I was saying it all along. It was Sony's prerogative from the start.

Was the article written by N.S. Sherlock?

basemetal: I wonder if she owed them mucho denaro and this is the only way they'll ever get close to getting anything out of her.

According to several reports, she was living on advances from her label -- loans, essentially -- so this is quite probably close to the truth.

Still, her family won't see a dime from her estate until the label gets payback, so it's a very douche move IMO unless it was directly applied against she was advanced.

/yet another reason to hate Sony media

Tom Petty got it right:

My name's Joe, I'm the CEO
Yeah I'm the man makes the big wheels roll
I'm the hand on the green-light switch
You get to be famous, I get to be rich

Go get me a kid with a good lookin' face
Bring me a kid can remember his place
Some hungry poet son-of-a-bi*ch
He gets to be famous, I get to be rich

Or bring me a girl
They're always the best
You put 'em on stage and you have 'em undressed
Some angel whore who can learn a guitar lick
Hey! Now that's what I call music!

Well they'll come lookin' for money when the public gets bored
But we'll fight 'em with lawyers they could never afford
Yeah I'll make her look like a spoiled little bi*ch
She gets to be famous, I get to be rich

So burned out Johnny thinks the books are shifty
What good's that alchy to me when he's fifty?
Well we could move catalog if he'd only die quicker
Send my regards to the gig and a case of good liquor

He gets to be famous, I get to be rich

Damn, they had the price increased when the bathwater was still warm.

Supply and demand. Wait...what?

basemetal: I wonder if she owed them mucho denaro and this is the only way they'll ever get close to getting anything out of her.

Whatever money she owed them...they've made many hundreds of times over.

just_intonation: basemetal: I wonder if she owed them mucho denaro and this is the only way they'll ever get close to getting anything out of her.

According to several reports, she was living on advances from her label -- loans, essentially -- so this is quite probably close to the truth.

Still, her family won't see a dime from her estate until the label gets payback, so it's a very douche move IMO unless it was directly applied against she was advanced.

/yet another reason to hate Sony media

Of course it will be applied directly to the advance. The problem, is though, you need to factor in the overhead before you can apply the remainders to the advance.

1.25 for the single.

.10 for Apple
.05 for corporate taxes
.15 fee to cover digital conversion
.10 fee to cover WAV to AAC conversion
.10 fee to cover encrypting the orignal catalog
.10 to cover providing DRM free music
.05 to cover promotional costs
.05 for fee structure adjustment processing
.10 for digitizing artwork
.15 to comply with international copyright regulations
.10 for legal fee relating to successor issues
.05 PAC money so that Congress will pass sensible laws to protect the rights of recording artists.
.10 data archival
.05 residuals for recording support staff, to be paid into fund managed by record company to pay recording support staff.
.01 unplanned PR support fee

So as soon as the records generate a profit, they will be applied immediately to the advance given to Mrs. Houston and her estate. Any overages will be applied to the advance amount.
Cop

Weaver95: As much criticism as record labels receive for how they treat artists, Sony Music might take the cake. The company pulled the ultimate in shameful activities this weekend by raising the price on Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection album on iTunes and Amazon within 30 minutes of her death on Saturday.

...and then people wonder why file trading sites are so popular...

f*ck you Sony. that's despicable behavior. why not just rape the corpse while you're at it? maybe cut off a few choice bits and sell 'em later?

They may yet come up with a few relics to sell...as soon as they can prevent them from being copied. Toe-bone, anyone?

Githerax: Supply and demand. Wait...what?

because it obviously costs more to..... wtf its seriously unlimited supply, the only thing that changes is demand..

fusillade762: I heard Netflix also pulled "The Bodyguard" from it's streaming service, probably at Sony's behest.

I haven't heard that anywhere else, I'm not sure the movie was on instant in the first place, and Wikipedia says the movie was distributed by Warner Brothers.

IMDWalrus: fusillade762: I heard Netflix also pulled "The Bodyguard" from it's streaming service, probably at Sony's behest.

I haven't heard that anywhere else, I'm not sure the movie was on instant in the first place, and Wikipedia says the movie was distributed by Warner Brothers.

I heard Sony raised the price of Canada Dry and were going to re-air this commercial . Despicable.

Good thing I only like GOOD music, so this doesn't affect me.

fusillade762: IMDWalrus: fusillade762: I heard Netflix also pulled "The Bodyguard" from it's streaming service, probably at Sony's behest.

I haven't heard that anywhere else, I'm not sure the movie was on instant in the first place, and Wikipedia says the movie was distributed by Warner Brothers.

My bad. I apologize for spreading unsubstantiated Facebook rumors. The people at Sony who did this are still scum, though.

why? who is it hurting?
Houston is dead.
It may be helping her estate.

The consumer has to pay more, but so what? They don't have to buy the songs. They aren't entitled to songs at a specific price.

basemetal: I wonder if she owed them mucho denaro and this is the only way they'll ever get close to getting anything out of her.

Their cut of that is likely a lion's share of every sale at any price; it'd actually not be worth the negative feedback they're about to rake in...

/ I assume 'they' have intelligence... which is counter to what 'they' have displayed
// this is just sickening; for digital sales, it's not like you have a supply that will run out to worry about thereby trying to stem demand with a price hike.

Flint Ironstag: basemetal: I wonder if she owed them mucho denaro and this is the only way they'll ever get close to getting anything out of her.

Trust me, no matter how much the label may say she "had yet to recoup her advance" they made billions from her records.

Exactly. As if there was NO WAY all the money she made them didn't cover the costs. All this is: a pretty nasty way to make mass profit. Heck, it's like selling emergency supplies to people who need them for 2x the normal price, just because you can and you will find any way to screw people over.

BAD PONY no apples for you

Weaver95: Flint Ironstag: basemetal: I wonder if she owed them mucho denaro and this is the only way they'll ever get close to getting anything out of her.

Trust me, no matter how much the label may say she "had yet to recoup her advance" they made billions from her records.

you know what the depressing part about all of this is? As bad (and outright ghoulish) as Sony's actions here are...it's just the start. nancy grace and her crew will feed off this story for at least two weeks, then again once the tox screen report comes in. Lawyers will line up to feast on the intellectual property rights of her music. celebrities will cry fake tears and jostle for a seat at the funeral.

If it makes you feel better, I couldn't give less of a shiat if I was powered by plutonium fission instead of digestion. Being a generic, mediocre artist isn't something that'll be cured by death, especially when there are 314159276 more that can easily fill the void.

propasaurus: No, no, it was Apple cuz they're evil cuz liberals...hipsters... something something.

Pssh, everyone knows the hipsters were into Whitney before everyone else but have long since deleted their files but not before creating binary code tattoos of her hit songs. It's a new thing called Binarying, you haven't heard of it, pretty underground.

Did Epic pull this when Jackson died?

/Dick move, Sony, dick move

NO! APPLE MUST BE BLAMED FOR ALL THAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD!

I agree, it's a dick move. Consider this, she sold 170 million records worldwide. 170 million records, at what $12 or $15 bucks a pop? Sony made stupid money off her in her prime. I get that she died owing them money, but how much of it are they really going to recoup this way???

Wait, you can pay for music?

Weaver95: f*ck you Sony. that's despicable behavior. why not just rape the corpse while you're at it? maybe cut off a few choice bits and sell 'em later?

Got your nose!!!

How does this matter? Don't most Whitney Houston fans already own her music?

Of course it was Sony. One of the few companies that're bigger dicks than Apple.

stoli n coke: How does this matter? Don't most Whitney Houston fans already own her music?

I can only speak for myself (not a Whitney fan) but a lot, probably 90%, of the music I listened to from that era, I don't own any more. Having owned the stuff on vinyl or cassette tape, I didn't immediately buy the same albums in CD format when they came out, just not thinking that there would come a time where I wouldn't own a record player or tape deck. And once that happened, it had been years since listening to the stuff, so I never replaced it. But I imagine, when an artist dies, you have a strong urge to listen to their stuff, and if you no longer own it, you right away purchase albums you used to own and like. It's nostalgia. I wasn't a big Michael Jackson fan, I liked a few of his songs, but not enough to buy his music through iTunes having misplaced (or lost or threw out) the albums of his I owned as a kid years ago. But after his death I did find myself downloading a few of the tracks of his I still really like. It just never seemed necessary while he was alive, to do so.

DeadMouseTails: I agree, it's a dick move. Consider this, she sold 170 million records worldwide. 170 million records, at what $12 or $15 bucks a pop? Sony made stupid money off her in her prime. I get that she died owing them money, but how much of it are they really going to recoup this way???

Read the first part of your post and then the last. They do not add up.

Evil Kirk vs Bad Ash: DeadMouseTails: I agree, it's a dick move. Consider this, she sold 170 million records worldwide. 170 million records, at what $12 or $15 bucks a pop? Sony made stupid money off her in her prime. I get that she died owing them money, but how much of it are they really going to recoup this way???

Read the first part of your post and then the last. They do not add up.

How does it not add up??? In my opinion, its a dick move to jack up the price of her music, especially 30 mins after her death was announced. And then I stated that she died owing Sony money, and wondered how much they really expect to recoup by jacking up her music by a couple dollars per album. I don't know the amount of money she owed them. Chances are she had a huge advance given to her. Once the frenzy to buy her music in light of her death dies down, her sales will go in the toilet again. I honestly don't think they will get anywhere near what she may owe them, even raising the price of her music. To me, it's a dick move, even if financially it makes sense to them. Unless you're talking about her album sales that I stated, which where in her prime. That's money earned and accounted for already, not being earned. If that's what you're talking about, you need to comprehend what you're reading better. If it's not, I'm only stating an opinion since I don't have all the facts of the money owed, or how it's distributed between artist (estate in this case) song writer, producer, et el.

I_Am_Weasel: So Sony is a cereal offender?

SmackLT: Mmmmmmm...Apple Jacks

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