Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * In an era desperately short of artistic cash cows, how does a deal worth $120 million make fiscal sense? Who cares? Here's a look at some of the richest, Madonna-esque recording contracts in history.
The numbers aren't always exact (statistics of this nature tend to get blown way out of proportion), but what's a few million when you've got a few hundred million, anyway? 1. Janet Jackson.
In 1991, the second most profitable female artist in history (behind Madonna) signed a contract with Virgin at a rate of more than $15 million per release. The success of the first album in the deal, Janet -- which has sold 17 million copies to date -- paved the way for a new contract in 1996, a four-album term for Jackson worth $80 million. Ka-ching.
2. Michael Jackson. The King of Pop's contract with Sony set the bar out of reach for good, if the numbers are to be believed.
In 1991, a mere nine days after his sister set the high water mark, Jackson was awarded a contract somewhere between $60 and $890 million (depending on the source). In a fitting twist, Jackson, now free of his contract with Sony, is heading a campaign demanding justice from "unfair" record companies. His cohorts?
Rev. Al Sharpton and former O.J.
Simpson lawyer Johnny Cochran. Oy vey. 3.
R.E.M.
The Michael Stipe-led group from Athens, Ga., stunned the mainstream rock world in 1996 when it inked its name to what was, at the time, the largest recording contract in rock history; a reported $80 million over five albums. The four full-lengths released since flirted briefly with mainstream success, but never reached the level of past glories.
A between-albums stopgap, R.E.M.
Live, is due tomorrow (Tuesday). Prognosis: not good. 4.
Prince. Where do you start with a purple-clad artiste who signs a $100-million contract with Warner Bros., making him the highest-paid artist in the U.
S., then quickly enters into a legal tug-of-war with the label (including changing his name to a symbol and writing the word 'slave' on his cheek) that lasts nearly four years? You don't.
It's Prince we're talking about, people. Royalty has its privileges. 5.
Whitney Houston. Inconceivable as it might seem now, the oft-troubled Whitney Houston still ranks among the most successful performers in history. Her remarkable string of hit singles culminated with smash soundtracks to The Bodyguard (1992) and Waiting to Exhale (1995), which earned her a six-album deal with Arista worth $100 million.
Ironically, her next two recordings would become the lowest-selling of her career.
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