Prince Estate, Sony Ink Distribution Deal for 35 Previously Released Albums

The Prince estate has inked a deal that will give Sony Music and Legacy Recordings distribution rights to 35 previously released Prince albums.

Starting this year, Legacy will be allowed to make available 19 Prince albums originally issued between 1995 and 2010. These include The Gold Experience, Emancipation, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, The Rainbow Children, Musicology and Planet Earth. Legacy has yet to announce the exact date these albums will be made available.

As part of the deal, Legacy will also be able to distribute other post-1995 Prince material such as previously released singles, B-sides, remixes, non-album tracks, live recordings and music videos. Additional albums Prince released in 2014 and 2015 will be distributed at a later date.

To cap off the deal, Legacy has also secured the distribution rights to 12 Prince albums originally released between 1978 and 1996, though the label will have to wait until 2021 to make those available. This portion of Prince’s catalog includes classics such as his 1979 self-titled effort, Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Sign ‘O’ The Times and Lovesexy. However, Legacy will not own the distribution rights to Prince’s soundtrack albums like Purple Rain and Under the Cherry Moon.

Along with inking a deal for Prince’s back catalog, the late musician’s estate has a number of projects in the works that will feature material from his storied vault. On September 21st, they’ll release a record of previously unreleased home recordings, Piano and a Microphone 1983, and another new album of unreleased material is set to arrive next year as part of a deal with Tidal. An exact release date and title for that project have yet to be announced.