In a hotly-anticipated turn of events, Universal Music Group today announced a new multi-year catalogue agreement with the estate of the late, legendary Prince.
Under the terms of the deal, Universal will become the immediate licensor of 25 albums released through Prince's NPG Records label, as well as any future projects drawn from The Artist's mythic Vault, "including outtakes, demos and live recordings."
An exact list of albums has not yet been detailed, although the bottom of this post has a comprehensive list of what may be the 25 official NPG albums.
Additionally, Universal's news release announced the acquisition, starting in 2018 of "U.S. rights to certain renowned Prince albums released from 1979 to 1995." In 2014, Prince signed a new deal with former home Warner Bros. Records to obtain his long-desired masters from the label to license back. Last year, the label released the memorial compilation Prince 4Ever, and will reissue a long-awaited remastered and expanded version of Purple Rain with a bonus disc of unreleased material.
With this last jewel in their crown, Universal is now the one-stop shop for all things Prince, having inked separate deals in recent months for his publishing and merchandising rights.
A tribute to Prince is planned for this Sunday's 59th annual Grammy Awards, after which, it is rumored, all or part of Prince's catalogue will be available from all digital music services. (The catalogue is currently the exclusive provenance of Tidal, based on a deal Prince made before his death, which is currently the subject of a lawsuit.)
As always, keep it here at The Second Disc for more information as it's made available.
Prince's (Presumed) NPG Records Discography
The Gold Experience (1995)
Emancipation (1996)
Crystal Ball (1998)
The Truth (1998)
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999)
Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic (2001)
The Rainbow Children (2001)
One Nite Alone... (2002)
One Nite Alone...Live! (2002)
Xpectation (2003)
C-Note (2003)
N.E.W.S. (2003)
Musicology (2004)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)
3121 (2006)
Planet Earth (2007)
Indigo Nights (2008)
Lotusflow3r (2009)
MPLSound (2009)
20Ten (2010)
Art Official Age (2014)
Plectrumelectrum (2014)
HITnRUN Phase One (2015)
HITnRUN Phase Two (2015)
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Not been too excited by what I've seen come out of Universal Music. Beach Boys' Pet Sounds box set from just over 6 months ago is scarcely available in the U.S. Neil Diamond move to UME has been a bust for his catalog. More greatest hits packages, etc. Squeeze's whole catalog isn't available nor can they get rights to do it themselves. McCartney has moved back to the label and immediately the first volley - Flowers in the Dirt box has download cards in it in lieu of physical discs. Now Prince...outside of the few big selling ones on the list will any get their due? Odds seem against it. Compilations and streaming? Probably.
Gotta say-up front--- I love The Second Disc!
I felt I had to chime in and say-- wait they are actually excited about acquiring and re-releasing his last twenty-twenty five year output? These are the records that no one was buying (for the most part---I see you Gold Experience and Musicology!) when Prince was among the living. It has nothing to do with distribution--- these releases were as wonky and halfbaked as they seemed then. Hope this really leads to good things as it pertains to the vault acquisitions -deep sigh- Universal are gonna botch this up no matter how much time they have to create, trademark, commemorate, and blast out a reissue campaign. I wish with all that Comcast money they would redirect their music releases and treat their catalogue like Columbia does Miles, Dylan, etc.
On the positive side--- I'll watch for the one-stop shop Universal provides when they re-release each of Princes 1979-1995 albums with unreleased demos, outtakes, maxi-single stuff (Don't skimp on that unreleased and released 88-92 period Universal!). Individually released boxsets dedicated to specific periods or albums would be heaven. Please if there is a God--- no bs remixes from hot, new producers as bonus tracks. I enjoy Questlove too but I don't need his remix of Ballad of Dorothy Parker ---even if it's his favorite song and he has to state it in every interview he ever gave. In the meantime, I'll stick with the grey market releases on discogs and be a snob.
I love The Second Disc!
Aside from The Gold Experience and Musicology everything else is on the rabid fans and obsessive collectors only list. He did have some good singles, but his days of all killer no filler were over a long time ago.
His big bitch with Warners was they wouldn't release multiple albums every year. Once he did leave there was a lot of filler and his albums barely charted. Graffiti Bridge was better than most of them. The rerecording of the1999 single? Why?
It was sad to see his downward slide. How far back did the painkiller addiction start?
We can probably expect a new compilation featuring a substandard outtake every xmas.
This deal will be good for those digital only collectors. I ripped all of my cds to put on my phone.
Oh, and some 12" singles are being reissued soon. A handful of singles are available. A comprensive overview would have been better. I'm guessing this appeals to the Crosley club. I have all of the originals.
Sorry I went on too long.
"Sorry I went on too long." -- Nope
Loved it---keep it going.
Not very interested in this list. I will wait and see what, if any other treats they may offer. UMe has a terrible catalog department. Their album reissue reputation sucks like a Hoover.
As a long time fan, and overzealous collector, I agree that once he emancipated from WB, Prince's self-indulgence nixed all quality control. There are a lot of good albums, but few great ones since.
That being said, he might admittedly have been better live - I've heard great things about his performances.
But everyone should take a look at 'HITnRUN Phase One', the first album he didn't produce himself in decades. It's stunning. It's so good, in fact, that I'd say it's his best since 'Sign 'O' the Times'.
It's well worth checking out. 🙂
very well put "once he emancipated fro WB, Prince's self-undulgence nixed all quality control" - I have NEVER seen it put so well in such a succint sentence.
Thank you. AND HITNRUN is great - yes!
WTF does "certain renowned Prince albums released from 1979-1995" mean? All of them? Some of them remain on WB? Then that wouldn't make it a "one-stop shop" would it?
If Universal lets this music get handled by Hip-O Select, the possibilities for quality physical releases would go way up. Otherwise, I wouldn't expect much besides streaming and digital releases.
Hip-O-Select has been dead for some years now.
Personally I would like the opportunity to get some of Prince's NPG label stuff at a decent price. The $50.00+ asking price on ebay is what keeps me from buying any of these albums - Especially in light of the fact they are well known to not be very good. As someone else said, Prince lost all aspect of quality control on his albums, so I'm not about to pay top dollar for something which in the long run may just be a space filler in my gap of Prince albums.