SONY MUSIC has come under fire after it increased the price of a Whitney Houston album on Apple’s iTunes store hours after the singer was found dead.
The music giant is understood to have lifted the wholesale price of Houston's greatest hits album, The Ultimate Collection, at about 4am California time on Sunday.
This meant the retail price on iTunes for the album automatically increased in Britain from £4.99 (€5.96) to £7.99 (€9.55).
Houston's The Ultimate Collection, originally released in 1997, was the second top-selling album on iTunes yesterday morning. Apple returned the album to its original price late on Sunday.
Music fans described the move as a cynical attempt to capitalise on Houston's in-demand greatest hits album. The price hike came as tributes flooded in for the singer, whose catalogue includes hits such as I Wanna Dance With Somebodyand I Will Always Love You.
The change in price came in after Sony Music, which owns the rights to much of Houston's back catalogue, increased the wholesale price of The Ultimate Collection. This automatically increased the retail price for the album, although Apple is responsible for setting the price paid by music fans.
The Ultimate Collectionand Whitney – The Greatest Hitsremained in the top three albums on iTunes at noon yesterday.
Houston was found dead in her Los Angeles hotel on Saturday afternoon, local time, at age 48.
Beverley Hills police revealed the singer was underwater and apparently unconscious when she was found in a hotel bath.
The singer was found on Saturday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel by a member of her personal staff at about 3:30pm. She had been scheduled to appear just hours later at a pre-Grammy gala.
She was pulled from the tub by her staff and hotel security was promptly notified, Lt Mark Rosen said.
Further details of her death are not being released to preserve the integrity of the investigation, he said.
The coroner’s office says toxicology testing was continuing.
There were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston’s body, but officials were not ruling out any causes of death until they have toxicology results which are likely to take weeks to obtain.
Two people who have spoken to her family said the singer’s body will be returned home to New Jersey late today for a funeral to be held at the end of the week.
They said the family has raised the possibility of holding a wake on Thursday and funeral on Friday in New Jersey at Newark’s Prudential Centre, which can seat about 18,000.