Prince hated Warner Bros. He changed his name to a symbol to get away from them, and then wrote “Slave” on his face to indicate his unhappiness.
Eventually he made up with them, maybe out of necessity at the time. It was a shock when, just before his death, it looked like he’d be back in the Bunny Den.
But today Sony/Legacy announced they’ve taken the whole catalog from WB. They’ve taken 35 albums including all the classics from the 70s and 80s through the mid 90s and then some. Right away they’ll reissue everything from 1995 forward. Then, in 2021, they’ll have everything else. The only exception is “Purple Rain,” which may be tied to WB because of the movie. But “1999” and all the others go to Sony.
Spotify’s Troy Carter, who oversees the Prince estate, made the deal. But Carter may not be with Spotify much longer. After weeks of rumors that Carter was leaving, today Spotify announced the appointment of Dawn Ostroff as chief content officer. There was no word about Carter, who just stood in for Spotify founder Daniel Ek when they were honored at the annual UJA Federation luncheon for the music industry.
