Purple and Black
Taking Independent and Unofficial Back

Prince Estate Finally valued - A few thoughts

Count me in as ‘worried’ about Primary Wave. Btw, what, exactly, will Primary Wave own?

I listened to an interview with Dave Hampton [Dr. Funk Podcast #162 Primary Wave & The Prince Legacy]. For the relevant section, listen at 1h 35m:

I transcribed this and not in the entirety and with a few mess-ups. Better to go listen yourself.
Primary Wave is now at the table… bottom line. Primary Wave is not anybody but a strategic music opportunist. They are in the business to make money and increase market share. So, they have actually done sounder business and brought return to some of the relatives of Prince. So much so that they’ve said, “We don’t want to wait any more. We want to sign off here. Y’all can play the waiting game.” Bottom line: that’s the way it is.”...Londell McMillan and Troy Carter...these are men of color… power brokers in the music business. It’s interesting to watch their track record in this situation. Doing their best to preserve the legacy in their own way… for profit and for money. There’s nothing wrong with that. You just have to examine everybody at the game board. What they’re there for. How well they’re pulling it off? How long does it take? … As soon as the court and Comerica step away, it’s going to be them on who has structured the best situation, which is why you have people trying to vilify Primary Wave… If people did their research, people would find out Comerica handles most of the asset management of large estates, anyway… The family: None of them had the familiarity with the arena that they were in to say, “Hey, we all need to work together and make this thing come about. Let’s get one estate lawyer and figure out what our role is.” The family went out and each got their own ‘entertainment lawyer’. … We’re having this conversation. It’s year five. Year six? Year seven? We hope it’s more solidly set up down the line to see some solid music education things done. Because that was part of the intention when we were there. Was to interact and teach music the way he wanted music taught. And interactively get into where creativity was going to. I’ve come to find it in other places around. I see his influence in other places. For everybody who did have contact with him and were affected by him: You have to get out and figure out what’s going on and what they’re trying to say. And if there’s any way you can influence them with suggestions or just… the experience and what it’s taught you… that’s our role, too.” …No one person is going to stop this thing from moving forward. As much as we have our individual thoughts, you and I, on all these people and their motives and their methods and all their [shit?]. I just think that, in the long run, Prince will win out. It’s up to all of us who really understand to kind of hold tight and keep the truth as our main sword to cut through this bullshit with. Occasionally, things will flare up that we just aren’t going for. We have to be in the clear about that.​
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Hampton is the present(?) president of PRN Alumni, worked with Prince and also has experience working with estates of musicians (Miles Davis, for one; Curtis Mayfield(?)).

Are there other legal vehicles that could make sense that aren’t the immediate cash-rich solution (Primary Wave and the like) that every other mega-artist is selling their catalogues to these days? A non-profit? A foundation? My hope is that the family finds an incentive not to cave to Primary Wave, and, instead, retain a measure of influence. Could PRN Alumni might be that vehicle? Could they handle the 58% remaining in family control, with involvement of the family? I mean, if the family were willing? Is that an unrealistic scenario?

By the way, I heard Dave Hampton in another great interview w Dr. Funkenberry: Dr. Funk Podcast #158: "Prince Didn't Get Political" W. Dave Hampton >>> check that one out, too.
 
GemInEye said:
I personally think that all the sibs care about is the money, not the legacy.
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Are you guessing that they'll sell to Primary Wave now that the estate has been valued, definitively? They'll each take their 26 million, less legal fees and taxes, and walk? That would be the easy way out, admittedly.
 
barnswallow said:
Are you guessing that they'll sell to Primary Wave now that the estate has been valued, definitively? They'll each take their 26 million, less legal fees and taxes, and walk? That would be the easy way out, admittedly.
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I don't think they will sell to PW, I think they will sell to Lawndale.
 
New developments in January 2024:

Purple Rain on Broadway & Prince Estate Court Cases [Funkatopia;1.14.2024]

Mr. Christopher discusses public feedback (and Jill Jones) about the Purple Rain Broadway and how it's being altered to be more "woke". Then he goes into deep detail about the court case filed by Londell McMillan and Charles Spicer against Prince's heirs as they hire attorneys in an attempt to oust the duo and take control of the Prince Estate.
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I'm of the belief that the only person to blame for this is actually Prince. He should have got all of this in order the moment he became a millionaire - the 80s. He could have revised his will or whatever it should have been over the years but for whatever reason of which we will never know now, he just didn't do it. I think for all the lionising we do of him (including me), I also think he was just another "guy" who didn't sort his shit out. And so yeah, it's difficult to see the Estate, the family, Primary Wave and whoever else battle this out for so long but they can only do what they think is right because as we've all found out now, Prince didn't leave ANY instructions in case something happened to him.
 
Milty said:
I'm of the belief that the only person to blame for this is actually Prince. He should have got all of this in order the moment he became a millionaire - the 80s. He could have revised his will or whatever it should have been over the years but for whatever reason of which we will never know now, he just didn't do it. I think for all the lionising we do of him (including me), I also think he was just another "guy" who didn't sort his shit out. And so yeah, it's difficult to see the Estate, the family, Primary Wave and whoever else battle this out for so long but they can only do what they think is right because as we've all found out now, Prince didn't leave ANY instructions in case something happened to him.
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This I can agree with.
 
GemInEye said:
I personally think that all the sibs care about is the money, not the legacy.
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I don't think so! It's kind of funny to try to make judgements about people we know so little about but that's one of the prices of fame, I guess.

I think Sharon really cares, at the least.

Somewhere I have the album she released in 2018, of father, John Nelson's music. The one written about here:

www.thecurrent.org

Prince's half-sister Sharon: Preserving the Nelson legacy "at the top of her bucket list"

Just before the release of her father's posthumous album 'Don't Play With Love,' Prince's half-sister Sharon Nelson tells The Current how she found their dad's old sheet music, who wrote the "Purple Rain" melody, and why Prince's costumes may have resembled a stripper's.
www.thecurrent.org
 
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