Reconnecting with the music of Whitney Houston
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Reconnecting with the music of Whitney Houston
Adriene Hill: Whitney Houston died this weekend. Today her crystal-clear voice is everywhere — belting, beautifully, “I Will Always Love You” on the radio, online, and on our televisions. It’s songs like that that’ll no doubt put Whitney back on the sales charts.
Our New York bureau chief Heidi Moore reports.
Heidi Moore: Hours after Whitney Houston died, MTV had abandoned its usual reality show lineup and was doing something unusual: it was actually playing her music videos.
Bill Werde: Any time an artist of any prominence dies, understandably a lot of fans rush to reconnect with the music.
Bill Werde is the editorial director of Billboard. He says that with every Grammy tribute, download, upload, streaming request and iTunes preview, people may become more likely to actually pay for Whitney Houston’s music.
Werde: There’s almost a glut of Whitney all of a sudden, right? There’s Whitney on all the radio stations, people are going to Spotify and streaming Whitney songs — and this exposure has the effect of driving sales as well.
Sony is happy to fuel the curiosity. When Michael Jackson died in 2009, Sony started an aggressive new marketing campaign to sell his songs. They added 35 million more sales.
Sony owns Whitney Houston’s catalog, and they have the same plan for her work. The record label’s executives are reportedly meeting this week to figure out a strategy.
In New York, I’m Heidi Moore for Marketplace.
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