I've heard more than a few times, especially on this board that Stevie has it stipulated in his will for all of his unreleased songs to be destroyed. When I think of that and then listen to songs & snipets like these

I want to cry...and there are no Joy inside these tears!!!

Does anyone know where this rumor came from or if its true?

I don't know anything about. Never heard the rumor. Never knew Stevie had any amount of unreleased material. But if the material belongs to him and he wanted it destroyed he could do it now. If the material doesn't belong to him it will make no difference what his will says about.

Cerebus said:

I don't know anything about. Never heard the rumor. Never knew Stevie had any amount of unreleased material. But if the material belongs to him and he wanted it destroyed he could do it now. If the material doesn't belong to him it will make no difference what his will says about.

I imagine the bulk of the unreleased material he's made post-71' is owned by him since the contracts he's negotiated with Tamla since that time have given him 100% ownership of all publishing since that time & 25% ownership of publishing of all songs from him previously. The latter I'm not as certain of but the former I'm 100% sure about.

Didn't your mother ever tell you not to believe in rumors...hmmm?

Sandino said:

Does anyone know where this rumor came from or if its true?

I don't know where it originated, but it is a well known rumor.

OMG yes, I've been hearing about that for the longest and I always bring it up in discussions about Stevie's outtakes.

Also, somebody said that there's a shelved album titled Fulfillingness' Second Finale, hope somebody provide some background for it.

I imagine that being a perfectionist to a fault, Stevie didn't want to release anything that may hinder his legacy,,,,I say may, because I don't think it will, not by a far stretch anyway.

I've never heard this rumor, but I've always heard that he had a huge catalog of unreleased material.

Harlepolis said:

OMG yes, I've been hearing about that for the longest and I always bring it up in discussions about Stevie's outtakes.

Also, somebody said that there's a shelved album titled Fulfillingness' Second Finale, hope somebody provide some background for it.

I imagine that being a perfectionist to a fault, Stevie didn't want to release anything that may hinder his legacy,,,,I say may, because I don't think it will, not by a far stretch anyway.

I've wondered about it too, because I believed that the recordings he did with J5 belonged to him too and he let Buttercup be released

Yeah it seems to be true, but I doubt it will happen, I think anyone that wanna earn some money will try their best to stop the meterial from getting destroyed. You know about vultures. As for fulfillingness first finale II. Yeah Stevie had a lot of those projects. Characters was supposed to have a seocnd disc shortly released after the first one as well as there was his initial plan for conversation Piece and Conversation Peace with the different spelling. A two set album as well.

Stevie has tons of unreleased material even stuff from the Songs in The Key of Life sessions that he kept to himself....I have a full list of unreleased titles somewhere and it's LONG.

[Edited 9/25/10 4:15am]

I don't think it's true ,what an ignorant horrible Decision to make , destroying your own hard work.

It was stevie's advice to MJ to record at least 100 songs for each album , and that's to keep the legacy alive after death...........so I highly doubt it's true

Yes, I have heard this as well. I believe that since it is his music, he is allowed to do, whatever he wants to do with it.

Could you imagine deluxe editions of his classic 70s albums,with entire discs of previously unreleased outtakes??!! I would lose my mind

Bu, as is the case with our stubborn Prince,it ain't likely to happen

Sandino said:

nd33 said:

Sandino said:

I imagine the bulk of the unreleased material he's made post-71' is owned by him since the contracts he's negotiated with Tamla since that time have given him 100% ownership of all publishing since that time & 25% ownership of publishing of all songs from him previously. The latter I'm not as certain of but the former I'm 100% sure about.

I don't know any details of the deals you speak of but if it's just publishing rights that he owns then Tamla/Motown may still own the recordings themselves and be able to release them whenever they see fit. Publishing relates to songwriting and mean that he gets the songwriting royalties.

No Black Bull, his publishing company owns the masters to everything he's done post WICF. Motown had to go TO HIM to get the ok to re-release updated versions of his five mid-70's classics, because he controls the original recordings and they need his permission.

http://prince.org/msg/8/317164

look on page 2 of this link^. I believe in the article someone posted it discusses the specifics to provisions he's entitled for his third contract with Motown. Motown were relegated to only being distributors and marketers of his product(as well as determining the singles).

[Edited 9/25/10 10:44am]

nd33 said:

Sandino said:

I imagine the bulk of the unreleased material he's made post-71' is owned by him since the contracts he's negotiated with Tamla since that time have given him 100% ownership of all publishing since that time & 25% ownership of publishing of all songs from him previously. The latter I'm not as certain of but the former I'm 100% sure about.

I don't know any details of the deals you speak of but if it's just publishing rights that he owns then Tamla/Motown may still own the recordings themselves and be able to release them whenever they see fit. Publishing relates to songwriting and mean that he gets the songwriting royalties.

No he owns his post-1971 work. Motown only has his 1962-1971 recording publishing rights in their care (Jobete). Nothing after 1971 was licensed or published as a Jobete song.

Timmy84 said:

nd33 said:

Sandino said: I don't know any details of the deals you speak of but if it's just publishing rights that he owns then Tamla/Motown may still own the recordings themselves and be able to release them whenever they see fit. Publishing relates to songwriting and mean that he gets the songwriting royalties.

No he owns his post-1971 work. Motown only has his 1962-1971 recording publishing rights in their care (Jobete). Nothing after 1971 was licensed or published as a Jobete song.

correcto. which is why I know buttercup had to get his OK.

I absolutely doubt this rumour.

Where did my "it"s go? That's freakin' weird!

Oh well, until Stevie gets round to releasing some of the goodies in his (vast !) vault, I suppose we'll have to make do with....

http://www.youtube.com/user/RareWonderMusic

Yes, it's true. He also won't let Motown or anyone use the original master tapes. MFSL did an audiophile CD issue of "Innervisions" from the original masters but that was actually down to someone from Stevie's camp fucking up. Audio Fidelity recently applied to get masters for "Talking Book" and it won't happen again.

Anybody know where Stevie live? We need to break into his crib!

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Anybody know where Stevie live? We need to break into his crib!

Yes I do...

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Anybody know where Stevie live? We need to break into his crib!

That's why I've been sayin'!!

grabs his ski mask and glass cutter

NMuzakNSoul said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Anybody know where Stevie live? We need to break into his crib!

Yes I do...

Well let's ride out ...

TO THE BATMOBILE!

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Anybody know where Stevie live? We need to break into his crib!

Oh good gawd...

I certainly hope Stevie won't do that. His unreleased stuff is gold!

But I don't think that will happen, even if Stevie stipulates that in his will. Frédéric Chopin also stipulated that all his unpublished works be destroyed after his death. Thankfully, that didn't happen. His friend Fontana chose a good selection of his unpublished works and released them as posthumous works.

If Chopin had his way...we would not have this...

or this...

or this

to name a few

[Edited 9/25/10 16:03pm]

SherryJackson said:

Oh good gawd...

I certainly hope Stevie won't do that. His unreleased stuff is gold!

But I don't think that will happen, even if Stevie stipulates that in his will. Frédéric Chopin also stipulated that all his unpublished works be destroyed after his death. Thankfully, that didn't happen. His friend Fontana chose a good selection of his unpublished works and released them as posthumous works.

If Chopin had his way...we would not have this...

or this...

or this

to name a few

[Edited 9/25/10 16:03pm]

Did Chopin also place a gag order on everyone who's worked with him? Stevie's got confidentiality agreements...& lawyers. Even so, I do hope this is just a rumor, I really really wanna here the rest of those songs I've heard on youtube, not to mention the rest of that delicious vault.

Sandino said:

I think these songs were recorded in 1973 or 74,after Innervisions.Probably during the Fullfillingness' sessions?

'74.