Prince’s Estate Will Reportedly Have To Pony Up $1 Million To Keep A Posthumous Album Locked Away

It seems that the legal battle over a posthumous EP of some of Prince’s unheard songs titled Deliverance is only just beginning, but if the “Purple One’s” estate wants to keep it locked away, they’re going to have to pay up big-time. According to TMZ, a judge has extended the restraining order that has kept the EP off the market, but wants the estate to put $1 million away in a bond to cover the cost of damages if the case indeed goes to trial.

The Deliverance album comes from a producer named George Ian Boxill. Prince apparently recorded the songs on the EP with Boxill sometime between 2006 and 2008. The producer planned on releasing the collection last month, on the one-year anniversary of the singer’s untimely death, but was blocked from doing so by a last-minute restraining order filed by his estate. In court, the estate argued that, Boxill was in violation an agreement he entered with Prince that stated all the material that he worked on with the him during his life would remain the singer’s “sole and exclusive” property. They went on to assert that Boxill is, “now trying to exploit one or more songs for his personal gain at the expense of the Prince estate.”

Apparently the judge agreed.

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