independent and unofficial
Prince fan community
Welcome! Sign up or enter username and password to remember me
Forum jump
Forums > Prince: Music and More > Opinion; Explaining Prince's Corvette deal/publishing owners rights
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Page 1 of 2 12>
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
Author

Tweet     Share

Message
Thread started 10/14/02 8:11am

jseven

Opinion; Explaining Prince's Corvette deal/publishing owners rights

Rights to use a song in a commercial are up to the publisher and not the Record Label owner of the Master.

He now owns his publishing rights (Which Warners wanted more of a cut in for his masters, which he sings about in "White Mansion" on 1996's Emancipation.)

Universal Music Publishing signed a deal with Prince in September 2001, to get a percentage of his royalties. Prince decided to do this because trying to track your airplay by yourself is extremely hard. Every time a Prince CD is played in a jukebox or on radio, Prince gets royalties for that.

In NYC, April 9th 2002 I believe, Prince asked Music Club members if he should give Little Red Corvette to Chevy for their 50th Anniversary. So Prince was in negotiations with them since before April of this year. Since Warner's no longer gets a cut of his publishing rights, it made it easier. Universal, which owns the rights to the Live footage of the SOTT film and Little Red Corvette, made it easier to cut Warner's out of the equation by using that footage instead of the 1982 Warner Video clip (although, when Prince signed his deal with Warner's in 1993, it was for full video control. Part of that had to do with Prince making a video for every single song on a CD including classics such as "Walk Don't Walk, which was directed by Lisa Bonet. although these videos never saw the light of day, Warner's would pay for the production costs.)

Before Prince started his solo career in 1978, he made several radio jingles for Minneapolis radio which was traded for studio time at Chris Moon's studio.

Also, this is not Prince's first time with commercials. In 1989/90, it was reported that Prince wrote the jingle for Diet Pepsi "Uh-huh". (originally known as the you got the right one baby with the Uh-huh girls by former Mcdonald's Mac Tonight guy Ray Charles) Although never made public and just making the "so-called journalists" columns, Prince made 7 million dollars for writing it.

In 1993 Prince again might have dabbled in commercial jingles again. Coca-Cola after two years of declining sales, started a new campaign entitled "Always Coca-Cola". It again was reported in the Euro papers that Prince wrote the tune for it n was paid 10 Million Dollars as well as Coca-Cola sponsoring the 1993 Act II tour overseas. Prince played part of the jingle instrumentally on of the Euro dates on the tour, which was reported in the finale issue of Controversy Magazine.

In 1999, Prince was approached by Coca-Cola again to use the song "1999" for another ad campaign. Reported in Rolling Stone, Prince was offered over 11 million dollars for the rights to the song. Rolling Stone said Prince refused only for the reason that Warners would also get a cut of that check.

Prince, being an independent artist now, which many of his fans or "fams" fail to remember, has a harder time getting radio & play on video networks due to his Independent status. If a independent artist like Prince gets played on MTV, with no label, & as he likes it, very little promotion or doing any appearances on MTV shows, record labels would be bitching left and right. "Why does Kid Rock have to be a judge on this show to get his video played but Prince doesn't do anything and is getting 4 spins a day?" Something is dead wrong with MTV and perhaps that has to do with who has been running it since 1985. Judy McGrath who has had several run-ins with Prince since 1986s horrible MTV promotion of "Under the Cherry Moon's" premiere.
Mcgrath's stance on Prince is; "he should stick to what he does well and that is sexy videos, which he has not done in a while". Maybe Judy hasn't grown since 1985 but it is evident Prince has.

Prince selling rights to his songs for commercial use is something in it's self. An artist who according to the media, has fallen from grace is still in high demand, no matter what is reported. The guy has no friends in radio, none on any video networks, cept for VH-1, which has been trying to get Prince to do a special for the network for quite some time, and no friends when it comes to record labels, is still being able to do what he wants and throwing his fans for a loop in the process.

jeremiah freed

"It is a sad what MTV has done to the World"-Joni Mitchell

the 777 Update

http://groups.yahoo.com/g...ewsletter/
[This message was edited Mon Oct 14 8:11:28 PDT 2002 by jseven]
[This message was edited Mon Oct 14 10:29:02 PDT 2002 by jseven]
Silence Speaks A Thousand Words.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #1 posted 10/14/02 9:34am

lovemachine

avatar

jseven said:



Also, this is not Prince's first time with commercials. In 1989/90, it was reported that Prince wrote the jingle for Diet Pepsi "Uh-huh". (originally known as the you got the right one baby with the Uh-huh girls by former Mcdonald's Mac Tonight guy Ray Charles) Although never made public and just making the "so-called journalists" columns, Prince made 7 million dollars for writing it.





This kind of lie is why the "777" update is published on a Yahoo group.



.
[This message was edited Mon Oct 14 9:35:58 PDT 2002 by lovemachine]
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #2 posted 10/14/02 10:11am

langebleu

avatar

moderator

I am sure this piece was written with the best intention of providing explanation and clarification. However, it really requires some thorough editing, with more research and supporting evidence. As it stands, its wording is very confusing.
ALT+PLS+RTN: Pure as a pane of ice. It's a gift.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #3 posted 10/14/02 10:13am

Batdance


Prince, being an independent artist now, which many of his fans or "fams" fail to remember, has a harder time getting radio & play on video networks due to his Independent status. If a independent artist like Prince gets played on MTV, with no label, & as he likes it, very little promotion or doing any appearances on MTV shows, record labels would be bitching left and right. "Why does Kid Rock have to be a judge on this show to get his video played but Prince doesn't do anything and is getting 4 spins a day?"


Bitching from a record label is probably the reason why Soul Train backed out of giving Prince an Artist of the Decade award a couple years ago. They announced that he would be getting the award, and then a couple weeks later they changed the name of the award from "Artist of the Decade" to "Male Artist of the Decade" and announced that Whitney Houston would be getting "Female Artist of the Decade."

They watered down the award so that two people were awarded instead of just one -- Prince, an independent artist who had only a one-off deal with Arista.

Of course nobody knows for sure, but I suspect that Arista leaned on Soul Train to get them to make that change. Whitney has a longterm contract with Arista, while Prince had a one-off deal.

batman
batman bat
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #4 posted 10/14/02 10:23am

jseven

lovemachine said:

jseven said:



Also, this is not Prince's first time with commercials. In 1989/90, it was reported that Prince wrote the jingle for Diet Pepsi "Uh-huh". (originally known as the you got the right one baby with the Uh-huh girls by former Mcdonald's Mac Tonight guy Ray Charles) Although never made public and just making the "so-called journalists" columns, Prince made 7 million dollars for writing it.





This kind of lie is why the "777" update is published on a Yahoo group.




[This message was edited Mon Oct 14 9:35:58 PDT 2002 by lovemachine]



How is it a lie? It was reported in various books that this deal took place.

The Update was moves to YAHOO by me because AOL had a hard time with how many members were on the mail list.

Right now I do not have the funds to move it to it's own website. Unless you would like to pay for it.

Read what I wrote. I said it was REPORTED. Prince NEVER made an announcement being as fact but then again, he hasn;t said he is a JW yet, and hasn't said he is married.

The fact that something is on a yahoo group means nothing.

It is something I write n maintain n I guess I can put it anywhere I desire.

You are entitled to your own opinion but I will not be called a liar. Prove me wrong n leave it at that. If i am lying, where is your proof?
Silence Speaks A Thousand Words.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #5 posted 10/14/02 10:28am

jseven

langebleu said:

I am sure this piece was written with the best intention of providing explanation and clarification. However, it really requires some thorough editing, with more research and supporting evidence. As it stands, its wording is very confusing.



just wrote it this morning n got tired of people thinking it was Warner's decision, not Prince's.

As for the evidence, I used everything I could. Supporting evidence is hard.Prince does not make it easy. Most of the things I had on it reported on it but never got clarification from Prince. Warner's knew nothing of it because they were kept in the dark by him.If anyone has any other info that they wish to say bout this, say it.

Didn't mean for the wording to be confusing in the least.
Silence Speaks A Thousand Words.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #6 posted 10/14/02 10:45am

PrimeTime

avatar

jseven said:

Rights to use a song in a commercial are up to the publisher and not the Record Label owner of the Master.



J:
Point of clarification. You have to clear both sides (Master & Publishing) in order to place a song in a commercial, unless you do a cover version of the song, in that case you are only dealing with the publisher. However, since the publisher is the copyright holder if you cannot get clearance from the publisher, you will not be able to use the song.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #7 posted 10/14/02 10:58am

jseven

PrimeTime said:

jseven said:

Rights to use a song in a commercial are up to the publisher and not the Record Label owner of the Master.



J:
Point of clarification. You have to clear both sides (Master & Publishing) in order to place a song in a commercial, unless you do a cover version of the song, in that case you are only dealing with the publisher. However, since the publisher is the copyright holder if you cannot get clearance from the publisher, you will not be able to use the song.


Very interesting. The rules of copyright change constantly.

Some people say that when Universal signed a publishing deal, they also helped him out on the Master front. Doubt it is true or else Pricne would have said something bout that.

It took 3 months after the fact the publishing deal happened for it to make it into the rounds of Billboard.
Silence Speaks A Thousand Words.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #8 posted 10/14/02 11:23am

Bladerunner

jseven said:


Also, this is not Prince's first time with commercials. In 1989/90, it was reported that Prince wrote the jingle for Diet Pepsi "Uh-huh". (originally known as the you got the right one baby with the Uh-huh girls by former Mcdonald's Mac Tonight guy Ray Charles) Although never made public and just making the "so-called journalists" columns, Prince made 7 million dollars for writing it.

In 1993 Prince again might have dabbled in commercial jingles again. Coca-Cola after two years of declining sales, started a new campaign entitled "Always Coca-Cola". It again was reported in the Euro papers that Prince wrote the tune for it n was paid 10 Million Dollars as well as Coca-Cola sponsoring the 1993 Act II tour overseas. Prince played part of the jingle instrumentally on of the Euro dates on the tour, which was reported in the finale issue of Controversy Magazine.


I'm still waiting for someone to prove this instead of relying on rumors and heresay. Where are the lyrics with Prince's copyright attached?
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #9 posted 10/14/02 11:25am

Bladerunner

langebleu said:

I am sure this piece was written with the best intention of providing explanation and clarification. However, it really requires some thorough editing, with more research and supporting evidence. As it stands, its wording is very confusing.


You got that right.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #10 posted 10/14/02 11:37am

lovemachine

avatar

jseven said:

lovemachine said:

jseven said:



Also, this is not Prince's first time with commercials. In 1989/90, it was reported that Prince wrote the jingle for Diet Pepsi "Uh-huh". (originally known as the you got the right one baby with the Uh-huh girls by former Mcdonald's Mac Tonight guy Ray Charles) Although never made public and just making the "so-called journalists" columns, Prince made 7 million dollars for writing it.





This kind of lie is why the "777" update is published on a Yahoo group.







How is it a lie? It was reported in various books that this deal took place.



You are entitled to your own opinion but I will not be called a liar. Prove me wrong n leave it at that. If i am lying, where is your proof?


Okay show me one source from these alleged books that say that Prince got paid $7 million dollars for writing the Pepsi theme and I will take back the liar remark.

I've read all the Prince books and while there is some speculation that he MAY have written it most people believe he wrote "Uh Huh" after the commercial aired.

Furthermore NOWHERE has it ever been reported that he made $7 million dollars for writing this song.

C'mon show me one source.





.
[This message was edited Mon Oct 14 11:39:13 PDT 2002 by lovemachine]
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #11 posted 10/14/02 11:52am

AaronForever

avatar

Bladerunner said:


I'm still waiting for someone to prove this instead of relying on rumors and heresay. Where are the lyrics with Prince's copyright attached?


Uptown (either in the magazine or in the Days of Wild book) state that the Coca Cola jingle is copyrighted by Prince.

The Diet Pepsi song is a trickier matter. Hard to tell if he wrote and recorded it or if someone else wrote it and he did a(n unreleased but circulating) cover of it.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #12 posted 10/14/02 11:53am

PrimeTime

avatar

Very interesting. The rules of copyright change constantly.

Some people say that when Universal signed a publishing deal, they also helped him out on the Master front. Doubt it is true or else Pricne would have said something bout that.

It took 3 months after the fact the publishing deal happened for it to make it into the rounds of Billboard.[/quote]

I'm not sure about that Master front-it would take a lot of money for him to buy back everything from Warners, but in his old recording contract, there is probably a provision that requires his permission for various uses post-term (or after the contact has ended), if he doesnt have this provision, then Warner (or rather Warner Special Products) can do what they want with the master(s) in terms of compilations, "best of" cd's etc. For synch uses, its crucial that the publisher give approval or else there can be no use.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #13 posted 10/14/02 12:22pm

lovemachine

avatar

AaronForever said:

Bladerunner said:


I'm still waiting for someone to prove this instead of relying on rumors and heresay. Where are the lyrics with Prince's copyright attached?


Uptown (either in the magazine or in the Days of Wild book) state that the Coca Cola jingle is copyrighted by Prince.

The Diet Pepsi song is a trickier matter. Hard to tell if he wrote and recorded it or if someone else wrote it and he did a(n unreleased but circulating) cover of it.



You also must remember that just because he copyrighted a song called "Coca Cola jingle" (or whatever) does not mean that it was ever used by the Coke company. Perhaps Prince recorded a song and when it was finished decided it sounded like something that you would hear in a Coke comericial.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #14 posted 10/14/02 12:27pm

Bladerunner

AaronForever said:

Bladerunner said:


I'm still waiting for someone to prove this instead of relying on rumors and heresay. Where are the lyrics with Prince's copyright attached?


Uptown (either in the magazine or in the Days of Wild book) state that the Coca Cola jingle is copyrighted by Prince.

The Diet Pepsi song is a trickier matter. Hard to tell if he wrote and recorded it or if someone else wrote it and he did a(n unreleased but circulating) cover of it.


Yeah yeah Uptown has said many things over the years a couple of things that I have found out werent true. Still nobody comes up with anything substantial as to who penned the song with any other sources than a fanzine that isn't always accurate.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #15 posted 10/14/02 12:31pm

lovemachine

avatar

Bladerunner said:

AaronForever said:

Bladerunner said:


I'm still waiting for someone to prove this instead of relying on rumors and heresay. Where are the lyrics with Prince's copyright attached?


Uptown (either in the magazine or in the Days of Wild book) state that the Coca Cola jingle is copyrighted by Prince.

The Diet Pepsi song is a trickier matter. Hard to tell if he wrote and recorded it or if someone else wrote it and he did a(n unreleased but circulating) cover of it.


Yeah yeah Uptown has said many things over the years a couple of things that I have found out werent true. Still nobody comes up with anything substantial as to who penned the song with any other sources than a fanzine that isn't always accurate.


Uptown lifted large chucnks of their review of "Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic" from a post my friend made on AMP so I don't have much respect for them anymore.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #16 posted 10/14/02 12:41pm

Bladerunner

lovemachine said:

Uptown lifted large chucnks of their review of "Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic" from a post my friend made on AMP so I don't have much respect for them anymore.


lol Very professional!
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #17 posted 10/14/02 12:50pm

AaronForever

avatar

lovemachine said:

AaronForever said:

Bladerunner said:


I'm still waiting for someone to prove this instead of relying on rumors and heresay. Where are the lyrics with Prince's copyright attached?


Uptown (either in the magazine or in the Days of Wild book) state that the Coca Cola jingle is copyrighted by Prince.

The Diet Pepsi song is a trickier matter. Hard to tell if he wrote and recorded it or if someone else wrote it and he did a(n unreleased but circulating) cover of it.



You also must remember that just because he copyrighted a song called "Coca Cola jingle" (or whatever) does not mean that it was ever used by the Coke company. Perhaps Prince recorded a song and when it was finished decided it sounded like something that you would hear in a Coke comericial.



1) he copyrighted a tune called "Coca Cola jingle"
2) they sponsored his tour
3) in that flashing globe thing, images of a prince and the Coke logo flashed back and forth
4) he played the song
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #18 posted 10/14/02 12:56pm

Bladerunner

Coke sponsors a lot of tours over the years that really has nothing to do with it. And still nobody is able to come up with proof of him writing a jingle for either company. A generic 'coca cola jingle' title is vague at best since company jingles that are used as ads have specific titles.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #19 posted 10/14/02 1:35pm

AaronForever

avatar

Bladerunner said:

Coke sponsors a lot of tours over the years that really has nothing to do with it. And still nobody is able to come up with proof of him writing a jingle for either company. A generic 'coca cola jingle' title is vague at best since company jingles that are used as ads have specific titles.



true. but then again, depending on where the copyright info was sourced from, it still remain vague. for example, when such info is listed at the Library of Congress, titles and names are often vague, mis-spelled or completely incorrect.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #20 posted 10/14/02 1:53pm

joeycoco

jseven said:

Rights to use a song in a commercial are up to the publisher and not the Record Label owner of the Master.


The publisher can allow someone to do a cover, however, they do not have any say in the use of the original recording.

He now owns his publishing rights (Which Warners wanted more of a cut in for his masters, which he sings about in "White Mansion" on 1996's Emancipation.)


That's all cute and shit, but his deal with Warner-Chappell didn't end 'till Dec 31st 1999.
[This message was edited Mon Oct 14 13:53:19 PDT 2002 by joeycoco]
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #21 posted 10/14/02 2:26pm

cracknbush

avatar

Why would Prince record the song Uh-Huh, based on a commercial jingle. 'Cause he was bored?, 'cause he thought Brother Ray sounded really cool singing it? More likely that he wrote the song and sold it to Pepsi (why is that so un-heard of?), or someone else wrote it and sold it to Pepsi.
I seriously doubt he created it after hearing the commercial.

Anyway, the Little Red Corvette thing sounds like it could be right. Strange for Prince to offer of a previously released song for a commercial, but J's explaination sounds ok. If you need one.
cracknbush
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #22 posted 10/14/02 2:50pm

PrimeTime

avatar

cracknbush said:


Anyway, the Little Red Corvette thing sounds like it could be right. Strange for Prince to offer of a previously released song for a commercial, but J's explaination sounds ok. If you need one.


Short answer- He needs to recoup some of that publishing advance
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #23 posted 10/14/02 2:51pm

mzflash

jseven said:[quote]lovemachine said:[quote]

jseven said:



You are entitled to your own opinion but I will not be called a liar.


Jseven if lovemachine is entitled to his own opinion why did you remove me from your mailing list for expressing mine?
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #24 posted 10/14/02 2:58pm

lwr001

One easy way to find out about the jingles would be to see if they are listed as "works for hire" inder the Libary of Congress listing.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #25 posted 10/14/02 5:56pm

SWANG

PrimeTime said:

cracknbush said:


Anyway, the Little Red Corvette thing sounds like it could be right. Strange for Prince to offer of a previously released song for a commercial, but J's explaination sounds ok. If you need one.


Short answer- He needs to recoup some of that publishing advance


Primetime: Prince's deal with Universal was an administration deal; deal of this nature do not include advances...

-SWANGhatesthemusicbiz
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #26 posted 10/14/02 9:38pm

jseven

joeycoco said:

That's all cute and shit, but his deal with Warner-Chappell didn't end 'till Dec 31st 1999.
[This message was edited Mon Oct 14 13:53:19 PDT 2002 by joeycoco]
[/quote]

Yup. It ended Dec. 99.

I thought i put thati n what I wrote?

I need an editor bad apparantly.
Silence Speaks A Thousand Words.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #27 posted 10/14/02 9:40pm

jseven

mzflash said:[quote]jseven said:[quote]

lovemachine said:

jseven said:



You are entitled to your own opinion but I will not be called a liar.


Jseven if lovemachine is entitled to his own opinion why did you remove me from your mailing list for expressing mine?


Don;t know what you are talking bout mz, this was not sent out thru the Update.

I have never removes you from the mailing list. Not my style.

I emailed you on this. We will talk about it.

As for everyone else, it is hard to prove things as I said since he is very secretive about everything. Believe what you want n this was an opinion as stated at the begining.

peace.
Silence Speaks A Thousand Words.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #28 posted 10/15/02 3:38am

mzflash

J7 thanks for clearing that up. rose
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #29 posted 10/15/02 4:11am

dee2

avatar

I'm just glad 2 know he's making money and not Warner Bothers. Who cares about the other stuff?
I would never leave U, no matter what U do. Stop the music baby, U know I'm an automatic FOOL
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Page 1 of 2 12>
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Forums > Prince: Music and More > Opinion; Explaining Prince's Corvette deal/publishing owners rights