Unlike Michael Jackson, who controlled much of his music, Houston did not enjoy a very large share of the revenues from her work. Sony’s Legacy Records owns the catalog of her albums, and pays Houston, or her estate, royalties for her singing. Houston did not write her hit songs, and doesn’t share in the revenues for publishing rights.

Clive Davis, Sony’s chief creative officer and former CEO of Arista, stands to collect a share of the royalties as well for the three Houston albums on which he is credited as producer or executive producer. For those albums, he could get as much as 10 percent - or “points” - of the royalties, an accepted industry practice, according to one of the industry executives.