The group has signed a deal with Bremer Trust, who has been handling the estate since the artist passed away in April of last year. The deal includes the entirety of Prince’s catalogue, including both released and unreleased material, on a worldwide basis.
Prince, who was very vocal in his views on artist’s publishing rights, chose to remove his catalogue from ASCAP, the American performance rights association, in 2014, and took control of it personally.
The singer passed away unexpectedly from an overdose of prescription painkillers and left no will. Consequently, the financial organisation Bremer Trust was placed in control of his assets, reportedly valued at over $2 million, while it could be determined which members of his family would named as heir.
Azoff, who has had a long career in the music industry as a label CEO, artist manager, concert promoter and publisher, founded GMR in 2014, making it the first new American public performance rights group in over 70 years.
“I couldn’t be happier that Prince, who, I worked with at various times over the last 30 years, will have his incredible roster of works represented by GMR,” said Azoff in a statement. “Prince was an iconoclast, who never settled for second best, and now his Estate has ensured that the public performance rights are protected in a way befitting their significance.”
GMR also represent several other high profile artists, including Drake, Bruno Mars, the Eagles, The Who, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Ira Gershwin, Smokey Robinson and Pharrell Williams.
One of Prince’s final collaborations was also released as a Soundcloud stream this week. Recorded in January 2016, ‘RUFF ENUFF’ is a track by bassist MonoNeon and features P on guitar and keys. The song was previously released as Prince’s ‘Purple Pick of the Week’ on TIDAL, but is now available for all to hear, check it out below.
