Prince’s Estate Sues to Block Sale of Unreleased Songs

“1999” musician’s estate claims that sound engineer is trying to release tracks without authorization

Price naacp image
LOS ANGELES – MARCH 19: Musician Prince performs onstage at the 36th Annual NAACP Image Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 19, 2005 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

UPDATED Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. PT: 

A Minnesota court granted a temporary restraining order for Paisley Park Enterprises and Comerica Bank against George Ian Broxill on Wednesday night.

Broxill is now prohibited from publishing unrewarding recordings by Prince of the present time.

The TRO will expire at 11:59 p.m. on May 3, 2017, according to court documents obtained by TheWrap.

PREVIOUSLY:

If Prince’s estate has its way, there will be no “Deliverance” of previously unreleased songs from the Purple One on Friday.

The estate of the deceased “Purple Rain” music legend has filed a lawsuit over the impending release of Prince material which was scheduled for Friday, the one-year anniversary of the singer’s death.

Paisley Park Enterprises and Comerica Bank filed their suit against George Ian Broxill, who according to the estate worked as a sound engineer for Prince, and is now attempting to release the handful of tracks without authorization.

“The Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson is aware that Mr. George Ian Boxill, in conjunction with Rogue Music Alliance, has issued a press release announcing an intent to distribute previously unreleased Prince master recordings and musical compositions. The Estate has not authorized any such release and is not affiliated with either Mr. Boxill or Rogue Music Alliance,” a spokesman for Comerica, which administers the estate, told TheWrap in a statement Wednesday.

“During his unparalleled career, Prince worked with many sound engineers, including Mr. Boxill.  Like the other engineers that had the opportunity to work with Prince, Mr. Boxill signed an agreement, under which he agreed (1) all recordings that he worked on with Prince would remain Prince’s sole and exclusive property; (2) he would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever; and (3) he would return any such recordings or property to Prince immediately upon request.”

According to the estate, Boxill failed to do so, maintaining copies of “certain tracks.”

“Mr. Boxill did not comply with his agreement. Instead, Mr. Boxill maintained copies of certain tracks, waited until after Prince’s tragic death, and is now attempting to release tracks without the authorization of the Estate and in violation of the agreement and applicable law,” the estate added. “The Estate  is taking immediate legal actions to prevent Mr. Boxill’s continuing violations of his agreement and the rights of the Estate and its partners in Prince’s recordings. Any dissemination of the recordings and underlying music compositions, or fixation of the same in any audiovisual work or otherwise, is unauthorized and in violation of the Estate’s rights to the master recordings and musical compositions.”

On Tuesday, the previously unreleased Prince track “Deliverance” was made available on iTunes. A six-track EP of the same title, made up of songs Prince recorded between 2006 and 2008, was scheduled to go on sale Friday.

Prince died in April 2016 at age 57, of what was later determined to be an overdose of the opioid fentanyl.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

Comments