaypotton said:

Bart spends most of his time at AMP.We now have a forum where you can directly access the AMP discussions.Pose this question over there.

DavidEye said:

Didn't realise that - cool will do thanks