This weekend's digital release of another unreleased Prince track could indicate the gears of the late artist's estate could start moving once again.
At a panel for the annual Celebration fan event in and around Prince's hometown of Minneapolis and Chanhassen recording complex Paisley Park, representatives for the estate and distributing partner Legacy Recordings discussed potential box sets, vinyl releases and digital initiatives - as well as some frank discussion on the infamously-canned Ezra Edelman documentary for Netflix.
Present at the panel were Prince Legacy LLC's L. Londell McMillan, Charles F. Spicer, Jr. and Johnny Nelson (Prince's nephew); Legacy Recordings vice-president of marketing Zach Hochkeppel; and host Reg Chapman, reporter for local CBS affiliate WCCO-FM. Here's a glance at what was discussed, per The Minnesota Star-Tribune and fan account The Purple Stream:
How is The Vault? Some fans were up in arms that Prince's storied Paisley Park vault was drilled open after his death in 2016 - no one had the password to open the door - and the assets were gradually relocated to document storage facilities owned by Iron Mountain. McMillan, then representing some of Prince's legal heirs, initially pushed a lawsuit against the trust that handled Prince's affairs immediately after his passing, though he maintains it was about a lack of communication more than anything else. The panel estimated that about 45 percent of the assets in The Vault have been digitized.
What's coming next? The wait for a follow-up to 2023's Diamonds and Pearls box set after a flurry of posthumous releases between 2016 and 2021 has felt long. Though nothing concrete was announced at the panel, though it seems that fans can guess what the next major releases will be. Though the group stressed the importance of thinking beyond anniversary editions, listeners can expect reissues tied to 1985's Around the World in a Day and 1986's Parade - arguably Prince's two most acclaimed albums of the '80s without a deluxe edition of some sort. Vinyl versions of the last albums released in Prince's lifetime - 2015's HITnRUN Phase One and HITnRUN Phase Two - are also forthcoming. (Distribution of these albums fell beyond the purview of material distributed by Legacy or Warner Records.) Release plans will balance physical and digital products - something we've already seen and heard with one-off singles and B-sides from the Musicology era - and something will likely come from Legacy for the next Record Store Day event on Friday, November 28.
About that documentary... Not long after The Second Disc's editorial last year criticizing the merchandise-over-music direction it seemed like the Prince estate was taking, a bombshell New York Times report detailed the battle between documentarian Ezra Edelman and the estate over The Book of Prince, a nine-hour warts-and-all documentary planned for Netflix but ultimately shelved. "You will not disrespect Prince on my watch," McMillan said of the abandoned project, said to include stark (if not unreported) testimony from former collaborators and even partners of the musician's harsher behavior. "Prince needs controversy but it's gotta be truthful." The loosening of this legal logjam allows for an as-yet unannounced Oscar-winning filmmaker to finish work on multiple documentaries, per the estate; it also nullifies an unusual deal that gave Netflix first look on unreleased video footage for the documentary, blocking its release on box sets or other projects. (Anonymous sources have told The Second Disc that one such curtailed project was a standalone release of the very first Prince and The Revolution concert, a benefit for the Minnesota Dance Theatre held at First Avenue in Minneapolis on August 3, 1983. Prince debuted five tracks from Purple Rain that night, and edited and overdubbed versions of those performances of "I Would Die 4 U," "Baby I'm a Star" and "Purple Rain" were what made that chart-topping soundtrack album.)
What else is coming? Other discussed projects include the in-development Purple Rain musical - set to premiere in Minneapolis this fall ahead of a planned Broadway run - as well as a movie musical featuring Prince's catalogue, to be co-produced and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther, Sinners). Bobby Z, drummer for The Revolution, will share stories about Prince's early years in a proposed book. Perhaps most exciting was the willingness to conceive a successor to the NPG Music Club, Prince's groundbreaking digital music subscription service that operated from 2001 to 2006. (It is our deepest hope that the striking amount of material only ever released through the NPGMC makes an appearance somewhere in the future.) All in all, it's an ambitious, if undefined, plan that The Second Disc will keep reporting on in the future.
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It's the non album stuff from Around the World and Parade period I've been waiting for. Plus reissues of all those spin-offs from that moment. Hello legit Family CD reissue with bonus tracks? Jill Jones?
This article is very optimistic. Sadly over optimitistic. It would be fantastic if we get sone physical or even digital releases this year but hope and expectation has rather drained away among the hardcore Prince fans desperate for a positive sign of something, anything forthcoming.
Granted, I also did write this - https://theseconddisc.com/2024/06/21/purple-drain-whats-going-on-with-the-prince-estate/ - and have had such intense discussions about the estate's less-than-charitable issues with the Netflix documentary that I gave myself a migraine. If McMillan and Spicer can stay the hell off social media and let a talented team of A&R and marketing folks do what they need to do to make titles as good as they were before, say, 'Welcome 2 America,' I've got no qualms. I'm not sure that I would call that "optimistic," at least not without a firmer timeline in place.
I appreciate the optimistic attitude as well but there is so much released material that could be reissued into deluxe packages let alone unreleased material. None of us are getting any younger and there will come a time when I won't be buying these reissues. Can we get whoever is running the Jethro Tull reissue campaign to take over ALL reissue campaigns? Even if it is Ian Anderson. These people know what they are doing.
I realize that the estate isn't putting material out fast enough for some fans, but I am happy with what we've gotten so far. SOTT, 1999, Diamonds and Pearls (The Glam Slam concert film alone moved me like nothing else so far, great unreleased material, the book was beautiful-AND PEOPLE STILL COMPLAINED), Originals was pretty good, W2A, while a beautiful set, was ok. The fun 45's that they did as website exclusives dried up, but I loved those. The Legacy reissues of One Night Only, Ultimate Rave, and Prince and the Revolution Live were great too. What riches we've gotten so far, all the big boxes included concerts (video and audio). I just don't see it. I like to live with a major box set for 6-8 months, enjoy it. I don't want a big box set every six months, it's too much, you need time to explore it, enjoy it before the next one, otherwise you're just collecting to collect, not to enjoy. What I'm a little disappointed in is these digital only singles they've been putting out. Do some website only 45's or some collectible CD Singles (no risk there, CD Singles cost pennies to produce), instead of some of the junk they sell on the page (some horrifying examples being the Purple Rain rain boots or sheets and bath robes). I know there's a wealth of material in that vault, and we aren't getting any younger, but I'm just gonna enjoy what they decide to put out and pray that it comes out in physical formats. Just this Minnesota boy's 2 cents. God bless the The Genius, Prince. He is missed every day. 💜☮️