The late pop singer Prince’s estate, including his catalog of songs, has been valued at $156.4m (£114m), nearly double an earlier valuation.
The estate administrator, Comerica Bank, agreed the figure with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the heirs of Prince’s estate. The singer died in 2016 without a will, and his estate will pass to three of his siblings as well as to the publishing house Primary Wave, which in August 2021 bought the rights to the Prince catalog from three other heirs, including two are deceased.
The redistribution of the domain’s value could begin next month. “It’s been six long years,” said L Londell McMillan, solicitor for the three heirs, who faced costly legal proceedings to settle and distribute the value of the estate.
The process came to a head earlier this month when the IRS, the US tax agency, claimed the estate was worth $163.2million, double the previously submitted figure of $82.3million. by Comerica. The higher assessment meant that the IRS would claim significantly more taxes.
Comerica had sued the IRS in 2020, arguing there were errors in its assessment. Following the settlement, Comerica argued that this would have prevailed had the case gone to trial, but the heirs had pushed for a settlement to conclude the process more quickly.
Primary Wave and the remaining heirs now hope to raise new and ongoing income from the estate.
Prince’s brilliant and far-reaching catalog of songs spans funk, R&B, new wave and beyond, and features pop masterpieces such as Purple Rain, When Doves Cry and 1999. Prince’s songs in cinema, television and advertising. Potentially lucrative returns from song catalogs like this have spurred a wave of high-value acquisitions by major labels and publishing houses such as Primary Wave and Hipgnosis, including works by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and Paul Simon.
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