RIHANNA IS BROKE?!?!?!

Considering the source and how sketchy some of the details were regarding the article, I wasn't even going to entertain this. But it's no shock that the music industry is shady and that you can easily get screwed over if you sign a messy contract. And in many cases, a young artist who has no prior knowledge of the music industry will sign any shitty contract because they think that the grass is greener on the other side. They envisage seeing million dollar cheques that will buy them beautiful mansions and posh cars. But it's only when they sign the contract is when they get a nasty shock. Now the article states that Rihanna sacked her ex-business manager Patricia Willliams because she believed Williams was stealing her money. When Rihanna checked her financial records she was supposedly "shocked" that a lot of her money had disappeared. Hmmmmm.....

Rihanna is assigned to management company Rebel One. Marc Jordan is the manager and owner of this company and is also accountable for Rihanna's financial affairs. Williams also states that Def Jam had failed to fund Rihanna correctly. Allegedly, Jordan uses the money Rihanna makes from third-party endorsements and from tours to fund her album and music video's. More shockingly, she states that he "uses her money to fund her future projects because he believes he can break her in the world-market" despite album sales not representing her single sales. Other interesting parts state that Def Jam's President LA Reid was livid that latest album 'Good Girl Gone Bad' sold only in the 150K bracket in first week sales despite the phenomenal success of 'Umbrella'. And Def Jam refused to fund her project since the album didn't meet their selling expectations. Rihanna was left to foot the bill for video shoots.

It is also noted that when Rihanna and Teairra Mari released their albums at the same time on Def Jam and sold poorly, Def Jam had planned to drop both acts. Rihanna was only saved because her manager fought for S.O.S (Rescue Me) and desperately made negotiations with as many companies as possible. When Nike picked up the song, they funded the video. Reportedly, Samsung funded most of the official S.O.S video as the record label were only willing to put up a small amount. Def Jam only agreed to fund her album 'A Girl Like Me' once S.O.S showed signs of success. There's loads more to the story as well. Click here to read the rest.

And here's my thoughts.....

At first I dismissed the story as bullshit, and that it was only a bitter and disgruntled ex-employee wanting to get their revenge. But reading more into it, I realised it's not as far fetched since TLC are one of the biggest-selling girl groups of all time (Destiny's Child currently holds the title) and STILL went bankrupt as did successful artist Toni Braxton. And in this instance, Rihanna is mainly a singles artist than an album seller. And anyone who's done their research should know that an artist doesn't make their money through album sales considering they get 1% in royalties (if they're lucky). If she was smart like her former idol Beyonce she'd make sure to get a co-writing credit for writing two words (although she had the cheek to call Letoya Luckett out for not being a real songwriter just for contributing two words yet took sole credit for writing 'Irreplaceable' which is why Ne-yo had to put the smackdown on that ass, lol). An artist makes their money through writing their own songs and touring.

I also remember SWV's LeeLee's story last year in Sister Sister where she stated that she was so broke she became homeless and the record label took all the money made from album sales whilst they had to accept 25 cents for each copy sold. 25 CENTS. Rihanna doesn't write any of her music and the fact that she has to pay for big-name producers can also put a large dent in her bank balance. Even her boyfriend Chris Brown is smart enough to exercise creative control by writing his own music as well as for others. If 10 people write her song, they are getting the publishing royalties and she has to pay them.

So having said that, unfortunately the story DOES hold some weight. Videos don't come cheap and she has had plenty videos with expensive production value. The cost of hiring producers, writers, engineers, video shoots, and travel expenses add up as well but I always thought Def Jam's budget was mainly spent on Rihanna's promotion and video's. I know that they've taken chances with Mariah Carey since Emancipation sold over 5 million in the US which would result in her getting HUGE signing bonuses and large returns from CD's sold. As for Rihanna, I think it's sheer exaggeration that she's down to her last $20,000. At least I hope that's not the case anyway.