A collection of cassette tapes hosting a series of unreleased Marvin Gaye songs has been found in Ostend, Belgium. Potentially over 40 years old, the collection consists of 66 demo tracks from the late “Prince of Soul” and belonged to the musician Charles Dumolin, who lived with Gaye in 1981 while he underwent detox to fight cocaine addiction.

When Dumolin died in 2019, the collection, alongside an arsenal of Gaye memorabilia, was passed down to his family. The recent discovery of the collection has sparked debate over whether the Dumolin family can claim ownership over the tapes.

According to Belgian law, physical material becomes the property of the person who possesses it after 30, regardless of how it was acquired. However, the law doesn’t extend to intellectual property, which could mean that the Dumolins can claim ownership over the tapes but don’t have the ability to publish the songs, a right which would instead belong to Gaye’s US heirs.

Alex Trappeniers, a business partner of the Dumolin family, said in a statement to BBC: “[The tapes] belong to [the family] because they were left in Belgium 42 years ago. Marvin gave it to them and said, ‘Do whatever you want with it’ and he never came back. That’s important.”

Gaye’s music career began in the 1960s, finding stardom within a decade after hits like the protest song ‘What’s Going On’ and sexual classic ‘Let’s Get It On.’

After struggling with cocaine addiction throughout the 80s, Gaye moved to London for fear of arrest over unpaid taxes in the US. The young singer met Belgian music promoter Freddy Cousaert, who ushered him into detox at his Ostend home alongside Dumolin and his wife.

Three years later, in 1984, Gaye was shot and killed by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., after attempting to break up a physical altercation between his father and mother.