When he died of an accidental drug overdose in April, Prince left behind what it is rumored to be a massive vault of unreleased music and no will indicating what should be done with it.
Negotiations for the rights to this music are still ongoing. According to TMZ, Jay Z flew out Prince's sister and her husband to New York City several weeks ago and submitted a bid of $40 million for the rights to the vault. The report mentioned that Hov is also seeking to lock down "the overall deal for streaming rights." Prince, a notoriously difficult negotiator wit throughout his career, was a vocal supporter of TIDAL and signed an exclusive deal with the streaming company briefly before his death. In June, TIDAL added 15 Prince albums to its exclusive catalogue.
According to a conflicting report from Billboard, L. Londell McMillan, a representative of Prince's estate, has “no knowledge of any discussions in that report." McMillan asserted that Prince's estate is considering offers for the artist's music to be licensed, not purchased. Another source told Billboard that Warner Music is the front-runner to obtain the licensing rights. Next month, with the release of a 40-track greatest hits album called Prince 4Ever, they will become the first company to release Prince's music since his death.
