Legal woes and sibling squabbles could destroy Prince’s recorded legacy

The sad, drawn-out saga of Prince’s estate and the control and release of his music has hit another roadblock, with the late great’s half siblings Sharon, Norrine, and John Nelson asking a judge to remove the current estate executor, Comerica Bank & Trust.

Their major issue they have is that Comerica recently shipped the contents of Prince’s vault (which we can only assume is an actual bank vault, painted purple with a big, bronze, love symbol-shaped handle) to California without seeking permission from the siblings.

Comerica deny this, claiming they asked the family permission – to quote Prince’s 1999: “It’s all about the ‘he said, she said’ bullshit.”

Prince’s six siblings were declared his legal heirs after the superstar left no will, but bickering has since caused them to split into opposing teams of three, like an unfunny half-court basketball game with no real winners.

This all sadly seems to forebode the type of clumsy posthumous catalogue handling that has plagued numerous stars, such as Jeff Buckley, 2pac, and Michael Jackson.

Given how prolific Prince was in his lifetime — experts estimate there are well over a thousand unreleased songs — it will take expert care to ensure that only the best music is released to the world. Otherwise, we are going to see yet another artist’s recorded catalogue flooded with dozens of sub-par releases.

Given how much control he wielded over the distribution and use of his music during his lifetime, this is particularly depressing.

Hopefully, it won’t happen to Prince’s music.

Honestly? It probably will.

https://vimeo.com/126664349

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.