Aaliyah’s back catalogue to be released on streaming platforms next month
Aaliyah’s back catalogue is set to be released on streaming platforms next month.
In a new deal struck between the late R&B icon’s uncle Barry Hankerson — who founded Aaliyah’s former label Blackground Records — and EMPIRE, a number of releases will be made available on Apple and Spotify as of the 20th August.
The decision to put the singer’s discography on to streaming platforms has been met with some controversy, with The Estate of Aaliyah Haughton posting a statement to Instagram condemning “unauthorized projects”.
“Protecting Aaliyah’s legacy is, and will always be, our focus. For 20 years we have battled behind the scenes, enduring shadowy tactics of deception with unauthorized projects targeted to tarnish,” the statement reads. “We have always been confused as to why there is such a tenacity in causing more pain alongside what we already have to cope with for the rest of our lives.
“Now, in this 20th year, this unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah’s music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate compels our hearts to express a word – forgiveness.
“Although we will continue to defend ourselves and her legacy lawfully and justly, we want to preempt the inevitable attacks on our character by all the individuals who have emerged from the shadows to leech off of Aaliyah’s life’s work.”
The records will be released across two months, starting with the ‘One in a Million’ LP, first released in 1996, before her 2001 self-titled studio album in September, and ‘I Care 4 U’ and ‘Ultimate Aaliyah’ slated to follow in October.
Aaliyah died aged 22 in August 2001 in an airplane accident in the Bahamas, when the aircraft she was travelling in crashed.
You can read the statement from Aaliyah’s official Instagram account below.
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(Photo credit: Mikael ‘Mika’ Väisänen)
