ALBUM FROM PRINCE VAULT EXPECTED NEXT YEAR

An album of rarities from the massive Prince vault will be released in 2019, the artist’s estate and Tidal jointly announced on Friday.

Tidal will get a two-week streaming exclusive on the album through a continuation of Prince’s 2015 partnership with the beleaguered streamery; it will go much wider seven days into the Tidal exclusive when it becomes available for download on digital retailers. There will also be a physical release, although the label isn’t identified in the release and likely hasn’t yet been chosen.

This album will be the second containing previously unreleased Prince material to see the light of day; Warner Bros. Records has the initial collection, scheduled to drop in September, estate adviser Troy Carter told Variety.

“The album partnership with Tidal does not involve any of Prince’s music catalog that is subject to prior agreements with Warner Brothers Records,” the release clarifies. This means the material on the 2019 set will be post-1996, when Prince’s initial deal with the label ended, the Variety story points out.

The Estate and Jay-Z are working together on the song selection for the album, according to the announcement, in which Jay-Z explains, “Our only goal is to share Prince’s music with his fans as he wanted. After thoughtful and honest conversation with him, he chose Tidal as his partner for HITnRUN Phase One and HITnRUN Phase Two, and we will continue to respect and honor Prince’s enduring legacy and wishes with this new collection.”