Whitney Houston Was Flatt Broke, She Still Owes Sony Tens’ of Millions of Dollars

It appears that Whitney might have had a reason for shopping that Reality Show with Ray J, she owed Sony, tens of millions of dollars!

THE SONY CONTRACT

In 2001 Whitney Houston and Sony had a $100 Million dollar deal for six albums.  That is $16.66 Million per album.  (Can you imagine that!!).  After a track record of selling anywhere from 12 million to 25 million per album, her last two albums where considered sub-par.  Not counting recent sales, 2002’s “Just Whitney” sold 3 million and 2009’s “I Look To You” sold only 2.5 million.  Not at all what Sony was expecting.

Whitney only received $40 million of the $100 Million but only satisfied $20 Million of her obligations. She can blame that all on drugs.  Being “strung out” not only ruined her ambition and drive to tour and get paid for her performances but it also ruined her voice.  To top things off, she also didn’t have a manager, so there was no official strategy.

Basically, she was flat broke.  Her record label and industry friends were putting money up hoping her new projects would catapult her back into the limelight.  Honestly, no one expected her to die.  At the time of her death she owed Sony approximately $20 Million.

When you sign a recording contract that is an advance on albums to be recorded you are in fact signing a loan against future record sales.  If for some reason you can’t meet your obligation then you owe that money back to the label.  This was exactly Whitney Houston’s case.

HOW COME SHE HAD SO LITTLE MONEY IN GENERAL?

That’s an easy question.  She was simply a performer.  She didn’t write or produce therefore she took no long term money for the songs that she sung.  Arguably her most famous song, “I Will Always Love You” was written by Dolly Parton, and produced by Clive Davis, and Kevin Costner.  They made more money and are still making more money from the album then Whitney is.

It was rumored that Michael Jackson owed $500 Million and between record sales, licensing agreements (Cirque du Soleil) and endorsement deals, Michael’s estate might actually be able to dig themselves out of death and profit.  As of last year, according to court documents obtained by TMZ Michael’s estate earned back $310 Million and counting.  Whitney, while not nearly as marketable as Michael, might be able to do the same.

Geesh…just think, she is essentially worth more dead than alive

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-Cosmo