Dubai: Sony Music has been accused of trying to capitalise on Whitney Houston's death by increasing the prices of the singer's albums hours after she was pronounced dead.
The recording company allegedly lifted the wholesale price of Houston's greatest hit album, The Ultimate Collection, at about 4am California time on Sunday, according to the Guardian.co.uk. The retail price of the album then automatically increased on iTunes from 4.99GBP to 7.99GBP.
Three of Houston's albums - The Ultimate Collection, Whitney - The Greatest Hits and the soundtrack for The Bodyguard - were on the iTunes Top 10 downloaded albums list on Monday. The song I Will Always Love You also briefly topped the Singles chart.
While iTune's price hike only reflected the changes made by Sony Music, which owns the rights to much of Houston's back catalogue, fans have taken to the internet to criticise the move.
Apple, which owns iTunes, and Sony Music have so far not released a comment.
Meanwhile, sales of Houston's albums have ‘quadrupled' in the UAE since Sunday.
Mohammad Mehdi Cherif, the senior music buyer at Virgin Megastore told tabloid! the current bestsellers are The Ultimate Collection (Dh60) followed by The Deluxe Anniversary Edition (Dh75), which includes a CD and DVD.
Houston was scheduled to maker her big screen return with Sparkle, a remake of a 1976 film of the same name.
It was recently revealed that she had already recorded two songs for the forthcoming film, Celebrate, written by R. Kelly, and a duet with her co-star Jordin Sparks, with whom she sings the gospel song His Eye is on the Sparrow.
Sparkle, in which Houston plays a mother to three aspiring singers, is scheduled to release in the US in August.
