Renewed interest in the singer equals a sizable posthumous product boost.
Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty ImagesRenewed interest in the singer equals a sizable posthumous product boost.
♦ Albums: 658,000 units sold
Beneficiaries : Sony Music, Houston Estate
With the superstar royalty rate of $1 per album sold, the Houston family has made almost $700,000 since Feb. 11. Houston’s label, Sony-owned Arista, could see $1.3 million added to its bottom line. Sales of The Bodyguard soundtrack alone are up 5,512 percent.
♦ Singles: 2.4 million tracks sold
Beneficiaries: Sony Music, Houston Estate, iTunes and digital retailers
With an average download price of 99 cents per song, Houston’s label has made about $1.7 million from single sales, while iTunes and other digital retailers are looking at splitting $784,000. Houston would have made $252,000.
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♦ “I Will Always Love You”: 735,000 tracks sold
Beneficiary: Dolly Parton
Houston’s biggest hit is a cover of a ballad Parton wrote and took to No. 1 on the country charts in 1974. Between sales of The Bodyguard soundtrack (72,000 since Feb. 11) and digital track downloads (663,000), Parton has made about $70,000.
♦ Funeral Footage Broadcast Exclusive
Beneficiary: The Bobbi Kristina Trust
The estate is charging “customary fees” to license video from Houston’s Feb. 18 funeral for the benefit of her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. A source put the cost for exclusive rights at $150,000. Says a Houston family rep, “Clip licenses are being handled on a case-by-case basis.”
♦ The Bodyguard: 175,000 DVDs sold
Beneficiary: Warner Bros.
Home Media Magazine estimates a huge bump in sales of Houston’s 1992 film since she died. A Blu-ray edition was moved up a month even as its stream was pulled from Netflix (unrelated to her death, the movie rental giant hadn’t renewed the streaming license for 2012).
