First wave of physical Prince re-releases coming
It’s hard to believe this upcoming April will mark three years since the untimely passing of Prince. A legend in his own time, he won’t soon be forgotten, and beginning in just under a month, there will be a reminder of just how brilliant the Purple One was when the first round of physical titles is set for release as part of the ongoing and definitive catalog project first announced in August.
A collaborative effort between The Prince Estate and Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment (SME), will be delivering three full-length Prince albums Feb. 8: ‘Musicology,’ ‘3121’ and ‘Planet Earth.’
The titles will be available on CD and – for the first time – on vinyl, with the latter pressed on collectible, limited edition purple vinyl. In addition, the albums will be available in both CD and LP form alongside new exclusive merchandise corresponding to each album era via the official Prince store which can be found at store.princeestate.com. Pre-orders are being taken now.
The physical release of ‘Musicology’ and ‘3121’ – both on a single CD and two LPs – and ‘Planet Earth’ on a single CD and LP, follow the historic and exclusive agreement inked between The Prince Estate and SME/Legacy last June.
This past August saw the first part of the agreement come to pass with the release of 23 highly-collectible Prince catalog titles made available digitally across all major streaming services and digital service providers. Many of them were previously either hard-to-find or out-of-print in physical format. There was also a newly curated anthology of 37 essential tracks compiled with the backing of The Prince Estate, titled ‘Prince Anthology: 1995-2010.’
February’s releases celebrate a sustained period of renewed creative energy and commercial triumph in Prince’s multi-faceted career. The three albums marked his return to the top of the popular mainstream, a position he maintained while simultaneously pushing the envelope and breaking industry norms pertaining to marketing, distribution and live performance.
‘Musicology’ resulted in two Grammy Awards for both Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Vocal Performance – Male. The 2004 effort has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. Concurrently, Prince pioneered a cutting-edge industry-first marketing and distribution strategy for the album, bundling a copy of the record as a gift to every fan who purchased a ticket to his monumental “Musicology Live 2004ever” tour, witnessed by over 1.47 million music lovers worldwide.
Released in 2006, ‘3121’ was Prince’s 31st studio album and became his first record to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and his first No. 1 album since the soundtrack to the film of the same name, 1989’s blockbuster ‘Batman.’ For his follow-up studio album, the next year, ‘Planet Earth,’ Prince innovated yet another bold marketing and distribution tactic, giving free copies of the album away in the UK via a partnership with the national newspaper The Mail on Sunday.
Bucking conventional industry distribution strategy, the innovative partnership fueled an epic 21-night run of sold out shows at London’s 20,000 capacity O2 Arena. Back in the States, ‘Planet Earth’ debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
The studio trilogy presented Prince at a high point in his creative genius during the first decade of the 21st century, showing that he still had it in spades. The 2004 through 2007 time period gave us some of his most iconic and indelible performances, including his unforgettable appearance with Beyoncé at the 2004 Grammys, his showstopping induction at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a month later and what was quite possibly the greatest performance ever at a Super Bowl in Feb. 2007.
Complementing the music release campaign, The Prince Estate and Legacy will continue efforts to unify Prince’s work on all digital services with the ongoing weekly release of Prince’s official music videos. Reignited Nov. 2, the weekly video drops covering the 1995-2010 period build on a current available library of over 80 official music clips, with each week’s selections drawing from specific catalog albums.
It’s a not completely clear what will be coming next between the Legacy Recordings and Prince Estate partnership, but it seems only logical that the more familiar titles in the Prince catalog will soon see a similar marketing push. This first wave – for better or worse – is likely a test run to get all the bugs out, see what works and what doesn’t, so that when it comes time to drop the heavy-hitters in the future, it will be done with the over the top mannerisms that Prince would no doubt approve.