A former sound engineer for Prince won't be able to release a five-song EP of unreleased songs, at least for now, U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright said in a brief order.
Federal judge to sound engineer: Don't release that Prince music
Temporary order gives sides time to respond.
April 21, 2017 at 1:48AM
Wright granted a motion from Paisley Park Enterprises and Prince's estate stopping the release of the music. This is just the first step. The estate will have to submit by Tuesday a memorandum in support of the order.
Lawyers for Ian Boxill, who worked for Prince in 2006, then will have until Friday to file a response. Wright will schedule another hearing to determine whether to extend the temporary restraining order.
Wright ordered Boxill to deliver all recordings — digital and analog — of his work with Prince that was covered by a confidentiality agreement to the estate.
The judge held a hearing on the request for the order late Wednesday. She said she will issue a longer memorandum explaining why she granted the request. Key factors, as noted in her brief order, are the threat of irreparable harm to Paisley Park as well as the likelihood of the estate eventually prevailing on the entire request to bar release of the music. As of Thursday morning, the title track, "Deliverance," was still available on SoundCloud. Prince never released the song.
The song was available for streaming and downloading on Apple Music and iTunes on Wednesday before Apple took it down. The entire EP was also available for pre-sale, but Apple also took down that option.
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