Six years after his death, Prince’s estate has finally been legally settled.
“We are free at last, thank God almighty, we are free,” Sharon Nelson, Prince’s sister, said to CBS Minnesota. “It’s been a long, long grueling six years.”
Prince’s estate, valued at $156.4 million, will be split between the musician’s three eldest siblings and Primary Wave, a private music publishing company which already bought out the stakes of three other heirs. ”Our goal is to work collaboratively with them to continue to build and to grow Prince’s legacy as a 50% owner,” said Primary Wave’s attorney, Eric Magnuson (via the Star Tribune). “We have the best interests of everyone in mind as we move forward.”
Nelson indicated that her first priority is to bring Prince’s vast collection of released and unreleased music back to Paisley Park. The tapes were removed from the vault at his longtime Minnesota home and recording studio Paisley Park against the family’s wishes after his death.
“What’s the most important thing that you think about when you think of Prince? The music, absolutely, and where is it? It isn’t here,” Nelson said. “So we’re going to bring it back, that’s what we’re going to do.”
In December 2017, a judge denied the family’s request to move the vault, which contains original master tapes, back from California, where they were concerned about nearby wildfires. (It had been placed there by Comerica Bank & Trust, then-executors of the estate.) The judge deemed it a ”non-issue.”
“Once we have the music, they are going to get the real good sound that they should have had six years ago,” Nelson said. “We’re going to bring his original music out.”
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