Aaliyah's Greatest Hits Mysteriously Popped Up on iTunes and Apple Music Overnight
#ThrowbackThursday gave Aaliyah fans a glorious gift on Thursday night (Jan. 11) after an album compilation of her music strangely arrived on Apple Music and iTunes.
And in the midst of the legal tug-of-war between the late R&B songstress’s family, which includes her uncle and mentor Barry Hankerson, and rights to her famed music catalog, it definitely comes as a shock to most of us.
Ultimate, a posthumous collection dated from 2005, features Baby Girl’s most fan-favorite hits that were previously difficult to grab due to her family’s tight grip on her music. Billboard-charting singles such as “If Your Girl Only Knew,” “Come Back in One Piece,” “The One I Gave My Heart To” and “4 Page Letter” are available through the compilation’s iTunes sales and for streaming on Apple Music. It also joins Aaliyah’s 1994 debut album, Age Ain’t Nothin But A Number, which is not owned by Hankerson and has been the only piece of her discography fans had access to before now.
As reported by Complex, a company named Craze Digital illegally published some of Aaliyah’s music on iTunes. Because the digital company did not own any rights to the music, they were legally obligated to remove it after Reservoir Media Management, which does have ownership, slapped a lawsuit on them. Oddly enough, the copyright information for the newly-appearing Ultimate album credits Craze Productions anyway.
Welp, no complaints this way! Take a listen to Ultimate for yourself through iTunes here.