According to a new press release from TIDAL, Jay-Z is compiling a new album of unreleased Prince music in collaboration with the late musician’s estate, as part of a new deal between the two entities. It is expected to be released in 2019. For a limited window of two weeks, the album will be a TIDAL exclusive before entering into general streaming circulation.
For years, TIDAL, which came under fire this week after being accused of generating millions of fake plays for the TIDAL-exclusive albums Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo and Beyoncé‘s Lemonade, claimed exclusive streaming rights for Prince’s catalogue. In November 2016, however, the late musician’s estate took TIDAL/Roc Nation to court to contest the designation. Now, as of 2017, a hefty portion of Prince’s catalogue is available across all platforms.
In TIDAL’s new statement, Jay-Z wrote: “Our only goal is to share Prince’s music with his fans as he wanted. After thoughtful and honest conversation with him, he chose TIDAL as his partner for HITnRUN Phase One and HITnRUN Phase Two, and we will continue to respect and honor Prince’s enduring legacy and wishes with this new collection.”
The statement about the estate’s new agreement with TIDAL claims that the deal “does not involve any of Prince’s music catalogue that is subject to prior agreements with Warner Brothers Records.” Last month, Prince’s estate also launched two new websites, released the artist’s original 1984 recording of “Nothing Compares 2 U” with an accompanying video, and announced another new album of unreleased material scheduled to come out on September 28 on Warner Bros. A memoir sanctioned by Prince is also reportedly due out later this year.
