Jay-Z to release new Prince album next year

The album will be available exclusively on Tidal for two weeks before wide distribution

Jay-Z is working on a full-length album of previously released music from Prince and will release it on Tidal

May 12, 2018

Prince Jay-Z thegrio.com — (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

For those still broken-hearted over the untimely death of Prince two years ago (translation: anyone who is breathing), you can enjoy more of his work in the near future.

Music mogul Jay-Z is working on a curating full-length album of previously released music from Prince’s vault, and will release it on Tidal, Pitchfork.com is reporting.

The announcement signifies a resolution of the 2016 lawsuit Prince’s estate filed against Jay-Z’s Roc Nation over Tidal’s claim that it owned exclusive streaming rights of Prince’s catalogue, Pitchfork.com reported.

The legal matter is now resolved and the album is scheduled to be released next year, Pitchfork.com reported, citing a press release. Tidal will stream the album exclusively for two weeks, according to Pitchfork.com

Moving Forward

The news organization cited a statement released by Jay-Z.

“Our only goal is to share Prince’s music with his fans as he wanted,” the statement read. “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 also notes that the partnership between Prince’s estate and Tidal does not involve any of Prince’s music catalog that was involved in prior agreements with Warner Brothers Records.

Rocky Road To This Moment

For several years, Prince’s back catalog was available for streaming only on Tidal, and it was only in 2017 that it came to be available on Spotify, Apple Music and more music platforms, Pitchford.com reports.

In 2016, Prince’s NPG Records sued Roc Nation for streaming Prince’s music. According to the NPG legal action, Roc Nation had permission to stream music from only one album, but Roc Nation streamed songs outside of the album too – including “Purple Rain,” “Little Corvette” and “1999.” At the time, Roc Nation argued that it had gained permission from Prince before he died to stream the additional songs.

Prince was 57 when he died on April 21, 2016. Authorities blamed the use of fentanyl.