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| Gett off! Why Prince’s archive is an act of defiance against pop industry capitalism | Gett off! Why Prince’s archive is an act of defiance against pop industry capitalism |
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| News that Warner Bros is to release a deluxe, posthumous version of Purple Rain, twice the original length – and that Prince planned the project before he died – has turned the music world febrile. Collaborators say there’s a vault of unreleased songs that constitute 70% of Prince’s oeuvre, so his estate looks set to be flush for decades to come. If so, he would not be the first artist to trust posterity more than he trusted contemporary taste. | |
| Beethoven, upon finding that no musician in Vienna could play his string quartets, told a frustrated violinist: “They are not for you, but for a later age.” The Alexandrian poet CP Cavafy, who died in 1932, comprehensively suppressed the erotic poems he is now famous for. Kafka ordered that all his manuscripts be burned upon his death – an order, thankfully, defied. | |
| In general, the historic pattern was: in an artist’s lifetime, creative work gets filtered through what taste and the market can withstand. After they are dead, and adjudged to be great, the market becomes very eager to commercialise their unpublished work. The work’s value is boosted by the fact that, being dead, they are unable to produce any more stuff, creating instant scarcity. | In general, the historic pattern was: in an artist’s lifetime, creative work gets filtered through what taste and the market can withstand. After they are dead, and adjudged to be great, the market becomes very eager to commercialise their unpublished work. The work’s value is boosted by the fact that, being dead, they are unable to produce any more stuff, creating instant scarcity. |
| It was David Bowie who, in 1997, first understood that technology might be about to disrupt the old pattern. In a pioneering financial arrangement, Bowie securitised the projected income on his already-published music – meaning he took a loan of $55m (then £33m) against his future royalties, in return for 8% annual interest over 10 years. His motivation was that, with the arrival of the internet, royalties on recorded music would probably diminish – so better to get them sooner rather than later. | It was David Bowie who, in 1997, first understood that technology might be about to disrupt the old pattern. In a pioneering financial arrangement, Bowie securitised the projected income on his already-published music – meaning he took a loan of $55m (then £33m) against his future royalties, in return for 8% annual interest over 10 years. His motivation was that, with the arrival of the internet, royalties on recorded music would probably diminish – so better to get them sooner rather than later. |
| It’s known that Prince consulted David Pullman, who designed the so-called Bowie bond, not long after Bowie’s deal was publicised. Pullman has told reporters he thinks Prince’s unsold songs might be worth up to $100m. But there was no “Prince bond”. Prince’s estate seems likely to trickle out the material over several years, extracting maximum value not just from the music but from his image. | It’s known that Prince consulted David Pullman, who designed the so-called Bowie bond, not long after Bowie’s deal was publicised. Pullman has told reporters he thinks Prince’s unsold songs might be worth up to $100m. But there was no “Prince bond”. Prince’s estate seems likely to trickle out the material over several years, extracting maximum value not just from the music but from his image. |
| If so, in addition to inventing an entire musical genre, Prince may go down as the inventor of post-death capitalism. He turned the logic of the Bowie bond on its head and did something far more interesting. | If so, in addition to inventing an entire musical genre, Prince may go down as the inventor of post-death capitalism. He turned the logic of the Bowie bond on its head and did something far more interesting. |
| For an economy based increasingly on intellectual property, copyright laws are crucial. The conglomerates who own the major music and movie studios have, over time, managed to extend the life of copyright to – in the US – life plus 70 years. If the creator is a “corporate body”, the term extends to 120 years from the creation date. But what if I am a corporate body who intends to publish my work at a later date? And how can corporate bodies “die”? | For an economy based increasingly on intellectual property, copyright laws are crucial. The conglomerates who own the major music and movie studios have, over time, managed to extend the life of copyright to – in the US – life plus 70 years. If the creator is a “corporate body”, the term extends to 120 years from the creation date. But what if I am a corporate body who intends to publish my work at a later date? And how can corporate bodies “die”? |
| Copyright law on unpublished stuff generally relates to archives – notes, diaries, rough drafts, early scripts – in analogue form. But who is to say whether Prince, meandering through a solo song called Good Dick and a Job in 1995, meant this as a first draft or a finished work? He “premiered” the recording at a party on 19 May 1995 but never performed it live. | Copyright law on unpublished stuff generally relates to archives – notes, diaries, rough drafts, early scripts – in analogue form. But who is to say whether Prince, meandering through a solo song called Good Dick and a Job in 1995, meant this as a first draft or a finished work? He “premiered” the recording at a party on 19 May 1995 but never performed it live. |
| Ask these questions and the long-term potential of Prince’s strange modus operandi becomes clear. The unreleased song archive could, if his estate wants, remain artificially scarce for 120 years. It is possible to imagine that the hype will be considerable in the year 2136, when the last Prince album is released. So, behind the white walls of his Minnesota mansion, Prince may have pioneered a form of information capitalism much more sophisticated than Bowie’s, and greatly more far sighted than the contracts designed by studio lawyers. | Ask these questions and the long-term potential of Prince’s strange modus operandi becomes clear. The unreleased song archive could, if his estate wants, remain artificially scarce for 120 years. It is possible to imagine that the hype will be considerable in the year 2136, when the last Prince album is released. So, behind the white walls of his Minnesota mansion, Prince may have pioneered a form of information capitalism much more sophisticated than Bowie’s, and greatly more far sighted than the contracts designed by studio lawyers. |
| Prince – almost uniquely among major artists – owned the masters of his recordings. In the studio system, when you sell a song to a label, you get writer’s royalties and performance royalties but you alienate the property rights to the master recording itself. By eschewing this, Prince – even with his published work – retained a much greater proportion of its value for himself. | Prince – almost uniquely among major artists – owned the masters of his recordings. In the studio system, when you sell a song to a label, you get writer’s royalties and performance royalties but you alienate the property rights to the master recording itself. By eschewing this, Prince – even with his published work – retained a much greater proportion of its value for himself. |
| On top of that, it seems by his own admission, he “didn’t always give the studio the best song”. Indeed, he trailed unreleased songs by naming them in interviews and sleeve notes for the published albums. And then, having meticulously created this treasure trove, he left no will. He created scarcity, interest and quality in the unpublished work – but showed no interest in how it would be exploited. He even, reportedly, joked that it should be destroyed. | On top of that, it seems by his own admission, he “didn’t always give the studio the best song”. Indeed, he trailed unreleased songs by naming them in interviews and sleeve notes for the published albums. And then, having meticulously created this treasure trove, he left no will. He created scarcity, interest and quality in the unpublished work – but showed no interest in how it would be exploited. He even, reportedly, joked that it should be destroyed. |
| Prince, in short, committed a giant act of defiance of the commercial conventions of pop music – compared with which renaming himself as a symbol mid-career looks like child’s play. He knew all too well, after the 1990s, that he could have converted the whole oeuvre into a Bowie bond. But he did the opposite. He secured the property rights to his music and then just left it there, for others to work out when, where and at what price it should be commercialised. | |
| We live in an age when those who mediate between artists and money always want to know: who is it for? Who is the target audience? Who will pay to consume it? This is as true in TV drama, Arts Council-funded theatre and the global art market – even if the question gets asked in more subtle ways. Allied to that is the legitimate question: what will the artwork change? What is its impact going to be? | We live in an age when those who mediate between artists and money always want to know: who is it for? Who is the target audience? Who will pay to consume it? This is as true in TV drama, Arts Council-funded theatre and the global art market – even if the question gets asked in more subtle ways. Allied to that is the legitimate question: what will the artwork change? What is its impact going to be? |
| Prince’s vault reads like a top lip curled in defiance to all that. It reminds us that an artist, if they want to, can just create for themselves. And having created, they can dump the problem of what it means, what it changes and who it communicates with on to those who outlive them. | Prince’s vault reads like a top lip curled in defiance to all that. It reminds us that an artist, if they want to, can just create for themselves. And having created, they can dump the problem of what it means, what it changes and who it communicates with on to those who outlive them. |
| As to money, once he had created a revenue stream from the published work sufficient for the upkeep of his quirky lifestyle, Prince seems to have lost interest in the problem of commercialising his output. That’s somebody else’s problem now. |