Publication: New York City Pages [US]
Date: November 9, 1994
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Title: "The Black And The Gold"
Written By: Steve Perry

The war between the former Prince and his record label of 16 years, Warner Bros., has been a matter of public record for some time now. His most public fuck-you was the decision to release the recent Come with the following artistic credit: "Prince, 1958-1993)" - this after Warners had spent two years helping convince people he was now .

The battle reached new heights of acrimony a few weeks back when his PR firm issued a press release publicly lambasting Warners for failing to release The Gold Experience. "Fans may never hear what is being called his finest album to date." the missive moans. Of the man himself, it reports that "he now feels that his much publicized $100 million deal may have just been a way to lock him into "institutionalized slavery" with Warners. A Gold track video released to the Euro-version of VH-1 featured the word "Slave" superimposed on his face.

So when it was announced that the notorious Black Album would be released right before Thanksgiving, most Prince-watchers naturally concluded it was a means to a mutually desired end: Warners gets an already-produced, already-promoted stocking stuffer that's sure to move at least half a million units, and both parties get one step closer to freedom from each other.

Not exactly, according to one source familiar with both sides: "Prince's main goal all along has been to get them to release the Gold record as soon as possible, and toward that end he sent his attorney to negotiate with Warners. The deal he came back with provided for $4 million up front, The Black Album in November, and The Gold Experience sometime shortly after the first of the year, probably February or March. The interesting thing is The Black Album apparently won't count toward the fulfillment of his contract - he's releasing that only to strike a bargain for the release of the other record."

And that deal may be in jeopardy now, for a couple of reasons. First, Prince confounded matters by rejecting the terms his attorneys had negotiated - he wanted $10 million for starters, not four. Second, there's been a turnover in Warner's top management since the first deal was struck: Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin are both out, and Danny Goldberg is expected to be appointed to the label's top post; he reportedly wants to meet with Prince before anything else is scheduled for release.

Why the full-court press on The Gold Experience? No doubt there is an element of pride involved, but there's a more immediate reason, too. "He needs cash," says a source. "And the way to get cash is to tour. So he needs to do that soon, and he doesn't want to tour behind Come, which has already disappeared from the charts. He wants to tour behind the Gold record, but he's got to get it out there first." Stay tuned...