Key takeaways from Celebration’s ‘Vault and Future Plans’ panel

The annual Celebration at Paisley Park is a highlight in the Prince calendar – to those able to attend at least.

And while this year’s edition featured performances from The Time and The Family, the schedule’s real draw, not only for those present but far outside the compound of Paisley Park, was the panel titled Vault & Future Plans. Under normal circumstances these panels have been the source of interesting anecdotes from Prince’s photographers, bandmates and sound engineers. Owing the drought of releases throughout 2024, caused by a contractual spat between The Estate and Netflix, this one was very significant in terms of what, a normally non-commutative, Prince Estate finally have to say about its release schedule for this year and beyond – if anything substantive at all.

Celebration 2025 opened with a surprise release of Free, an acoustic version of Prince’s 1982 track re-recorded in 2008 dropped to streaming platforms – there was again no physical giveaway for delegates this year. Although it came with no press announcement, the choice of track spoke volumes given The Estate’s declaration ‘The Vault Has Been Freed’ on 6 February. But did the anticipation meet expectation? The panel brought together from the Estate’s management Londell McMillan and Charles Spicer, as well as Zach Hochkeppel, Marketing VP for Sony Legacy the US distributors of Prince’s catalogue. The Panel gave reassuringly candid answers to some rather frank questioning from the audience.

They explained why they were unable to release things but gave little away in the form of a clear schedule, more of a roadmap. One of the key reasons for the silence over the past two years was that show footage which accompanies the SDEs was tied up in the agreement with Netflix, and terminating this agreement has unblocked the vault.

The Estate has endured much criticism lately, particularly in 2024 the 40th anniversary year of Purple Rain which sent shock waves through the fan community following a disappointing vinyl reissue in purple splatter. What we learned of The Estate’s plans – whether this session would would be a platform to deliver a grand reveal or otherwise – is that it will not construct its schedule around anniversary releases, considering that every year marks a major anniversary to some respect due to Prince’s sprawling catalogue – which is a fair point. And on which note, The Estate keenly point out ‘only’ 45% of Prince’s vault has completed digitisation. Fans have been rankled in recent years with significant anniversaries missed with many of Prince’s key albums such as Love Symbol, Come and The Gold Experience, which have all watched their thirtieth anniversaries pass without acknowledgement. Albeit the reprint of Love Symbol languish on shelves at some anonymous warehouse, the event did not mention this would see a release – which even to untrained eyes screams as would be an easy win for the Estate. Fans are hoping the Estate are not waiting to digitise the full catalogue before to releasing the ready material first.

The future landscape makes less focus on one set-piece release such as the hugely popular Super Deluxe Editions. This is partly because of the expense to produce these lavish box sets but also to give breathing space for smaller issues so to offer a steady release schedule. If this transpires, this should be positive news given that it will open the schedule for more standard and Expanded Editions which will please completists and return to a flow of releases, which The Estate when under Comercia Bank demonstrated was a sustainable business model. Despite this, The Estate also hint that the anticipated Super Deluxe of Parade, completed under the previous management, might finally get released for the album’s 40th anniversary (that’s March 2026).

One of the more exciting titbits dropped in the session was confirmation of a reissue of Around the World In A Day, which will likely be an Expanded edition given that it borders Purple Rain Deluxe and the (hopefully) the forthcoming Parade SDE. Another long-rumoured release, soundboard recordings from Prince’s final tour Piano & A Microphone – a live album he was compiling prior to his death – now appears much closer to reality and potentially due in 2026 to mark the 10th anniversary of those shows. Vinyl releases of HITNRUN Phase One and HITNRUN Phase Two are also confirmed, and that the next release lined up will be for November’s Record Store Day – although no further details on this were given.

A subscription based streaming service similar to Prince’s NPG Music Club is also being explored and likely for hosting Prince’s vast catalogue of live material. The Estate was also keen to respond to the cancelled Netflix documentary, the cause of much what can only be described as Purple Pain within the Prince community these last two years. Panellists made it clear that the nine-hour documentary contained factual errors as well as key omissions, and reconfirmed that a replacement documentary is in the works and due sometime in 2026/27. The main cause of the silence over the past two years was that concert footage which accompanies SDEs was tied up in the agreement with Netflix, and terminating this agreement has unblocked the vault.

Finally, the also delayed Purple Rain musical has been reworked and improved at the request of The Estate, and is due to preview in Minneapolis throughout 16 October to 25 November 2025 before opening on Broadway in 2026. Rehearsals start in August. The main takeaway for The Estate is to maintain this transparency moving forward.

Update

Around The World In A Day Deluxe Edition was confirmed on 11 September 2025.