(EXCLUSIVE) Beyonce – Destiny’s Child Record Deal Uncovered, Singer Only Paid $85k to Record 1st Album

Beyonce

theJasmineBRAND.com exclusively reports, Beyonce has an estimated net worth of $450 million dollars, with a large percentage of that coming from her record sales and touring — but newly uncovered documents reveal the singer wasn’t always rolling in the dough. The singer and the other members of Destiny’s Child were only paid $85k to record their first album with Sony Music and the label wouldn’t even release their albums in other countries unless they had 5 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Chart.

Kelly Rowland, Beyonce, Michelle Williams

Back in 1996, Sony Music headed to court in Texas to have a judge approve the minor contracts for the members of Destiny’s Child. At the time, the group consisted of Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, Letoya Luckett and Latavia Roberson. Each member had to have an adult sign off on the record deal in court due to all members being underage.

Per the deal, Destiny’s Child was to deliver their first album within 6 months of signing their contracts. The 2nd album was to be delivered no later than 18 months after the deal was commenced. Sony had the group under contract periods where they could choose to renew the deal or let them go.

Beyonce, Kelly and the other members had to have Sony sign off on all producers they used, materials they planned on using and recording dates along with which recording studio they planned on using.
The contract stated that Sony was to cover all recording costs and agreed to pay an $85k advance for the first album, then it was bumped up to a minimum of $350k for the second album with the maximum rising to $700k. The third album’s recording advance would rise to $375k and could have gone up to $750k and by the 7th album (if it were to be released). Beyonce and the girls would receive a minimum of $475k for recording the record and up to $950k maximum.

The contract explained that all money the label paid to cover producer fees and promotion/marketing would be considered an advance to Destiny’s Child and Sony would recoup those costs from the album profits.

Their royalty rates were set as 28% for the first album and by the 7th album it would rise to 34%. The rates would rise if an album sold over 500k copies. The record label didn’t even plan on releasing their albums in other countries unless their album was on the Billboard Chart for 5 consecutive weeks and then they would release it in Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France etc.

Sony explained they would own the rights to the master recordings created by Destiny’s Child and they were free to use Beyonce, Kelly, Letoya and Latavia’s image and likeness to promote them. They also had a provision prohibiting any songs being licensed for movies with an X or NC-17 rating.

Further, Sony agreed not to release a ‘Greatest Hits’ album without their consent as long as they delivered their albums on time per the contract.

The judge signed off on the contracts – stating they seemed reasonable and fair to the girls – on September 11th 1998.

Reports have stated the superstar has a very different record deal with Sony & Columbia Records. Instead of the normal 20% royalty rate given to most big name artists, Beyonce is believed to have a joint partnership with the labels where she is paid a much higher percentage for her music sales.

The singer is worth an estimated $450 million dollars and her recent “Formation Tour” has grossed nearly $100 million dollars in ticket sales. Beyonce has sold over 100 million records and 17.2 million albums as a solo artist and as a member of Destiny’s Child the group sold 60 million records and 17 million albums.

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