Madonna Signs With Interscope Records
Madonna has signed with Interscope, a source close to the situation confirmed to Billboard.biz Wednesday morning (Dec. 14).
According to a report in the New York Post, the singer will continue the 10-year multi-rights deal with Live Nation -- said to be worth as much as $100 million -- that she signed in 2007, but has inked a three-album pact with Interscope at a base of $1 million per album. Billboard.biz's source could not confirm the terms of the deal at press time but said the report sounded right. Sources indicated to Billboard early last month that Madonna was likely to ink with Interscope.
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Madonna left Warner Bros., her label home of 25 years, after the release of her 2008 album "Hard Candy." Her subsequent Live Nation-produced "Sticky & Sweet" tour grossed $408 million worldwide, according to Billboard Boxscore, highest ever for a female artist.
While she is signed with Live Nation, the company's CEO Irving Azoff reiterated to Billboard in February that it would partner with some other entity in releasing Madonna's next album. Executives at the firm have stated repeatedly that they don't intend to enter the record business full-tilt.
"Live Nation, prior to the merger, entered into some of these all-rights deals, so there are certain artists, Madonna being one of them, that there is a recorded music strategy," Azoff said. "Once she gets the album recorded, we'll sit down with her and her manager Guy Oseary and figure out what's best for the record. It has to start with the music."
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