I have read several references of Prince holding protogees in contracts while not releasing their music... Jill Jones, and Rosie Gaines have been discussed recently.

I am wondering how this could happen with the Teena Marie law put into effect. Motown could no longer hold her in contract while not releasing her music.

How did Prince get away with it or did this happen before the Teena Marie law?

Just wondering.

THIS, I wanna know the answer to.

Singer JoJo (the female pop artist) is going through this right now with Blackground. Her album has been pretty much done for a while and they won't release it or let her out of her contract. Fucked up.

She was able to release a (free) mixtape last year.

I keep seeing tweets from people telling her about Brockert Law.

Because the Big Headed dingbat doesn't wan them to know about it

Prince must have been paying them the minimum required salary that he had to. If he wasn't, then Jill or Rosie could have sued to get out of the contract based on the Brockert Initiative...I think.

I'm pretty sure the rule is "You can hold me under contract and not release my music, but you have to pay me a salary in the meantime"

prodigalfan said:

I have read several references of Prince holding protogees in contracts while not releasing their music... Jill Jones, and Rosie Gaines have been discussed recently.

I am wondering how this could happen with the Teena Marie law put into effect. Motown could no longer hold her in contract while not releasing her music.

How did Prince get away with it or did this happen before the Teena Marie law?

Just wondering.

Most of Prince's proteges were very uneducated about the music business, plain and simple.

TonyVanDam said:

prodigalfan said:

I have read several references of Prince holding protogees in contracts while not releasing their music... Jill Jones, and Rosie Gaines have been discussed recently.

I am wondering how this could happen with the Teena Marie law put into effect. Motown could no longer hold her in contract while not releasing her music.

How did Prince get away with it or did this happen before the Teena Marie law?

Just wondering.

Most of Prince's proteges were very uneducated about the music business, plain and simple.

They were attractive to the stardom. They weren't wise enough to understand the business and Prince surely didn't teach them. Then again, I wonder about his "knowing" about the business because it seems he didn't understand it either.

He understood it more than they did. The kicker is Jill Jones. I never got her hanging around Prince's camp for years like that, waiting for the few scraps he threw her way, ESPECIALLY when you keep in mind that Teena herself considered her a little sister and she had to have seen all Teena went through with that lawsuit. I wonder why she didn't think of the impact that could of had on her sitch.

[Edited 1/25/11 15:50pm]

scriptgirl said:

He understood it more than they did. The kicker is Jill Jones. I never got her hanging around Prince's camp for years like that, waiting for the few scraps he threw her way, ESPECIALLY when you keep in mind that Teena herself considered her a little sister and she had to have seen all Teena went through with that lawsuit. I wonder why she didn't think of the impact that could of had on her sitch.

[Edited 1/25/11 15:50pm]

You are right. It slipped my mnd that Teena and Jill were close. I can't for the life of me understand why didn't Jill break camp around the same time as Vanity once it became apparent that even with Vanity out of the picture, Jill was not going to get Prince's attention to herself or her career aspirations.

I think Jill was far gone over Prince-even when he made it clear, she would never be his number one and to be honest, she had invested YEARS in being a P protege. Not sure exactly when she hooked up with P, but she was in deep by the time "Purple Rain" came out.

As far as Rosie, wasn't she a seasoned vet of the music scene by the time she got into NPG?

scriptgirl said:

I think Jill was far gone over Prince-even when he made it clear, she would never be his number one and to be honest, she had invested YEARS in being a P protege. Not sure exactly when she hooked up with P, but she was in deep by the time "Purple Rain" came out.

As far as Rosie, wasn't she a seasoned vet of the music scene by the time she got into NPG?

You are right... Jill was far gone when it came to Prince. REally sad... she was true blindly in love with him... and her love for him prove to be to her detriment. I really think she would have done so much better career wise if she had stuck with Teena and maybe Rick and Motown.

Don't get me wrong... in no way do I think Jill could have matched Teena's pipes and song writing abilities. But I think when Teena left Motown, she left a void. Jill could have been a likely person that Motown could have considered to fill that void. It would have been a better shot than touring all over the country with Prince deciding which chick would ride him... err, ride HIS BUS... and singing with V-6 behind the curtain.

scriptgirl said:

I think Jill was far gone over Prince-even when he made it clear, she would never be his number one and to be honest, she had invested YEARS in being a P protege. Not sure exactly when she hooked up with P, but she was in deep by the time "Purple Rain" came out.

As far as Rosie, wasn't she a seasoned vet of the music scene by the time she got into NPG?

Yeah Rosie was in the game for a minute before Prince got a hold of her. Jill Jones' welcome was overstayed by the time Vanity was sacked.

Yeah, Jill kinda has no one to blame but herself.

I don't know the Brockert Law, but I know this happens. No Doubt almost died because of it.

I'm surprised Prince has done it, but he does know a thing or two about CONtracts himself!

NDRU said:

I don't know the Brockert Law, but I know this happens. No Doubt almost died because of it.

I'm surprised Prince has done it, but he does know a thing or two about CONtracts himself!

I read on the situation with No Doubt. That was messy. If certain contracts had went the way it almost did, they wouldn't have even been a household name. That would've been a shame.

I love P, but I'm not surprised. To cue part of the immortal line from "Purple Rain": "This is a BUSINESS!"

How did this almost kill No Doubt?

^

No Doubt had been with Interscope for about four years when they began work on what became Tragic Kingdom due to Interscope not really trusting them to produce a decent-selling record since their first one had bombed. After releasing their second album on an indie label (Beacon Street), they signed a small deal with Trauma after Interscope had decided to sign with the label as a merger to promote the group. When the album did come out, however, it led to arguments between Trauma and Interscope over its release. It took a minute but it got settled out of court and No Doubt renewed their Interscope contract.

Thanks for explaining!

scriptgirl said:

Thanks for explaining!

Welcome.

MidniteMagnet said:

Prince must have been paying them the minimum required salary that he had to. If he wasn't, then Jill or Rosie could have sued to get out of the contract based on the Brockert Initiative...I think.

I'm pretty sure the rule is "You can hold me under contract and not release my music, but you have to pay me a salary in the meantime"

Yessa! Gotta LOVE Lady Tee for having paved the way for others in such predicaments.