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A federal judge has blocked the planned release of a six-song record of Prince music by a sound engineer in California.


U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright issued the order Wednesday night, 

after an emergency hearing in federal court

 in St. Paul. Sound engineer Ian Boxill and a Washington state record company 

 that they were preparing to issue "Deliverance," an EP of music that featured previously unreleased music by Prince recorded in 2006.


Boxill's lawyer, Tony Zeuli, told the judge that Boxill considered himself a co-creator of the music, which featured Prince playing and singing. Zeuli said that Boxill was responsible for the guitar, bass and drum tone in the music and that he had personally produced the backing vocals for the tracks. Zeuli said Boxill planned to give Prince's estate a fair share of the proceeds.

His life and music


A lawyer for Prince's estate, Lora Friedemann, said the estate acknowledged that Boxill recorded the music. But Friedemann said the sound engineer did not create Prince's work and had no rights to it. She said the release constituted theft, misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract.


"Paisley Park owns all materials Mr. Boxill created with Prince," Friedemann told the judge. "Mr. Boxill is misappropriating those assets to the detriment of the estate and for his own personal benefit."

issued a three-page order blocking the music release.

 It says Boxill and anyone working with him are banned from publishing or disseminating any unreleased recordings of Prince music. Wright also granted Friedemann's request to get the music back: "Defendant shall deliver all of the recordings acquired through is work with Paisley Park Enterprises, including original recordings, analog and digital copies and any derivative works, to Plaintiffs in consultation with Plaintiff's counsel of record."


The order came after nearly an hour and a half of argument before Wright in a St. Paul courtroom on Wednesday night. It also came after Boxill and the record company, the Rogue Music Alliance, released what they called the single from the collection, "Deliverance." It was briefly available on iTunes and got some exposure on music websites and samples were played on some radio stations Wednesday.


The EP was scheduled to be released to commemorate the anniversary of Prince's death Friday.

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Prince: His life and music

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The ruling bans sound engineer Ian Boxill and his associates from publishing or disseminating six songs. The order also requires Boxil to return the music to Prince's estate.

It looks like Prince fans will have to wait a little longer before they hear any more new music from the late pop icon.  An planned release of a six-song EP of his music has been blocked by a federal judge in St. Paul.  She also ordered the sound engineer that recorded and produced the music to give it back.  MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Minnesota Public Radio news reporter Tim Nelson who's been following this case.

Judge blocks release of unpublished Prince songs

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