3:58 p.m. | Updated Sony Music has responded to accusations that it was exploiting the death of Whitney Houston by raising the prices of two of her albums just hours after her death on Saturday.
Early Sunday, the price of one of the albums, “The Ultimate Collection,” jumped 60 percent on iTunes in Britain, from $7.85 to about $12.50; another album, “The Greatest Hits,” also jumped in price, from about $12.50 to $15.67 (or 25 percent). According to a report in The Guardian, the change was the result of the label’s decision, in the immediate aftermath of Ms. Houston’s death, to raise the wholesale price it charges digital retailers.
Sony stayed quiet about the price change, even as criticism spread online. But on Tuesday the company said that the changes — which were in effect only on the British version of iTunes, and were reversed Sunday evening — were made by mistake.
“Whitney Houston product was mistakenly mispriced on the U.K. iTunes store on Sunday,” the company said in a statement. “When discovered, the mistake was immediately corrected. We apologize for any offense caused.”
According to two executives at Sony Music, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, the price increase was the result of an error by a Sony employee in Britain, and that the company gave no orders for prices to be raised on Ms. Houston’s music.
Sales of her albums and tracks soared over the weekend, and executives say that downloads were especially strong. Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales in the United States, will release figures on Wednesday covering the week that ended with the Grammy Awards on Sunday.