Troy Carter has been named the entertainment advisor for Prince's estate, Billboard has learned. Carter, the former manager for Lady Gaga and Meghan Trainor and founder/CEO of the Atom Factory, joined Spotify last June as the streaming service's global head of creative services, and confirmed to Billboard that he will remain in that position with the company.
"It's an honor to serve as entertainment advisor to Prince's estate," Carter said in a statement to Billboard. "His music, message and independent thought has been a major influence throughout my career. I'm humbled to work with his family and Comerica Bank to advance his musical legacy into the future."
The management of the late icon's estate has been the subject of several hearings in Minneapolis' Carver County District Court over the last few months, with Comerica Bank replacing Bremer Trust as special administrator overtaking the management of the estate. Longtime industry executives Charles Koppelman and L. Londell McMillan have been serving as special music industry advisors to the estate, although their status has been up in the air since January as Comerica -- which officially took over on Feb. 1 -- had not determined whether they would stay on in a permanent role, and several of Prince's heirs objected to McMillan's continued involvement. Their status with the estate is currently unclear, though it's possible they could still be involved in deals in the future. (Update (8:50 p.m.): A source tells Billboard that Koppelman and McMillan will no longer be involved in the estate moving forward.)
"Comerica Bank is proud to acknowledge that Troy Carter has been named entertainment advisor to the Prince estate," read the bank's statement released to Billboard. "His considerable music industry experience and expertise will be invaluable as the work of the Prince estate moves forward. In light of the confidential nature of estate settlement matters, however, we will have no further comment other than this acknowledgement."
Prince died suddenly on April 21, 2016 at the age of 57. Over the past several months, his estate has struck deals for publishing rights (Universal Music Publishing Group), branding and licensing (Bravado), management of his NPG Records catalog and unreleased material (Universal) and for his music to return to streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and more.
