Billie Piper admits she owes £9 million to Virgin Records (possibly as she abandoned her Pop career mid-contract). Is this fair or should Virgin have let it drop by now?

 

Is this situation merely symptomatic of and does it speak to a wider trend now even more rife in todays music industry where artists at the start of their career are often contracted to fund their own publicity vehicles and promotional costs (videos etc) based on a loan now, pay back later model?

 

Will they suffer the same fate if they (for any reason) also choose to get of the hamster wheel of a successful pop career prematurely?

 

 

https://retropopmagazine.com/billie-piper-rules-out-return-to-music-while-owing-9-million-to-virgin-records/

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 20242 yr by Dante Silva

they should owe you 9 million queen, don't give them a dime 

virgin records doesn't exist anymore.

4 minutes ago, holyground13 said:

virgin records doesn't exist anymore.

However UMG does. So spanky of the bum bum.

 

2 minutes ago, Dante Silva said:

So spanky of the bum bum.

 

 

Not spanky of the bum bum 💀 

Was kinda sad seeing this interview bc she served insane bops but her pivot to acting was top tier too 

She better get back in the studio then

I love her. She should be paid that.

I mean… if she breached her contract and refuses to fulfill her end of things… that's still an absurdly high amount though. Did she agree to repay everything that they spent on her plus expected profits if she didn't finish it out?

6 minutes ago, loveisdead9582 said:

I mean… if she breached her contract and refuses to fulfill her end of things… that's still an absurdly high amount though. Did she agree to repay everything that they spent on her plus expected profits if she didn't finish it out?

As I understand it, previous contracts in the industry often worked as a loan and for as long as you are not profitable you owe money to your record label. This was the case prior to the 2010s and after that the tide began to change slightly from what I know.

Her 2nd album is full of bops. WALK OF LIFE. SAFE WITH ME. RING MY BELL. RUN THAT BY ME.

Damn. So underrated.

It's likely cause the contract was never finished/fulfilled. Like if she signed for 5 albums then permanently retired after 2. 

 

She's "in debt" but she'll never really have to pay out of her pocket, instead they just probably get all her share of revenue for future sales/streams of her released music. Like if you bought any of her music or streamed right now she probably no longer gets any money from it. 

imagine living with so much debt. i would be depressed for the rest of my life. this is a nightmare. 

Erm so every time I stream Day & Night it's not going to Billie? This is an outrage.

 

She did the right thing by quitting when she did. She got the hits, left before she bombed too badly and managed to pivot into a pretty successful acting career 

29 minutes ago, iHype. said:

 

It's likely cause the contract was never finished/fulfilled. Like if she signed for 5 albums then permanently retired after 2. 

 

She's "in debt" but she'll never really have to pay out of her pocket, instead they just probably get all her share of revenue for future sales/streams of her released music. Like if you bought any of her music or streamed right now she probably no longer gets any money from it. 

Makes sense why she always shuts down any talk of new music. She'd basically be working for free until all of that debt is paid off. It's interesting that creditors have never tried to come for her other assets/income that she's gotten from acting jobs over the years.

12 minutes ago, @michael said:

Makes sense why she always shuts down any talk of new music. She'd basically be working for free until all of that debt is paid off. It's interesting that creditors have never tried to come for her other assets/income that she's gotten from acting jobs over the years.

maybe she has a good lawyer that prevents them from taking her house or other income. or she pays a good sum of money every month that prevents them from getting her personal belongings or income. anyways its sad

56 minutes ago, @michael said:

Makes sense why she always shuts down any talk of new music. She'd basically be working for free until all of that debt is paid off. It's interesting that creditors have never tried to come for her other assets/income that she's gotten from acting jobs over the years.

Usually most artists who flop to obscurity and never release again are broke or live very regular lives afterwards, so labels trying to actually sue them and get liens on their stuff is useless. The expensive lawyers, court fees, etc would just far outweigh any actual value they'd be able to get which is why they settle for permanently taking the rest of the artist's revenue for released music. 

 

Obviously she's a rarer case of someone who never had a successful music career but still became very successful in other avenues but still, it's not really worth the time or resources for a label to go after her. Just written off as a bad investment. 

1 hour ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

imagine living with so much debt. i would be depressed for the rest of my life. this is a nightmare. 

A girl I go to uni with told me she has 100k in student loans yesterday my soul almost jumped out of my body 

this is obviously not fair and no record label contract ever is or will be, no matter what. **** them and their shitty contracts, forever! 

33 minutes ago, makeme said:

A girl I go to uni with told me she has 100k in student loans yesterday my soul almost jumped out of my body 

i know ppl very close to me who have like 60k in debt and i always get so much anxiety just thinking abt it. thankfully i was able to study without having to get student loans cause debt is literally something that gives me panic. just the thought of it makes my skin crawl.

Edited April 4, 20242 yr by KatyPrismSpirit

 

This cult classic bop deserved to be posted in the OP.

51 minutes ago, iHype. said:

Obviously she's a rarer case of someone who never had a successful music career but still became very successful in other avenues but still, it's not really worth the time or resources for a label to go after her. Just written off as a bad investment. 

She had 3 number one hits and seven consecutive top 5 hits (out of 8 released singles), along with two top 20 albums. Whilst she was never huge, these are pretty good figures for a UK act who never went international. She was defo successful in music.

Everyone go listen to Day and Night and Honey To The Bee. Pay off her debts 

 

47 minutes ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

i know ppl very close to me who have like 60k in debt and i always get so much anxiety just thinking abt it. thankfully i was able to study without having to get student loans cause debt is literally something that gives me panic. just the thought of it makes my skin crawl.

I am literally the same way! I guess it's just because I grew up poor so I don't play with money that isn't mine. I'm also on track to graduate with 0 debt i've never taken out a loan 

Spoiler

Shout out to my sugar daddy 

 

Edited April 4, 20242 yr by makeme

I was wondering why a lot of her stuff was being uploaded to streaming lately  They're probably trying to get the money. Everyone stream

Time to re-release Something Deep Inside and make it a #1 hit