Mariah Carey signs new deal with Island Records
Pop diva Mariah Carey, who got nearly $30 million in January to end her contract with music giant EMI Group Plc, on Wednesday signed a new deal with Island Records, sources familiar with the pact said. A spokeswoman for Carey and officials for Island had no immediate comment, but sources said the singer will be starting a record label of her own to be distributed through Island Records. Island is a unit of the Island Def Jam label group, which is owned by French media giant Vivendi Universal.
The sources said the deal was valued far below the estimated $80 million to $100 million EMI's Virgin Records originally agreed to pay Carey under the multi-album deal she signed with the British music group in April 2001. Carey and EMI parted ways four months after the commercial flop of her first Virgin-released album, "Glitter", which also served as the soundtrack to her feature film debut. The album, released in September, sold a disappointing 2 million copies worldwide. By comparison, Carey's 1993 album "Music Box", issued by Sony Music Entertainment, sold more than 20 million copies around the globe.
The retail fizzle of "Glitter" also capped a personally trying period for Carey, who was hospitalized for mental and physical breakdown in July of 2001 and suffered a relapse in September. Carey's health problems limited her advance promotion for the album and the movie, in which she starred as an aspiring young singer who dates a DJ to help her break into the business. The 32-year-old artist is set to star in "Wisegirls", an upcoming film with Mira Sorvino.
Last month, Carey's spokeswoman said the singer was taking her time talking to several labels pursuing a new deal with the Long Island-born singer. In addition to Island Def Jam, Carey had been talking with AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Elektra Entertainment Group, and J Records, sources said. Sources said Carey, who has had more No. 1 songs than anybody except for Elvis Presley and the Beatles, also had talked with Warner Bros. Records, another label under the AOL Time Warner umbrella.
Under the buyout of her EMI pact, Carey received $28 million to walk away and retained another $21 million previously paid to her when the contract was first signed. Carey's fallout with EMI reflected some of the difficulties facing the music industry as labels have paid huge sums to sign promising artists, only to suffer from lackluster sales. Despite the industry's woes and Carey's tumultuous year, many labels were eager to land Carey, seeing in her strong brand potential as an artist. She became one of the biggest-selling pop artists of all time after her former husband, Sony Music Entertainment chief Tommy Mottola, discovered her as an 18-year-old waitress. (Reuters)
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