Prince fans know that the music legend's catalog is extremely extensive. The artist released a staggering 39 studio albums. When we lost Prince on April 21, 2016, many fans thought that would be the end of hearing any more of his music. However, that doesn't seem to be the case because he kept a vault of music. So now, with the help of his estate, Prince's music could potentially be released to fans once more.

Prince was notorious for his constant and almost obsessive recording, even starting at the very beginning of his career. It is rumored that if he didn't write a song a day he'd die. He recorded literally everything and anything he did in the studio and off the studio. And where did it all go when he was done? His extremely large bank vault, installed in a basement room where all of his other memorabilia is stored at his famous recording complex Paisley Park.

Related: Prince Wrote Music For Kenny Rogers!

According to ConsequenceofSound.com, the Carver County Sheriff's office took photos of the basement and the vault during their investigation of Paisley Park after Prince's death. The photos revealed the basement, which contained Prince's motorcycle from Purple Rain and other artifacts from his career such as his Grammy Awards and Oscar, and also the silver vault door, which had a mask-like face with a purple cloud behind it on it. The pictures also showed inside the vault which held files and thousands of tapes neatly arranged in a narrow but long opening.

Consequence of Sound

Susan Rodgers, Prince's producer from 1983 to 1987, told The Guardian that she believed the vault predated Prince's masterpiece album Purple Rain in 1984, she even helped compile a lot of Prince's stuff into one area and by the time she left in 87' she knew that it was already nearly full.

"I started the vault!" Rodgers told The Guardian. "I joined Prince in 1983 when he was preparing to do Purple Rain. I realized it would be smart for me to get his tapes together in one place. I was aware there were a lot of pieces missing. It became an obsession. I wanted us to have everything he'd ever recorded. I called up the studios he'd been using and said: 'Have you got any Prince tapes?' This is his legacy. We need to protect these things. It's an actual bank vault, with a thick door. It’s in the basement of Paisley Park. When I left in 87, it was nearly full. Row after row of everything we’d done. I can’t imagine what they've done since then."

Caver County Sheriff's Office

Most times, the things that went into the vault were intended to not come out. Prince would often write entire albums, produce entire music videos and concerts, or tinker with songs and simply store them away until he felt like they needed to come out. Sometimes they never did. Brent Fisher, who worked on some orchestral pieces with Prince throughout his career, said sometimes Prince would tell him the project would never be released.

Carver County Sheriff's Office

"I think over 70% of the music we’ve worked on for Prince is yet to come out," Fischer told The Guardian. "There are a lot of songs that were sent to us clearly with the idea that they would never be released. They were almost comical songs that he would work out with his horn players. There was a lot of wild horn parts and experimentation with samples. I'd like to see All My Dreams come out. We enjoyed that song so much. I think it's nine-and-a-half minutes. It’s this epic journey."

During his lifetime, Prince always teased about the vault and its contents, despite fans burning desire to get their hands on it. Between a series of leaks and Prince's decision to release some of the songs in an album called The Vault: Old Friends For Sale, Prince even said to his one-time manager Alan Leeds that he just wanted to burn it all.

Related: Prince's Estate Releases Original Version Of 'Nothing Compares 2U'

A childhood friend, Sonny Thompson once said, "He could put out music for the next generation and it would still be relevant. I don’t think you’ll ever get to hear everything in the vault because you’d have to sit down for 10 years. There is just too much to go through."

Prince's estate had no way of getting into the vault because only Prince knew the code. They drilled a hole in the door and found everything. The projects, some unfinished, some just pure experimentation, amounted to thousands and is believed that fans could have a new Prince album for the next 100 years or more.

If Prince did write a song every day and put it into his vault, there'd be about 14,965 songs in it. More than enough to satisfy his fans, no? Not to mention the fully produced music videos and different versions of our favorite songs. Hopefully, Prince's estate takes care in releasing the material in a sensible way. But the question is would Prince have wanted it to be released? Either way, we hope we get to see that unreleased movie Prince did with Kevin Smith.

Next: The 15 Most Expensive Films Ever Made, Officially Ranked