By Hayden Wright
The Prince estate’s legal challenge to the release of an EP titled Deliverance now has a $1 million price tag. Recording engineer Ian Boxill recorded six songs with Prince between 2006 and 2008.
Related: Prince’s ‘Deliverance’ EP Pulled from Streaming Services
He and the Rogue Music Alliance label possess those recordings and announced plans to release them on April 21, one year after the singer’s death.
When Prince’s estate got wind of the plans, attorneys obtained a restraining order blocking the project from reaching the public. A Minnesota federal judge has granted an extension to the restraining order as long as the Prince estate pays a $1 million bond, due May 12, reports Billboard. Upon payment, the order will last through May 22.
The Prince estate claims Boxill has no proprietary claim to the recordings, and thus no right to release them. In a workaround, Rogue Music Alliance realized that the title track “Deliverance” was not included in the judge’s decision and released it via the project’s website. It is still available for download.
It’s unclear whether another bond will be due when the restraining order extension runs out, or which legal avenues the Prince estate will pursue to keep Deliverance from the public… for now.
