I think Prince got the better deal.
From an interview today with Hunsey:
With the help of manager Owen Husney, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Bros.. The record company agreed to give Prince creative control for three albums and ownership of the publishing rights.
I understand that, as his first manager, you helped him arrange his contract with Warner Bros., which allowed him a good deal of creative control over his music — considered, I think, unprecedented at the time. Can you talk about his legacy there? Because it seems, over the years, he has always been an advocate for creative control.
There has been no doubt. And when we signed the deal with Warner Bros., I had the great job of going to the chairman of Warner Bros. and saying that an 18-year-old artist, who has never made an album before, is going to be producing his own album and having complete creative control. I didn't relish that meeting!
We kind of organized a test where they watched him in the studio. And at the end of him maybe getting halfway through the song, Lenny Waronker, who was president of Warner at that time, he pulled me out in the hallway and said, "We're going to give him the complete control that you're asking for." So there's an inner talent, a drive, and then there's this ability that's — you either have it or you don't.
There has been no doubt. And when we signed the deal with Warner Bros., I had the great job of going to the chairman of Warner Bros. and saying that an 18-year-old artist, who has never made an album before, is going to be producing his own album and having complete creative control. I didn't relish that meeting!
We kind of organized a test where they watched him in the studio. And at the end of him maybe getting halfway through the song, Lenny Waronker, who was president of Warner at that time, he pulled me out in the hallway and said, "We're going to give him the complete control that you're asking for." So there's an inner talent, a drive, and then there's this ability that's — you either have it or you don't.
Comment