Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million finally made it available on streaming platforms Friday. This was almost 20 years after Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001. Aaliyah was a huge star in the 1990s, 2000s, but much of her music has been missing on streaming platforms over the past 20 years. In a long feature, Billboard magazine revealed that Aaliyah's uncle Barry Hankerson (music producer) and her estate, which is controlled by her mother Diane Haughton as well as her brother Rashad Haughton have been at odds for many years.
According to Billboard Hankerson has signed a distribution agreement to release Blackground Records' entire catalog, which includes Aaliyahs songs as well as other recordings by artists like Toni Braxton and Timbaland & Magoo. The streaming will begin this month. Billboard reported that he did not release Aaliyah's recordings before because he wanted to honor his sister's wishes. Billboard reports that this is up for discussion:
However, this claim is still in dispute. The reason for this is not clear. Hankerson claims that he waited for things to change in the conversation before putting the catalog on the shelf. A few times a label or artist would ask Hankerson about covering or sampling one of the songs from the catalog. But with the unlikely path to success, one source claims that very few people tried hard. The low initial monetary returns of streaming in the first half of 2010 did not encourage a reversal. With the record industry in financial crisis, there was little to gain from the venture.
At the same time the news was breaking that Aaliyahs past albums and some previously-unreleased music would be coming to streaming starting this month, the estate released a statement, saying that protecting the singers legacy is and will always be, our focus. The statement made reference to shadowy tactics of deception and called the plan to release her music an unscrupulous endeavor, but added that the plan compels our hearts to express a word forgiveness.
This Billboard report reveals the inside story about Aaliyah's music and its fate for over two decades.
