#BBB NEWS| Prince’s Estate Signs Publishing Deal With Universal Music

The Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) struck a deal with the estate of the late musical icon Prince, and is now the sole distributor of his entire music catalog.

In a statement, the group said that they are now “responsible for servicing and administering Prince’s expansive catalog of songs,” and will work with his estate to develop new ways to release his music, which includes both released and unreleased material.

Up until his passing this past April, The Purple One and his staff were in charge of all publishing aspects of his music catalog. Through the deal, all new releases from Prince will fall under UPMG.

#BBB NEWS| Watch Madonna And Stevie Wonder’s Moving Prince Tribute At The 2016 BBMAs [PHOTO/VIDEO]

The 2016 Billboard Music Awards produced a handful of show stopping moments on Sunday night (May 22) in Las Vegas.

From Rihanna’s memorable performance to a moving Prince tribute by Madonna — who also had Stevie Wonder join in — the evening was filled with big surprises.

We have to say the aforementioned tribute was our favorite performance of the evening. The Roots’ Questlove delivered an amazing speech about the Purple One. He then called one of the late musician’s collaborators — and a fellow musical icon to the stage.

“I want to take a moment to remember the great Prince Rogers Nelson,” said Questlove of the Roots before a moment of silence. “It can be a moment of silence, but inside our heads, it should be anything but silent.”

#BBB NEWS| Rapper The Game Purchases Prince Portrait For $65,000 [PHOTOS]

After debuting a tribute track to the late Prince, The Game continues to honor the “Purple Rain” musician’s legacy with a huge painting of the global icon.

According to TMZ, the Compton native purchased a portrait created by artist Madsteez of the Purple One for $65,000, which reportedly took him more than 100 hours to finalize. “My man @losangelesconfidential hit me just after @prince had passed to pay homage to the K!NG of PURPLE,” the artist wrote on his Instagram account.

#BBB NEWS| Questlove Pens Poignant Tribute To Prince

Tributes to Prince continue to pour out in an immense wave of remembrance and celebration. Fellow artists across the globe have paid their respects to the fallen artist through song, including Rihanna to Bruce Springsteen. Now, Questlove shares a poignant essay on The Purple One.

In the passage published on Rolling Stone, The Roots member recalled the first time he heard Prince’s music after snagging a copy of 1999, to the span of his influence across all genres while creating his very own sound of music.

“Prince was singular in his music. He was his own genre. That same singularity extended to everything. He went the other way in life, too,” he writes. “As he got older, the way he managed his career showed off that contrary streak. It came to the forefront in the way he mastered his records, in the way he handled reissues, in the way he used (or didn’t use) the Internet and online streaming services. In the summer of 2014, his old band, the Revolution, reunited at First Avenue in Minneapolis. They were all set up for him to join in and play. He drove right past. Prince was a great drummer, and he was always marching to his own beat.”

#BBB NEWS| Prince’s Albums Nab No.1 And No.2 Spots On Billboard Charts

Prince’s artistry is still being celebrated by fans all over, and while his untimely passing this past Thursday (Apr. 21) is still hard to swallow, his music is living on.

It’s being reported by Billboard two of his albums, The Very Best Of  Prince and Purple Rain have snagged the top two spots on their album charts, respectively.

The site reads, “The Very Best of Prince earned 179,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 21 (up 10,872 percent compared to the previous week). Of that sum, 100,000 were in traditional album sales (up 11,232 percent). As for Purple Rain, it moved 69,000 units (63,000 in pure album sales; up 3,101 percent).”

#BBB NEWS| Prince Passes Away At 57

Chilling reports surfaced Thursday morning (Apr. 21), that famed musician Prince has died at age 57.

TMZ reports that the Purple Rain artist passed away at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota after authorities responded to an emergency medical call around 9:40 A.M.

#BBB NEWS| Prince Removes His Music From Streaming Services Except Tidal [PHOTO/TWEET]

Music streaming services like Rdio and Spotify said goodbye to Purple Rain and other Prince classics when the musician decided to provide his hits exclusively to TIDAL users, SPIN reports.

The reason why possibly lies in recent tweets by the artist, where he quoted The Daily Beast’s article on Taylor Swift’s war with Apple. The story compares Swift to Prince and his fight with Warner Brothers in 1993.

Prince later retweeted The Daily Beast and highlighted a few quotes for his followers.