{"id":1631,"date":"2016-11-22T14:59:48","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T19:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=1631"},"modified":"2023-07-25T11:59:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:59:41","slug":"tidal-claims-exclusive-streaming-rights-to-prince-catalogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2016\/11\/tidal-claims-exclusive-streaming-rights-to-prince-catalogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Tidal Claims Exclusive Streaming Rights to Prince Catalogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"prince_at_coachella\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Nov. 2 Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) won the bidding war<\/a> to become \u201cworldwide publishing administrator\u201d for the entire Prince catalogue. Unfortunately, for streaming purposes, it may have to license those publishing rights exclusively to Tidal. According to Billboard<\/em><\/a>, on Nov. 11, Jay Z\u2019s entertainment company, Roc Nation, filed paperwork in a Minnesota district court claiming Tidal has exclusive streaming distribution rights to Prince\u2019s catalogue, granted by pre-existing contracts between the streaming service and the late pop star.<\/p>\n

Prince stated in Sept. 2015, \u201cTIDAL have honored us with a non-restrictive arrangement that once again allows us to continue making art in the fashion,\u201d and the new paperwork details of the \u201carrangement.\u201d First, in July 2015, Prince and Roc Nation entered into a 5-year agreement wherein Prince granted worldwide streaming rights to Tidal for three forthcoming albums, and agreed not to grant exclusive rights to his music to any other digital streaming service. Second, in August 2015, Tidal, NPG Records, and NPG Music publishing (Prince\u2019s publishing house<\/a>) entered into an exclusive worldwide distribution deal, granting Tidal the right to \u201cexclusively stream [Prince\u2019s] entire catalogue of music, with limited exceptions.\u201d The term of this later agreement was three-years or until \u201cfull recoupment of the advance.\u201d Roc Nation claims this second agreement, in particular, is still intact because it has neither been the expiration of three years, nor, allegedly, has the advance been fully recouped.<\/p>\n

Roc Nation claims this is the fourth time this year it has asserted its rights to the catalogue, and is asking the court to allow its claim of exclusive streaming rights to stand. It also implies questionable behavior by the Special Administrator for Prince\u2019s estate, claiming he \u201crefused to offer any information\u201d on his business dealings, including the UMPG negotiations. A favorable ruling for Roc Nation would validate the terms of the 2015 contracts, and could prevent UMPG from licensing Prince\u2019s music to competing services like Apple Music and Spotify.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Marr is an Online Highlight Editor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current second year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2018).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Nov. 2 Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) won the bidding war to become \u201cworldwide publishing administrator\u201d for the entire Prince catalogue. Unfortunately, for streaming purposes, it may have to license those publishing rights exclusively to Tidal. According to Billboard, on Nov. 11, Jay Z\u2019s entertainment company, Roc Nation, filed paperwork in a Minnesota district 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